Well, on March 31, 2004, we had what was left of the reconstructed ear removed. I must say that it was quite the blessing all in all. The beautiful ear we had started off with had turned into just a little bump of cartilege covered with skin. It was ok with Caleb though. He is excited about the prospect of having a magnetic ear. Oh the joys of being an 8 year old boy! *S*
Of course, some good friends of ours put the idea in his head that he could tell folks that 'he could lick his ear', then he could show them! LOL My Caleb being the little prankster that he is, would definitely do that too!
In June 2004, we started to make plans to see the Dr. (Dr. S) about getting the prosthetic ear done. We had been noticing this one area around Caleb's temple that just looked suspicious to us. We called Dr. H with our concerns and made an appointment to see him. We hadn't seen Dr. S at this point. When we talked to him on the phone, he told us that he would not do anything until we were done with other surgeries (we are wanting to get the scar minimized on Caleb's right side. It is about 1" wide and 2" in length. *sigh*).
Anyways, Dr. H saw Caleb and ordered another arteriogram. He agreed that it looked suspicious, but if it was the AVM, we had caught it early, so it wouldn't be as big of a problem as the original one had. So on Oct. 7, 2004, we went back to the city to have the arteriogram done. The radiologist came out and said that we did indeed have the AVM coming back. *sigh* I did real good until we were standing outside the recovery room. One of our favorite nurses while Caleb was having the reconstruction walked by and started visiting with us. We told her about it coming back and I snapped. I couldn't seem to stop the tears... again.
Well, we had to change back to another Dr. in the office because Dr. H's expertise is not with the actual AVM's (there are 2 - Dr. B's. A young one and an older (more experienced) one - which is the Dr. who took the AVM off previously). Both Dr. B's expertise is with AVMs, thus the change in Dr's. LOL We saw the younger one first. We drove for 4 hours just so he could say that he couldn't read the arteriogram, so we were going to have to get an MRI. UGGGHHHH Couldn't he have told me that on the phone?!?!?! I wasn't overly pleased, but figured, ok, we can do this...
So on Nov. 12, 2004, we went back to the city to have an MRI done. The results were much more promising. They said that it was *not* coming back. Ok, I can deal with that! LOL Then about a week or so later, the decided that the arteriogram was correct and that it was coming back. UGGGHH I wish they would just make up their minds! LOL They had a specialist in Radiology go back and look at the arteriogram that was taken in Oct. to see why it was thought that the AVM was coming back to begin with. He agreed that it was indeed coming back. So they put the 2 tests together (arteriogram and MRI), and verified that yes, all tests showed it was coming back. Shoot, by this time, I just wanted them to make up their minds! LOL One way or another, I was just getting tired of the yo-yo emotional drain that I was going through!
When they called us to let us know that they had decided that it was coming back, Ross answered the phone (thank goodness). Not only did they tell us that the AVM was coming back, they also said that it was in a precarious spot because it was wrapped around one of the facial nerves. Oh gee, now *there* is some news for a parent, huh? *sigh* They wanted us to see a facial nerve specialist just to make sure where the nerves were, and to help guide them as not to mess up the nerve during surgery.
