Prayers for Lacie

Lacie and I are in Jo'burg for routine medical appointments with folks we cannot see in Swaziland. One of them is Lacie's ears, nose and throat doctor, which we have come to know quite well! Lacie has had tubes (called grommets here) four times in her precious life. The most recent grommets (put in October 2008) have fallen out and the grommet in the left ear is resting on her ear drum with fluid underneath. In most cases, ear drops could be administered and within a few weeks, the fluid would hopefully be gone. However, we do not have a few weeks to spare and take the chance that the ear drops would do the trick as our family is flying from Africa to America on March 26. So, the doctor has recommended Lacie have surgery tomorrow (Friday) morning for her fifth and we pray, final set of grommets in her ears.

We did find out that Lacie's hearing test today shows that her hearing loss in her left ear is about the same. The ENT doctor is wanting to do corrective surgery (it was discovered through a CAT scan last year that Lacie has a small bone in the wrong place in her left ear that we believe is causing her hearing loss.) later this year or the beginning of next year. We cannot have the corrective surgery now with our family flying so soon. The grommets is the best plan of action.

Although we know this is the best thing for Lacie, it is still not an easy thing for a mom to hear from a doctor five times now. It is hard for Steve to be back in Swaziland with Nathan when he wants to be here with us all together. We know that God has amazing plans for Lacie's precious life and He is in control of it all. I admit that I broke down after leaving the doctor's office and asking God, why Lacie again? He keeps telling me to just rest in Him. I am at peace with our decision and know that Lacie will do well with the surgery. I told her that she could not eat or drink in the morning before the surgery and she told me, "Mom, I know what to do!" Too cute and only five years old to experience six surgeries in her life (she had her tonsils out last year as well).

Thank you for praying for Lacie and at this point, we plan on returning home to Swaziland by tomorrow evening.

On another quick note, Nathan turns two years old on Sunday, March 7 and we cannot believe our baby boy is growing up so fast. We look forward to seeing many of you in just a few short weeks.