GroshLink

Eden had her hearing test on Monday and although the results were disappointing, they were not surprising. She has no hearing in her left ear, but her right ear is fine. Everything in her left ear functions properly until the sound reaches her auditory nerve. The nerve does not convey the message to the brain. This is consistent with the MRIs which show the mass on her brainstem interfering with the nerves as they converge in the stem. The audiologist thought that her speech and language should not be impeded because she can hear in her right ear. We have questions concerning vestibular function but we'll be meeting with the ENT doc next Wed. and ask him.

On Tuesday we went to the opthamologist. He was pleased to see the progress she has made in being able to move her eye almost to midline and almost close her lid. He said he would do surgery to straighten her left eye at about 1 year old, maybe 9 months if she's not showing any further improvement. Even if the vascular malformation went away he wouldn't expect her eye to move normally b/c the muscle has been shortened for so long now that it wouldn't function normally.

She's had 3 sessions with the physical therapist and is doing well with the neck stretches. She cooperates very well for the therapist. Today she had her first session with the vision therapist. Our goal there is to get her to look at objects and eventually start tracking them. Again she cooperated nicely.

Next up is a visit to the ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor) concerning her hearing loss. That occurs on Wed., 8/3. And the following day she gets her next MRI to see if anything has changed with the mass on the brainstem. We'll post another update after we have that information.

Thanks for praying. It's neat to meet people that I don't know who have been praying for Eden through their church prayer chains. In the past week I've met several such people. How wonderful!

Keep Cool!

Theresa