Bummer

Our biggest fear today was that Hope wouldn't do well with anesthesia during surgery for her ear tubes. By that measure, things went exceedingly well. The girl is tough. She was groggy for much of the afternoon, but seems to be rebounding well.

Unfortunately, today fell short by other measures. The tubes are in. Dr. Frosty emerged after 95 minutes looking like he straggled in from Fallujah and announcing that Hope's ear tubes were his toughest operation yet and her canals are the smallest he's seen.

Ten hours later, he returned to tell us they didn't make much difference in her hearing. One ear, which had severe hearing loss, has slightly improved and is now considered moderate. The other, which was moderate, had no change. That designation sounds better than it is. She still can't regularly hear our voice.

The tests still showed that the inner-workings of Hope's ears are mechanically sound, so she has conductive hearing deficiency: Sound isn't getting into her inner-ear. There's a chance her ear canals could widen as she ages. It's apparently not uncommon for kids with CdLS to flunk hearing tests as newborns and have normal hearing by 2.

So now it's on to getting Hope fit for hearing aids. We hope it isn't as burdensome a process as the tubes. She's a few weeks shy of 6 months and action is paramount.

We're sad, groggy and a bit numb from a long day, but I'm not sure we're surprised. Both Mo and I had sneaking suspicions this may be the result. Still, we allowed the possibility of a quick fix to tantalize and daydreamed about how wonderful it would be if we could take her home to song and mindless chatter that she could hear.

But we know that things are rarely going to be that easy. It stinks. But we're not big wallowers. So we move on and know it could have been worse.

Hope should be home tomorrow. They kept her overnight for observation because Dr. Frosty also stuck some probes down her throat to definitively diagnose her laryngomalacia (floppy airway) and there was some concern about swelling and breathing.

Addendum: Hope did return home on Saturday. She's OK, but cranky. So are we a bit. She may get fitted for temporary hearing aids on Friday, but there's a mountain of paperwork between now and then.