A Crazy Few Weeks...

Of course, What's new? It seems like it is always a 'crazy few weeks' around here. It has been just over a month (14 more to go!) since Jon left for the desert, and we are missing him. I believe that there are two 'worst parts' to the deployment... the first, is getting past that first month - Thank God that is over... and the second is about half way... When you know you are almost done, but in our case, will look at it as still having 7.5 months to go.

I have spoken to Jon a few times... (Hi, honey... if you get the chance to read this!) He seems to be doing okay, he has been busy working 12-14 hour days and trying to stay out of the heat. He still doesn't have his internet hooked up, but it should be any day... I really hope he will have a better connection than he had in Kuwait.

On the 2nd of July, Ava went in to the hospital for a minor outpatient surgery on her tongue, and for the follow-up MRI. The surgery went great, and she now has a full range of motion (she was tongue-tied). The MRI, however, wasn't so good. Her Doctors and I were shocked to see the images. Ava has been diagnosed with an extremely rare birth defect, schizencephaly, where her brain didn't develop properly in the womb. Of course, with the language barrier (we are seeing German Pediatric Neurologists), it was difficult to understand what the prognosis might be... Ava's Neuro has never seen a case of his own... so he has referred us to a specialist in Munich... we will be going there in a few weeks. I have researched the web, but there really isn't a definitive answer on how things could turn out. The defect causes a number of problems, that Thankfully, Ava does NOT suffer from, so we (the neuro and I) are guessing that she is on the mild side of the spectrum. However, the diagnosis does explain the tight muscles on her right side... she is using them much more, but they are still tight. It also explains why she isn't crawling/pulling up/walking/talking yet. The disorder affects her movement and speech... She is able to get everywhere she wants to be, by rolling.... She has no problem in that area! She is making a lot more noise since the surgery, but is still not saying any words... mama, baba, dada, etc...
I'm sure you can imagine how difficult the first few days were after I received the news.... I was at the hospital alone, with Ava... who by the way, was out cold... for 12 hours! And no way to get ahold of Jon... Everything always happens when he is away... that is the rule. I think I spent most of that week crying, or on the verge of tears... It wasn't until the following week, when I joined a group for families who have children with this same diagnosis, that I began to pick myself up... After all, I have to be the strong one. I have two little kids to worry about, and take care of. From the families in this group, I have gotten a great deal of info, and hope that I couldn't find anywhere else... And I have every reason to believe that she will be exactly what God intended her to be. She has made so much progress since we brought her home, it is amazing. She is a totally different baby. I believe that she will crawl/walk/talk, maybe not as soon as expected, but eventually... (And I hope that you will keep her/us in your thoughts and prayers... Jon, too... he probably needs them more!)