Gabi: Gabi's in Surgery!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Gabi's in Surgery!

Hi this is Gabi's mom...
I thought you might like to see a picture of Gabi as she is waiting to go into surgery. She looks a little sleepy in this picture because they gave her some cherry flavored medicine to help her go to sleep for the surgery. She will be in surgery for 4 hours. I will be waiting in the waiting room for that whole time.

The surgery center has a lot of nice people here. They let her take her special stuffed animals back with her. She took "Beary" which is the animal Gabi has had since she was a little baby, "Tony" who is Auntie Meme's bear from when she was a little girl, and "Treea" who is her new puppy that Grandma Donna gave her.
The nice thing about that medicine they gave her is that it made her very happy. :) Jane

3 comments:

AnonymousJanuary 28, 2010 at 11:50 AM
Thanks, Auntie Meme, for sending Tony! The waiting is not good for this dad. I can't wait to hear more news. I take solace in the fact that she is in great hands! Thanks Dr. Brent! Thank God!
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AnonymousJanuary 28, 2010 at 4:31 PM
Hi Gabi -
I'm so happy that your and Beary's ear surgery went well. I hope you are enjoying the warm weather. Tell your mom to stop talking so much so you can get some rest.
Love,
Uncle Steve
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AnonymousFebruary 1, 2010 at 8:32 PM
Looks like your ear is prefect now...just like you.

I think the last time I saw your mother was when she came to visit Disneyland, about 35 years ago.

Love
David U
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Why the surgery?

Gabi has been taught to love her little ear, but there comes a time to make some decisions. Gabi's hearing aide is the type that has to be on a headband that she wears everyday until she grows big enough to have it surgically implanted into her bone. The headband is made for toddlers, with the idea that the hearing aide will eventually be surgically implanted. If there's one thing we've learned from her teachers, it's that she always does much much better when that hearing aide is working properly. We hear it every single year.

Decision number one...Do we continue with hearing aides and have it implanted? If we have it implanted, then she can't do the construction of the outer ear. It's a decision we would be making that would last her lifetime. The outer construction has to be done with "virgin" skin, meaning no previous holes or surgeries or anything.

Decision number two...Do we open that canal up so she can hear without a hearing aide? Again, if we open it up then we have to do the outer construction first. You can't do the ear canal and then decide later that you want to construct an outer ear.

Decision number three...do we just leave well enough alone and do nothing? We could...and that is what we have done the last eight years. Now that Gabi is eight we are faced with another issue. Teasing. Kids are cruel. Gabi started wanting to hide her ear. She started saying that she "only loves her little ear if other people can't see it."

The constructive surgery for an ear is an amazingly difficult process. You really have to be both a surgeon and an artist. There are only a handful of people in the country that are successfully doing the surgery. Another issue...if you don't do it right, then the ear is lost. One chance. There aren't any doctors in this state that are even doing the surgery.

After many years of diliberation, our insurance company gave the word that they saw the surgery as "medically necessary." Off we go to California to the doctor who pioneered the surgery and has had many many successful surgeries. After she is done with outer construction, she can have her ear canal opened with her doctor at the Mayo in Rochester, and throw the hearing aide in the toilet (or maybe donate it to someone else) and be done with it.

We're actually sad to say goodbye to our little ear...but looking forward to hearing without complications. :)

Gabi

Gabi and big sister Sophie

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Gabi's in Surgery!

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Why the surgery?

About Mictrotia/Aural Atresia

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