Lars' birthday

On Friday afternoon I brought Sofia to Lars' birthday party. Lars is the little boy that Sofia is "in love" with and is going to marry so this was a party Sofia was not going to miss. Inge, Lars' mom always has great parties. She has crafts for the kids to do and activities to keep them entertained. She lets the other parents sit and have tea or coffee while she and Romke (her husband) make sure the kids all have a blast. This party was no different. The kids had a scavenger hunt in the yard and then played a game throwing a ball at bottles to see how many they could knock down. When that was finished she had the kids inside for a painting craft. After that it was cake and presents. It is amazing how quickly the time went by and the kids all had so much fun.

Thanksgiving

It is hard to believe this is our third Thanksgiving in Prague. As we did the last two years we went to the annual Davis Thanksgiving. The last two years we made a turkey but this year we, instead, made TWO turkeys. Jason did most of the turkey making which was great since it gave me time to get the house cleaned. Anyway, we made our turkeys and then headed over to our friends house. The kids really have a great time playing with their friends. They all sit together and when they are done they are off and running. This year I spent more time in the kitchen helping out so I didn't have as much time to chat with friends but it did make me feel like I was keeping true to my mom's family. My mom and her sisters always do the dishes together so it felt ok to be following in their footstpes. Fortunuately I was able to keep my singing (a required part of doing dishes for my mom and aunts) to myself so people didn't think I was crazy! It was another fun thanksgiving surrounded by our Prague family.

Ear Tube Surgery

Yesterday Sofia had tubes (grommets) put in her ears. We arrived at the hospital at the required time of 7am. Then Sofia and I waited in her room for two and a half hours. As unlikely as it sounds this did have an upside. It made me very frustrated which took my attention off my nervousness! Anyway, after the long wait the nurse came in and gave Sofia some syrup to drink that would halp calm her down. She was doing surprisingly well though. I think having already been through the syrup and gas when she had her adenoids out helped. I wasn't expected much from the syrup since when she had the syrup for her adenoids it didn't seem to do anything. This time was different. They must have given her a high dosage. At first there was no change but within thirty minutes she started to laugh randomly. Then she started saying things like, "you have three eyes" and "I can't lift my head it is glued to the pillow", all of these comments were followed up with pure giggles. I kept trying to get her to just relax and go to sleep but she couldn't stop the giggles. She had me laughing even when I was trying to be serious. This lasted about fifteen minutes and then the nurses came in and wheeled her out of the room. It was very weird to watch her be taken away. Quite a powerless feeling. I just prayed that my baby would come back to me better than ever. They had told me she would be back between thirty minutes to an hour and that I should go get some coffee or something. I made my way to the cafeteria only to find out that it was closed. I then went and waited in the lobby until it was time to head back upstairs. Since it took me so long to find my way through the maze of the hospital I started to rush because I didn't want Sofia to be in her room all alone. I arrived at her toom expecting her to be there but she wasn't. I thought it strange but sat down to wait. As it past the hour mark I started to really worry. I had just given myself another five minutes to wait before I tracked down the nurse to find out if something was wrong when at about an hour and ten minutes after they took her they wheeled her back into her room. She still had her eyes closed which also surprised me. When she had her adenoids out she was in the surgery for twenty-five minutes and was fully awake by one hour. After speaking with many people who had tubes in their kids ears I assumed it would be the same this time. I was wrong. It took about another 45 minutes for Sofia to work her way out of the anesthesia induced crying. If you have watched your children come out of anesthesia you know what I mean...it is a very particular sounding cry. Once she broke free of this then we had a lot of coughing up of mucus and blood which wasn't very pleasant and was quite painful for her since her throat was already so sore. Then she finally went to sleep. She was exhausted. While she slept she had an IV drip of saline (I think) and two doses of antibiotics. The surgeon finally came in to tell us about the surgery. She did speak English but it wasn't great. When she started with, "I have something to tell you.", Jason and I had our hearts in our throats. It isn't as bad as we imagined but it does mean more doctor visits. She told us that she put the tubes in and removed her adenoids again (apparently they had grown back). She also said that when they went in to her left ear the fluid behind her ear drum wasn't really fluid but rather a thick glue that was difficult to get out of her ear. With that removed they also found a cyst called a Cholesteatoma. It is a cyst caused by a long standing retraction pocket of the eardrum into the middle ear. It can be a serious condition that if left untreated can cause deafness and facial parylisis. So, they removed the cyst. Because she had the cyst though she will need to be checked regularly to make sure the cyst does not come back. I'm not sure what regularly means so hopefully it isn't a weekly check. If the tubes are able to work properly and keep her ear drained then hopefully she won't have any new cysts form. This did explain the extended time she spent in the operating room and why is took her all day and night to really be herself again. She is home with me today to rest and I think she will be back at school tomorrow. Her hearing is already much better and will take some time for her to adjust to. She can hear me when I whisper now which is amazing. She also complained about Ali moving around too much last night and waking her up. I can't believe she is hearing the creaking of Ali's bed!

You're It!

The girls have really started to enjoy playing outdoor games with us. We play tag, freeze tag, hide & seek, and chase hide & seek. Jason played with them last week and they all had a really great time. Today we played as a family. The kids are surprisingly fast. I actually had to pick up my pace and not just pretend to run. I remember being a kid and not wanting to be the one that was "it". The girls haven't learned that dislike yet and they both want to be "it" so they can be the one chasing rather than being chased. It is also funny playing hide & seek with Watson around. He obviously doesn't understand the concept and always gives away our (mine and Jason's) hiding places. During chase Watson also likes to play but just ends up blocking our path...maybe he does know what he is doing and he is helping the kids catch us! :)

Heat

We held out as long as possible but today we finally turned the heat on. We realized we needed to give in and turn it on when I was on the phone the other night. I was talking to my friend and she asked me if I was getting a cold. I realized that it was so cold in our house that even with a sweatshirt and blanket on my nose was running! Oh well, we made it to Nov 21st. I think that is the longest we have ever gone. (Granted we did have help from the woodstove.)

Tubes

So today I brought Sofia in to the doctor for her control appointment. She is free from cough, ear pain and runny nose. I assumed, therefore, that it would be a quick check up and we would be out the door. There is, of course, nothing quick about Motol hospital. Parking took me 20 minutes then we waited another 15 to check in and then another hour to see the doctor. My waiting was all for the good though. Sofia saw the doctor and the doctor said she looked good and so she performed the tympanomtry test on her ears. Of course, the test came back with bad results. Sofia lives with constent fluid in her middle ear. Anyway, the test came back so bad that the doctor decided we needed to have the tubes put in sooner than January 5th. She offered me Nov 23rd. I took it since I want to get Sofia hearing better as quick as possible and I want to avoid more ear infections. Accepting this date means I will have a busy few days. Tomorrow I have to bring Sofia in for blood work. Friday we have to go meet with the surgeon who will be doing the surgery and I have to pick up the blood test results. Monday we go in early for the surgery. Please pray that everything goes smoothly and that Sofia will come home from the hospital the same day with a new way of hearing the world.