Sighs of Relief

For those who read my previous post, here is an update on all 3 areas of concern...

Evie's eyes: Richard and I really have been pleased with what we have seen since Evie started wearing her glasses. She truly seems more aware of her surroundings and more observant. Mama and I went and got a manicure on Monday and switched off holding Evie. There were some fish in a couple of tanks there so I took Evie over to see if she responded. She was following them with her eyes and reaching her hands out to "touch" them. I had taken her to PetSmart and other places in the past and looked for a reaction to critters before but hadn't gotten much response. In fact, she would often just look down, rather than at the birds/fish. It was confusing bc I knew she could see, so I just thought she wasn't interested yet. Well, she's interested now! She also seems to be crossing her eyes less. Not completely without crossing, but it's less. We will see what happens in the coming weeks, but I am very encouraged.

Evie's development (motor skills): We had Evie's well-visit with her pediatrician yesterday and it really was so encouraging! Her doctor manipulated her little legs and did the check on the hips (which she had done before, but hadn't noticed anything abnormal). This time she noticed a little click in Evie's left hip. She gave us a referral to Scottish Rite Hospital, which is excellent and FREE (for a SAHM without extra spending cash lying around this calls for a hallelujah chorus right there!) We should be able to get an appointment with them in the coming weeks for X-rays and possibly a sonogram. She said they might just say she's crazy and that there was no need to send Evie to them but that she would rather be sure (Points earned for that attitude!! Yay!). If it is hip displacia or something like that then Evie would at this age need to wear a hip cast, which the doctor told us straight out would not be fun. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

She also started a referral for a developmental physician. She said she was hesitant to do that because Evie could very well (if there's nothing wrong with the hip) just be delayed but nothing particularly wrong, but that if we talk to a dev. phys. they will definitely find something wrong. She said that not as a knock against them but it's just that you or me or anyone else, upon close scrutiny, have something "funny" about the way we move. But she started the referral process anyway because it takes a good while to get in, so if nothing shows up at the Scottish Rite, we have a secondary plan of attack.

Most of all, she made me feel better because she said things like, "No, you didn't cause this by drinking too many Cokes during your pregnancy or something like that." "Yes, I've seen perfectly "normal" children who were this delayed in their motor development." "No, your daughter doesn't have something wrong with her like Cerebral Palsy" (which had concerned me bc of her extreme right dominance). I've used this word several times in this entry, but I'll use it again: It was ENCOURAGING!

My mom: Mama had her surgery today. The surgeon did a full hysterectomy and did exploratory surgery to check other organs plus he took some lymph nodes to be sure the cancer hadn't spread. He said that everything looked normal. They will still send in the lymph nodes to be sure. We won't get those results for about 4 days, but things look good. My mom was in quite a bit of pain when they brought her to her room, but even before we had to leave I could tell that it was getting under control--and she said as much. (ahhh, the wonders of morphine!)

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all your prayers!! I am so thankful to you all. I felt such a peace both before and during the surgery and I know it is because of your prayers. We have such a loving Father. What a blessing to be in His hands! In fact, I'd better wrap this up so I can spend some time with Him to thank Him for this very encouraging day.