Hi family and friends. As many of you know, we’ve had a lot going on … for a few years now. At first I was going to make a blog with details on Ella’s mental health journey, but now I have my own journey ahead. I can’t help but feel like it’s all connected.
Basically, all of the years of stress and trying to rescue my child (from schools, therapists, hospitals and mental health facilities, from herself) have taken their toll on my physical health. It’s amazing how powerful stress can be. Most don’t notice it (myself included) until it’s screaming at you to stop what you are doing, as it’s obviously not serving you. It’s like a message from the universe saying “hey girl. I’m going to drive for a while so you go take a break. Go take care of yourself now. Put your oxygen mask on first.”
So now I have something called an acoustic neuroma – which is fancy for a non-cancerous tumor. Acoustic Neuroma info
That’s my head! I’ve been losing hearing in my right ear for about two years now. I had it checked over a year ago and we agreed to keep an eye on it. Life got in the way (don’t do that!!!) and I put off the recheck. They had me get an MRI and sure enough, there’s an intruder in there who will need to be evicted via surgery.
Ummmm… right ear? You good?
WHEN? When is your surgery? That has been the big question. I have to get a CT scan on Monday and then hopefully we’ll be able to kick this tumor out. She’s gotten quite comfortable in there, which makes the surgery pretty involved. They can’t preserve my hearing, but they have to be careful around those other nerves.
We will try to keep everyone updated the best we can – the good, the hard and the ugly. I’m gonna have a rocking new haircut involving a shaved side by my right ear. I’m also going to be in the hospital for about 4 days. Then it is recovery and physical therapy time. This thing has damaged my hearing in the one ear permanently and there’s a good chance it will temporarily affect my vestibular nerve – leaving me quite dizzy.
My hope is that Kyl can log on and update everyone at once while I’m in surgery and in the days after.
Ella is on her own journey. We’ve been seeking help for years, but now it’s becoming clear that we need to lean on some professionals and stop “operation rescue Ella.” She is at a therapeutic boarding school that focuses on adopted teens and their struggles. Read about Three Points here
They work with wild mustangs and the idea is the mustangs behavior matches the dysregulation in the kids. Each kid gets a horse to regulate and each horse gets a kid to heal.
Stability will hold many meanings for all three of us in the months to come. Mental, emotional and physical.
I’ll update this after I find out CT scan results.
XO – Amy
Stability 
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