What a terribly sad week it has been so far for a couple of very close friends....and it's not over yet.
I work for a small company. As is common in our industry, we have a lot of nepotism going around. We have brothers working with brothers, father & sons, husbands & wives who all work for our small company. It really does feel like family.
In Jan, one of our employees was in HI working on a job. He suddenly took ill & was put in the hospital. One complication led to another & after a few weeks he was finally able to return home. Since then, he's been through lots of medical tests. After marrow tests looked clear for cancer, they did find lymphoma in his spinal fluid. They started him on treatment, but his body responded badly & last week they put him into a drug induced coma. Yesterday, he died. He was 51 & leaves behind his wife (who also works with us) & two school aged daughters. Farewell Mark...you are going to be sorely missed by everyone.
Across the seas a very dear friend & her husband are in China meeting their second daughter. Only, things were not right with the baby & they made the agonizing decision yesterday not to proceed with her adoption. They are devastated. The blessing is that they are traveling with their agency director & she has supported & provided counsel to them through this. We are waiting now to hear what will happen next. Incredibly sad. I'm so glad to have avoided that first hand pain, but it is painful to be a bystander as well.
And, a very dear man from our church is in his last days. He has had cancer of the jaw. This is the second person I have known well, with this, & it has not been good either time. In fact, it's awful. Praying for peace for Ed & his family.
About once a year we make a trip up to the Univ hospital & I schedule all of the girls appts on the same day, so we can take the day & do back to back appts. (We go up there more often to see our Audiologist, but this day we see her + the others we need to check in with annually).
We started with our Audiologist. They checked out the mappings on Lindsi's cochlear, did some fine adjustments. They tested & fixed her FM system from school. Lindsi had a booth test. We explored options for a cable that can fit into an Ipo* Su**le (#1 gift request on Lindsi's May birthday list). All went well there. Our audiologist is 8 months pregnant with her first baby.
Next, we went to lunch. Lindsi had about 100 questions about Dr G's baby. Was it growing in her? How was it going to get out? What did it eat? Would she need a DR to help get it out? Would she cry? HOW did it get in there??!! Delightful restaurant lunch time conversation. My mom was with us & fully enjoyed the show.
After lunch we went to see our ENT. A regular check up. The PA cleaned Lindsi's ears. On the un implanted side she pulled out a piece of matter that was easily twice the size of a pencil eraser. YUCK! That's the ear that she routinely gets her infections. Of course, once that was out & she could see, what she saw was a very ugly ear infection underneath, & behind the drum. The good thing is, Lindsi is asymptomatic, no fevers, no tenderness, nothing, as it effects her ears. The bad thing is, Lindsi is asymptomatic...no indications of the infection. I usually do not know she has one until it starts draining. This time, the plug was holding it all in.
She was put on antibiotic drops & we need to set up a series of recurring ear checks with our local Ped. If the ear infections become continuous, she may have to have surgery to correct a problem with that ear. Fortunately, for now, they have contained themselves to that ear, but it could easily cross over to the implanted ear & we really do not want that to happen.
After that great news we went to the ENT Audiologist & had new swim ear plugs custom made for Lindsi. I also picked up a pair of Doc Pros for Jami. So, we should be set for summer swims now. I'm excited because apparently they now make the custom plugs out of material that will float. In the past, if it popped out, it immediately went down to the drain.
