The Beginning

A Very Brief Overview

Well here it goes... first blog ever by a technical retard.. so bear with me.

Most of our friends and family are aware of the journey that Shane, Mikey and I have been on since about January 2002.  We were pregnant and over the moon about the upcoming birth of our first child - due June 2002. 

Excitement turned to fear of the unknown when my membranes ruptured and I leaked amniotic fluid for the next four months.  Most of you in the know are aware this is NOT GOOD! VERY BAD.  Some dangers include infection leading to loss of life for baby and hysterectomy for mum!

We held on with  grim determination - knowing Mikey now I'm not surprised!  cutting an extremely long story short - Mikey was delivered at Mater Mothers by cesarean at 32 weeks gestation.  Mikey weighed 1900 grams (that was big compared to the other little mites in intensive care).

Mikey, quite amazingly, was born very healthy and only spent his first night of life in intensive care - after this he was taken off the C-Pap and taken into the special care unit.  The object now was to fatten him up and assist him with feeding - babies do not gain their sucking reflex until about 36 weeks gestation.

It wasn't until the next day we noticed Mikey's little ear - this was because as soon as he was born the nurses placed a hat on his head which his breathing apparatus was attached to.  To be quite honest at the time his tiny little ear was the least of our concerns.  We were just so happy to have a healthy baby.

I will come back to this at a later date.... so many trials and tribulations to share.

The Here and the Now

February 2011 - We are lucky enough to have been given the opportunity to fly to the United States and have some very skilled surgeons perform a very difficult surgery on Mikey.

The operation takes place on June 21 2011.  The procedures will be performed, firstly by a very talented ENT Surgeon called Dr Roberson - Doctor Roberson will perform surgery on Mikey's deformed inner ear canal.  Dr Roberson will open up Mikey's ear canal to enable him to hear from his right ear (this is an extremely simplified explanation).

Dr Reinish our plastic surgeon will in essence create an ear for Mikey.   Mikey's new ear will be created from a synthetic material known as "Medpor".  Dr Reinish carves the shape of an ear from this Medpor material using a template from Mikey's left ear.  The Medpor ear will then be covered by Mikey's own skin and membrane.  atresiarepair.com

Great Day Today

Today is a great day because our flight is booked!! We are very excited and scared all at once.  So now marks the beginning of another journey.....