Dane's Surgery

On Monday, we received confirmation that Dane has had a cholesteatoma in his right ear, most likely since birth. It is the explanation for all the fluid he's had behind his eardrums and for his repeated failed hearing tests. While it was good to finally have an answer, it did require a much more serious surgery than previously, so on Wednesday, Dane had a mastoidectomy and tympanyplasty at Loyola in Maywood. The surgery went great; Mark was able to get off and his folks were sweet enough to come down at the last minute to watch Ari, so we could both go with him. His hearing has been affected for an unknown amount of time, and while he's now deaf in that ear, in March, he'll have another surgery to put in a prosthetic stapes and incus. Hopefully, this will help restore some of the hearing he's lost. We really felt God's love during this surgery in a way that I definitely hadn't during the other surgeries. So many people called, texted, and emailed throughout the day and in the recovery period...it was truly amazing!

 The night before with Grandma and Grandpa.

 Testing the equipment.

 Filling in some info in his EMR.

 Dad is sure perky for this time of morning.

 Secret messages from Dad on a stethoscope that he got to bring home!

 Pretend sleeping.

 Lasted about 3 seconds.

 Can't even pretend with mom.

On the drive home. With his Aria elephant.