It's Finally Here!

Monday of this week James and I headed to Rochester, MN. That boy is getting really good at traveling! I get pretty worried when it's just the two of us because if he gets hungry or upset I have to stop somewhere. But, no worries. That boy loves his movies and if we stop once to eat he's usually pretty good. Tuesday we started the day with a Speech/Pathology consult. It wasn't really anything new. We talked about how James communicates right now, what he's working on in therapy at Sanford and at school and what steps we should take after implant. She definately thinks that Augmentative Communication is the route to go with James. That route definately scares me. There are so many options out there and it's so expensive. How do we know that what we choose will work? Because once we purchase one-we're stuck with it.
The second appointment of the day was James' MRI to verify that he has an auditory nerve and to check the anatomy of his head. He went to sleep really well. It took about 2 hours. He didn't wake up as good as he usually does. He had some "laryngospasms" and it caused some mischief and they were pretty concerned about doing surgery on Wednesday considering the laryngospasms and his previous airway problems. Once I got back there he seemed to be doing well, we gave him a nebulizer and got packed up to head to the next appointment. The next appointment was kinda fun. We got to pick the colors and accessories for the implant! We chose lime green for one and blue for the other. We get a back up processor so that James is never without hearing. Then came the appointment with the surgeon. I wasn't sure what to expect. I expected the MRI to be normal but after speaking with the anesthesiologists that did the MRI I was worried they would cancel surgery. He was ok with proceeding :) We did decide to put the implant on the left side instead of the right like we originally planned, because the right side has some fluid in it right now. We would expect a better outcome with the left that has no fluid. In a few weeks we'll need to have his ears looked at to make sure his tubes are working in that right ear.

So, today I'm sitting in the waiting room. James went into the OR around 8:00 this morning and surgery should take about 2 hours. Anesthesia had a pretty clear plan about how they wanted to handle him so that makes me feel better after what happened yesterday. We aren't sure yet if he'll get discharged today or if he'll have to stay the night. Only time will tell. In the meantime, I'm praying to God for strength for James and his lungs and for all that are caring for him today.