Louise's CI Surgery

One month ago, little Louise joined our big, crazy family.  It has been quite the ride having a little diva toddler in the house but I wouldn't trade it for anything!

I will have to write another post later about her progress these past few weeks, but for now I have some exciting news to share!

Two days ago, on August 21st, 2014, exactly one month from the day she moved into our home, Louise had her cochlear implant surgery!

She handled it like a champ and is now home resting and healing.  Okay, this girl doesn't do much resting...she's 2!  But she is healing ;)

She had to get admitted the night before the surgery and Ramana, one of our ayahs, stayed with her.  Nikki and I went the morning of the surgery to bring Ramana some food and check in with Louise.  She was doing well and didn't seem nervous or anxious at all!

After she got out of recovery, I joined her at the hospital so Ramana could go home and get some rest.  She was very fussy when I arrived and cried for a while until they gave the okay for her to eat.  Once she was able to eat, drink some water, and take the pain meds though, she cheered up and slept for a few hours.

She was great the rest of the day.  The only time the smile left her face was when I tried to take her food away! ;)

She slept well through the night and was back to her normal self in the morning.  Unfortunately, being her normal self meant not cooperating for any of the tests for discharge but in the down time, she was happy and smiley :P

It was really nice getting to just spend some time with my girl.  I got to see a side of her that I normally don't get to at home.

She was very attentive in everything we did and I've never seen her communicate so well.

At home we've been working on teaching her some signs and just trying to get her to communicate in general.  At the hospital, she was letting me know her needs really well with gestures and facial expressions and I was never in doubt of what she was wanting.  After a while, she even started using a lot of the signs we've been trying to teach her - I didn't even know she had picked up on what they meant yet as she refuses to use them at home!  At one point she even put together the signs "more" and "food."

By the time afternoon hit, she was very ready to go home and kept whining and gesturing to the door.  She was able to come home just before dinner and jumped right back in to running around the house with Theo without missing a beat!

She is back to her normal self like nothing happened and besides trying to pull her bandage off every time we turn around, has been great!

Getting to spend 24 hours with just Louise has made me fall even more in love with my goofy, sweet, smart, sassy, mischievous, adorable little diva of a girl!  I am so happy that she is a part of our family!

Would you please consider coming alongside of us in caring for little Louise?

She is still in need of monthly sponsors.  Will you be one of them?

If you choose to sponsor Louise, in addition to the sponsor updates throughout the year, you will be able to get regular updates from me and if you ask nicely, maybe even a Skype date to meet her ;)

You can sponsor Louise by following this link:

http://schindia.com/children/louise/

Thank you in advance for your support!

Even if you can't support Louise financially, please be keeping her in your prayers!

Prayer requests:

That she would continue to heal from the surgery well and quickly.

That the switch on of her implant in a few weeks would go well.

That the implant would work and she would be able to hear.

For the follow up therapy process as she learns to hear and communicate through spoken language.

Thank you!