On January 11, Mia had to have surgery to repair a hole in her eardrum. This has been coming for months, and she was pretty nervous about it. On the morning of the surgery, Ryan and I brought her to Childrens Hospital; of course Glowie came with us.
It made me think back, 6 years to the day, when she had tubes put in her ears. Glowie was there then too.
Before the procedure started, Zoe the therapy dog came by for a visit which Mia absolutely loved. She's a full-size Goldendoodle, and she is very well behaved. We were glad to pet and love on her.
The surgery took a couple of hours. When they wheeled her back in, she was sound asleep. She stayed asleep for about another hour. When she woke up, she tried to drink a little slushy but really didn't feel well so they let her go back to sleep for another 30 minutes or so. When she woke up again, she was able to sip a little Sprite.
It's always hard to watch your baby at this point. Ryan and I stayed right by her side both times.
At about 5 PM, they released her, so Ryan wheeled her out to the car. She even managed a little smile as she held Glowie and Kevin the Minion. Our friends, Brian Fox and Ron Hughes, had stopped by before the surgery to pray with us and encourage us; Ron brought Kevin as a sweet gift. We are so thankful for great friends like this and the many countless others who were praying for our sweet girl that morning. We received so many emails, texts and calls, and we are very grateful.
It was a rough car ride home (5 PM coming around the perimeter), but we made it. Mia was glad to see Lily and Granna. Several friends from school had sent notes. Lily had every 1st and 3rd grader sign a card for her. Grandpops and Grandma Jan send these beautiful sunflowers. Granna had taken Lily to Barnes & Noble to use her Christmas gift cards. Lily bought herself a couple of books but also bought Mia two books to read while she recovered. She read one of them to her that evening. Mia enjoyed getting to recover in our bed for a few days.
We are very thankful for God's provision of skilled doctors and nurses and for our wonderful friends and family. We are praying for a complete recovery for Mia. We won't know for awhile if the surgery has actually been successful in restoring her hearing or not. If it's not, we'll go down that road with confidence that this will be used to glorify God at some point. No matter, we will praise God for making Mia just the way she is. She's incredible!
