I am looking forward to 2010 being a year of New Beginnings. Laurel will now get to spend the rest of her years as a US citizen and with a Momma & Dadat who loves her and a little brother who protects her. 2009 is gone and so are her orphanage days. Her days of rocking herself to sleep on her knees are also over. I thank God for new beginnings. He gives them to us if we ask and lets us start fresh.
Laurel is doing really well with her hearing aids. I feel like she can understand what we are saying and can say about 8-10 audible words. She tries many more but can't quite get the hang of them. We start working on speech tomorrow with her therapist and hopefully this will help her make better progress. The ENT has only given her 3-6 months to make a lot of progress before he recommends a Cochlear Implant. Please pray with us that her hearing will do the trick but if not we'll go to the next step.
We found out last week that her MRI showed a Chiare Type 1 Malformation. You can google it but basically her brain is lower in her skull than it should be and extends down into her spinal cord some. We are going to see a Neurosurgeon to get his recommendations but usually they don't do surgery unless she is having symptoms (breathing difficulty, head/neck aches, numbness, trouble walking, weakness etc....). It is a matter of prayer b/c it can be serious but we know this didn't sneak up on God. It makes us all the more thankful that we got this little girl so we can get her the medical care she needs!! Anyway, Happy New Beginnings to you all!
was it a surprise to you that she has chiare? SOOOOO happy that she is home with you and blossoming! My sophie and ben have become these loving funny little pumpkins and I just adore them.
ReplyDeleteShe also has a serious case of the Cutes! God is, indeed, Good. VJD
ReplyDeleteMoonDog, Yes, we were surprised about the Chiare. Especially b/c the ENT didn't bother to let us know about it. Our Ped. got the report and just wanted to make sure we were "ok" with the results! That was a surprise. Anyway, she doesn't seem to be having any symptoms but we are scheduled to see a Ped. Neurosurgeon just to check in! But then again I guess nothing surprises me after Ukraine!! :)
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