Refreshed

Thursdays around here are Mommy-Daughter Day. There's no school, no therapy, no place we HAVE to be. Normally we try to plan fun activities like story time at the library, a trip to the museum, a day at the beach, etc. Lately Mommy-Daughter Day has not been fun. A full day with no set routine has simply been torture for Hannah and therefore torture for me. Today however was amazing. Despite all the things I did wrong (no nap, hopped from store to store, stroller confinement for large chunks of time, two meals at restaurants, changes of plans at the last minute, a doctor's appointment . . . . ) that should have made the day horrible, it was perfect. Hannah and I had a delightful day together. I was worried that the day was going to be bad when Hannah started the day by sneaking out of my bedroom while I was still sleeping, going downstairs to the kitchen, and getting some candy and eating it. She was not pleased when I took the remaining candy away from her and I only narrowly avoided sending her into a meltdown. Still, she managed to recover and the day we had together left me feeling energized and thoroughly refreshed. I needed this day. It's going to get me through many rough days.

One of the things Hannah and I did today was buy new shoes. Her feet have grown and I was not looking forward to having to buy her new shoes so soon after the hard time we had finding shoes that would fit with her braces. We really like the shoes we found last time and I was dreading giving them up. Walking into Stride Rite today, a quick scan of the shelves told me there were no shoes that were a similar style to her old shoes. Apparently that style of shoe is not a spring style. My heart sank. As I began to search for the next best solution I came across some boxes stacked on the floor that didn't have samples sitting out on top of them. It turned out that they were all the pairs they had left of Hannah's old style of shoe and they were on sale. They were seriously on sale. More than half off from what I had paid before. Now, all we had to do was measure her feet to see if any of the remaining pairs fit. Cue Angels singing. . . . . . We had a match! So, Hannah and I walked out of the mall with her wearing the same shoes that she wore into the store only the next size up. I was thrilled and so was she.

Another excursion we made was to a new ENT. I liked him. I'm picky about doctors and so far I haven't been super pleased with Hannah's doctors here in Rhode Island. The only one of them I've liked is her orthopedist and the brace shop technician that fitted her for her AFOs. This guy is nice. He was thorough. He had a good rarport with Hannah. He listened to her history. He made his recommendations based both on her history and my concerns. I was pleased. That's what I want in a doctor-someone to be my partner in keeping my daughter healthy. His exam confirmed that Hannah's ear infection is gone, but that there is still fluid filling both ears. She had no detectable movement in her ear drums when he did the tympanogram. No wonder the poor thing can't hear. Kyle likens talking to Hannah right now to speaking with a mini octogenarian. I have to say that I agree. I constantly feel like I'm stuck inside that old skit "Who's on First?" Now we know why. The doctor recommends waiting 4 weeks to see if the fluid drains (normal protocol is 4 months). They'll then recheck her ears and run a hearing test. If the fluid is gone and her hearing is normal then we all shout, "Hooray!" and do a happy dance. If there's been no change or things have gotten worse then we'll have to risk another surgery and put in new tubes. In the meantime we're going to try some dietary intervention to see if we can get things under control. A month ought to be enough time to see if we can make any difference. We're starting with some probiotics and then we'll see where we go from there.