1 Year Anniversary

It was one year ago today that Lauren had Atresia repair surgery with Dr. Roberson in Palo Alto, California. She continues to do well and the surgery was definitely worth it for her. She doesn't have perfect hearing on her left side, but it is much better than prior to the surgery. We haven't had her tested in a while and would like to do that again soon. The tests that were conducted post surgery showed very good improvement in the higher decibel ranges, but she did decrease in some of the lower ranges. Overall, the tests have shown successful results. We are hopeful that she will not need a hearing device in the future. I have included photos from before and after the surgery. The Medpor surgeries were conducted in May and October 2009.


An update on Grandpa Ottley. He had Ulnar Nerve Decompression on January 13th. He has since recovered but has had limited improvements. The doctor says it may take up to two years for any improvement to take place. Nerve regeneration is a very slow process and patience is required. Grandpa attempted to go back to work today on a limited basis to see how well he could do. He is planning to take it slow and ease back into working full time again.

Grandpa Ottley and Lauren: Update 14

I apologize for not updating this in more than a month. Both Lauren and Grandpa Ottley have been continuing to recover. Lauren has been back in the swing of things and is still healing very well. She had her ears pierced during her last surgery. We kept the ear rings in for about a month. On her birthday, she received some new ear rings so we took the old ones out. She started to get a bit a swelling soon after that so we have kept the ear rings out since. Dr. Lewin says it shouldn't be anything to worry about and to just keep an eye on it. I promise to add some new photos of her on here as soon as I can. 2009 has ended and it is overwhelming to think of all she had to go through last year, but all in all, she has handled it better than any of us could. We don't have anything planned for her this year. She is continuing to wear an expander that is placed on the roof of her mouth. We tighten the device daily to expand her upper pallet. She will have to do this for a couple more months. After that, she may wear another device to try and lengthen the jaw on her affected side.

As for Grandpa Ottley, he has not gone back to work yet. He is doing much better after the bypass surgery but he has had some lingering effects in his arm and hand. He has been diagnosed as having nerve compression in his left arm. The doctors say this was probably due to the arm placement during his surgery and/or recovery in the hospital. It compressed the nerve near his elbow and it has caused pain, tingling and numbness ever since. The solution, we hope, is that another surgery will fix the problem. It is an outpatient surgery and recovery time should be short. They basically reposition the nerve so that it is not compressed. It may have immediate improvement or it may take some time. If he is able to this ailment fixed, he should be able to return to work.