Just wanted to let everyone know the MRI results showed Cassie’s brain is normal! The findings were, “There is no mass or abnormal enhancement involving the internal auditory canals. The Mastoids are clear.” YAY! Whew!
Thank you to everyone for your wonderful support, and kind words.
Blaze fans ROCK!
I won’t be home to reply to your comments until this afternoon because today my youngest daughter is having an MRI on her brain.
First, let me explain why. About 3 years ago, my daughter started telling me and my husband that her right ear “felt funny”. I told her it was probably just stopped up and it would “pop” open on it’s own in a few days. But every evening, my daughter kept complaining, finally saying she couldn’t hear out of that ear. Well, it was always right before bedtime and, like most young children, she’s always been a big staller about going to sleep. Plus, she’d never had any ear infections—I mean, none. It’s my one bragging right as a mother. None of my children ever had ear infections–so I really didn’t give it much thought.
Then, a few weeks later we were in the movie theater and I whispered something in her right ear since I was sitting to her right, and she turned her head so I would talk into her left ear. She did this several times until I asked what she was doing and she said, “I told you I can’t hear out of my right ear!”
This was not bedtime. This was not when I was trying to get her to do her chores, or to turn down the television. I finally realized she might be telling the truth. So, I tested her. I whispered “I hate you.” into her right ear, knowing she would react to something so awful.
No reaction.
I blinked. Damn.
We took her to an ear, nose and throat specialist and they tested her hearing. 100% deaf in her right ear. My beautiful baby girl. My special gift after trying for two years and hoping for a girl. How she loved to sing. What a talker she was. What a huge vocabulary she had. How would all our lives change having a deaf child? I’d need to learn sign language. What would we do about school? And not only that, but…I was the Worst Mother in the World! What if I’d believed her 2 months ago? Could they have saved her hearing? What kind of monster was I?
The doctor said she had Otosclerosis — the immobilization, or hardening, of the stapes bone — occurs slowly. And is usually caused by a lifetime of exposure to loud noise, like a military person exposed to bombs and guns or someone who attended lots of loud concerts all their life. They said when she turned 18, our daughter can have a Stapedectomy to replace the bone with a prosthesis. What a special gift medical advances are that they can diagnose and correct so many human frailties!
That was 3 years ago, and every six months, we take her back to check the hearing in her left ear. Luckily, my worst fear has never been realized and she remains 100% hearing in her left ear. But this last checkup, our usual doctor was on vacation and the new doctor wondered again, why? This condition is very rare in someone so young. (At the time, she was only 8 years old) Had she had an infection? Not that I or my husband knew of. Was it hereditary? Again, not that either of us knew. So, the new doc ordered an MRI. Kind of late if the problem is a brain tumor, but okay. I felt, again, like the world’s worst mother. I should have insisted on something like this in the beginning! Why didn’t I make them do this three years ago?
Like most of you, I’d heard of MRIs (Hey, I watch House) but I’ve never had one. So, the first thing I did after being told my daughter needed one was to go to the internet and Google it. MRI stands for magnetic resonance imaging and is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to visualize detailed internal structures. Ok.
But what’s actually going to happen? My daughter wanted to know and was kind of scared, and I don’t blame her. So, back to the internet we went and I brought up some pictures of the machine so my daughter could see what it would be like. She’ll have to lie completely still for about 45 minutes.
My daughter was diagnosed ADHD last year. “Still” is not a word in her huge vocabulary. And to be in there all alone where I can’t hold her and comfort her? That’s going to be difficult for all of us. To tell you the truth, I’m a little nervous, myself. Nervous about the results. I can only pray everything is all right.
If you pray, please say one for my daughter today. If not, maybe send out some positive vibes into the world for me, will you? That would be an special gift to us this holiday season. I can deal with deafness, but I can’t deal with losing my baby girl. She was a special gift to us. We were pretty old when she was born (I was 38 and hubby was 47)
This was our year to host Christmas Day and my mom, and all my sisters and their husbands and my nephews came to our house for Christmas lunch and unwrapping presents. I get out my grandmother’s good Dresden china for the meal, and then it takes several hours to unwrap presents because we like to go two at a time so we can all see everyone open their gifts. At the end of the day, the living room was piled with discarded wrapping paper and boxes, and the house is a mess. But it’s worth it to make such special memories with the whole family. And that of course is my true gift. I’ve had so many special gifts in my life. A magical childhood. A loving family. A caring husband who is always there for me. My beautiful children. And so many friends and people who care about me. I’ve been pretty lucky. How can I ask for more? But I’m going to. I pray the MRI shows everything is okay.
I’ll post the results here, dear friends.

See the picture? That’s my son getting his diploma from the University of Texas–the same UT who’s playing Alabama tonight for the national championship in football, but that’s not the point. (Unless you’re a Longhorn, which I am not.) The point is, I am done! Done, done, done! I have just checked “raise son to adulthood” off my list. He is raised. Break out the champagne! I did the best I could and now I’m sending him out into the world where I hope he’s hugely successful and sells like gangbusters. Oh, wait. He’s a child an adult, not a book. But you know what? I feel the same way after finishing a book, getting the edits, giving a final polish, and letting my baby go off to the publisher where he’ll be given a slick cover and released into the world. Afterward, all I can do is sit back and wait for the reviews. When you think about it, that’s pretty much what I’m going to do now, along with hoping someone out there wants to hire a sociology major with minors in economics and business administration. Well, that, and watch the game tonight.

Just this once . . . HOOK ‘EM HORNS!

Anyone else going to watch the game?