Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was a little different this year. We did gifts for the boy's friends. I saw this on Pinterest. It was simple and crazy cheap! The boys have large classes, so this was perfect.
Hamilton had his class party and of course loved every second of it.

Hollister's day was much different. He took his Valentine's on Wednesday because he would not be at school for his class party. 
Hollister had his fifth, yes, fifth ear surgery today. It was on his left ear. The reason for this was to reconstruct the inside because it has collapsed due to the cholesteatoma. The surgery was supposed to take an hour and a half. We knew this would not happen, and expected it to last three, like all the others. We were the early surgery. He didn't play much. He was pretty tired.


Again, leaving us was tough for him. He's a trooper, but he's also a little guy knowing what is about to happen. It is heart breaking for Trevor and I.

This one lasted FOUR hours! We were called throughout the surgery a few time for updates, but it was still tough just waiting. The news afterward was not good. The Cholesteatoma was back and his ear was covered with this disease. The doctor took quite a bit of time to clean it out. He was completely shocked by what he found. Then, he was able to reconstruct, which was the original plan.

Needless to say, we are disappointed. We are sad for Hollister. This means he will definitely have another surgery. We had hoped this was the last one.

He is doing very well though. We have begun the waiting game and in a few weeks, we will know more about how this affected his hearing. We are not optimistic, but for now, its too early to sit and worry about it.

 This is Todd. He has had him since he was born. He had sympathy surgery and needed a bandage too!

Read about Surgery Number 1 here.

Read about surgery number 2 here.

Read about surgery number 3 here.

Read about surgery number 4 here.

Rereading these has been a great reminder for me. I go into lots of detail for some of the surgeries. Sometimes explaining all of this is confusing, even for us. Trevor is much better at that than I am.

What we know if Hollister is awesome! He has endured a lot. We know it isn't fair and we hurt for him.Hollister will continue to use the Baha for hearing. He is doing well in school and can still play his sports.