Cora's Ear Tube Surgery, a Prayer Request, and a Super Geek-Out

Two weeks ago, we met with an otolaryngologist (I totally know why they go by ENT) to discuss Cora's ears and the possibility of her having ear tubes. This whole saga began about a year ago when we put Cora into speech therapy. After four months of speech, I didn't feel like things were coming along the way I thought they should, so I had her pediatrician take a look at her ears. He saw that there was fluid, so we pulled out the tympanogram and tested her ears. Neither of her eardrums were moving because of the fluid. After we tried a steroid nasal spray for 6 weeks, and her ears weren't 100% clear, though much better, we went to an audiologist for a formal hearing screening. At the exam, one of her ears was infected, and there was no movement on the tympanogram in that ear, and less than average movement in the other ear. She was experiencing hearing loss because of the fluid present, though her permanent hearing was unaffected.

When we went back to her regular pediatrician, he wanted to do four more weeks on the nasal spray, and if her ears weren't perfect we'd go to the ENT. They looked good the day we went, but with all of the ear infections (4-6 per year), we decided to go ahead and go to the ENT. It took FOREVER to finally get into one, with an ear infection in-between. She had a hearing test two weeks ago, her hearing looking normal, her ears were clear, and the ENT was initially wanting to see us back in 3 months. I almost laughed out loud. After we went over her history with him and discussed the number of infections she gets, plus the speech issues, we scheduled ear tube surgery for the 28th. This morning I got the call with information about arrival time and what she can and can't eat/drink for how long before the procedure. Her arrival time is 11:30 AM with surgery about 2 hours after that, and she can't have any food starting at midnight.

Here's where the prayer request comes in: she's getting sick. No fever yet, but she's getting some nasal congestion and has a little cough, and any time she gets even the tiniest bit of extra mucus, she gets an ear infection. Please pray that she won't get a fever, and that if this is trying to turn into an ear infection, that it won't make it that far before she gets her tubes. I'm ready for us to be moving on from the ear issues and back into her speech therapy. Her speech really has improved in the last year, and I know that it will get better by leaps and bounds when she can hear in a normal range consistently while working on getting rid of the modifications she's made along way to compensate.

And the Super Geek-Out....

My visiting teachers were over today. [In the Mormon church, every woman has a few other women she visits, shares a monthly message with, checks up on, makes sure they're doing well, etc. I was being visited by my "visiting teachers" and I am a "visiting teacher" to other women.] I can't remember the exact point of conversation we were at when it happened, but it happened in a big way.

Barry walked by. I have a crush on our mailman. Today was extra special because he was wearing his woven hat and sunglasses. What I really love about him are his sweet bow legs, which I couldn't see from where I was sitting.

Anyway, when Barry walked by, I totally interrupted the conversation to watch, and share my crush with the other very married women in my living room. And then I was slightly embarrassed for making a big deal about Barry. There was blushing, and turning red, and even sweat involved. But my day stops every time he walks by.

It's an innocent crush, really. I crush on him the way I crush on cute kids. He reminds me of what that  little kid in all of the old "real" Disney movies [think Swiss Family Robinson] would look like all grown up, but without the super weird voice - Kevin Corcoran. Barry even neatly parts his clean cut hair on one side, and he has dimples. If there were a letter carrier appreciation day, I would leave out milk and cookies rather than Red Hots or a Big Hunk.

Don't worry, Jake knows about this. And about my crush on Brian Williams. My crush on Brian has to do with his eyebrows. More specifically, the sharp downward angle they take when he's making a serious face. I cried when Tom Brokaw left Nightly News and spent the next few months wary of Brian. He grew on me. When my girls hear Nightly News's theme music, they stop and yell from wherever they are, "Brian's on!"

Who do you have super Geek-tastic crushes on?

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