Update on EmmaLin

It has been a while since I have posted anything on EmmaLin so here we go.  Since my last post a lot has gone on and it is starting to seem like she has always been with us.  Its only been a couple of months, I know.  She is pretty much warmed up to all of us now, however I still think Lisa is her favorite for the time being.  I am sure Lisa would think it is me sometimes too.  Funny though she still gets a little jealous when Lisa hugs or kisses on the boys.  She will pout till it is her turn, then she is happy again.  She is adjusting very well having only been here a couple of months.  She is going to a preschool at a church right across the street from us.  She loves it.  I think it is mostly because of where she came from and being in a group setting helped her a lot.  She can already count to 10 and is learning other things well.  We are still working on sign language with her.  Basically when we need to tell her something or need a sign for something, we go look it up and all learn it together.  She is very smart but I think is still being held back by her lack of hearing.  We have already made a trip to Shands in Gainesville, FL. to see what our options are.  What we got from that trip is that she is not a candidate for reconstructive surgery to her ears.  There are nerves and components that are in there that are not fully formed or are not in the normal places and if they were to go in there they might damage the hearing more or other facial nerves.  Since she already has a facial paralysis and do not want to damage her hearing nerve any more, we decided not to go that route.  Our next option is a BAHA (bone anchored hearing aid) or something of the like.  What that is is a screw that would be put in her skull and then a removable hearing aid attached to it to vibrate the skull and in turn sending sound to her hearing nerves.  The doctor said something is about to come out very soon that might be an alternative to this device and that we should wait to see what it is.  So for the time being, we are going to see about getting her a headband hearing aid which would hold a hearing aid to the side of her skull.  This can be worn and removed much like the BAHA.  This can be gotten from a doctor here in Tallahassee which is nice.  I think this will help her out tremendously with her learning the English language and just being respond in speech and requests that we make of her.  Our next steps along this line is to see about whether we try and get her some ears.  These can probably be grown by her or we might look into prosthetics.  The thing about the prosthetics is that they can incorporate the BAHA into the prosthetic ears and it would serve two purposes.  This appointment will be in about a week back over at Shands.  That is about it on the Dr's part on her.  One funny thing about her we have witnessed her doing lately is getting up in the middle of the night and roaming the house.  Sometimes we will hear something and go find her in the office chair doing something or we will find her asleep in the chair in the living room.  Not sure yet what is going on there but we have to keep an ear out for noises in the night because it is probably her.  She is a fascinating child and we love her greatly.  Hopefully around Thanksgiving some of you will finally get to meet her for the first time.  That is about all I have for now.  I will try and keep updates on here when we hear more about our DR's visits.