I Am Weary

"I am weary with crying out; my throat is parched.  My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God....  But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.  At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness."  Psalm 69:3, 13

The last month and a half has been difficult around here, to say the least.  First Wesley got the flu.  Then he got pneumonia.  Then the crying and screaming started - the incessant, inconsolable tears that included head banging, glasses throwing, leg kicking and ear pulling. At first we assumed it was the beginning of typical two year old behavior, but everything wasn't adding up.  We brought him in to see our ENT, who informed us that he fought too much for her to look into his ears under a microscope and see whether or not his tubes were blocked.  She said in order for her to check them out, he would need to be sedated.  So we set an appointment with a different ENT (who had no problem holding Wesley still and looking in his ears, despite the kicking and screaming).  This ENT informed us that both of Wesley's tubes were completely blocked and that there was fluid in both of his inner ears.  But since he passed his hearing test, she was not the least bit concerned and recommended that we come back in six months.

In the mean time, Wesley stopped speaking.  He used to have five or six words, but now he was saying NOTHING!  Instead of listening to us, he started watching our faces and hands intently and started learning new signs.  While we were excited to see him learning new signs, we were concerned about his loss of words and lack of interest in vocalizations (except for the aforementioned incessant crying).  So we sought recommendations and found a highly regarded ENT who is known to be very difficult to get in to see.  By God's grace, he had an opening last week, and we were able to bring Wesley in.

This doctor was immediately concerned by Wesley's loss of words, lack of balance, pulling of his ears, and constant crying.  He explained that at Wesley's cognitive level, hearing tests have such a wide range for normal that Wesley could easily test in the normal range without being able to hear well at all.  He also informed me that the pressure from the fluid in Wesley's ears is probably causing him significant discomfort which has resulted in his misery (and ours) for the past month and a half.  This doctor recommended surgery to replace Wesley's tubes, drain the fluid from his ears, and remove his adenoids.  Apparently the removal of adenoids significantly reduces the likelihood of Wesley's needing tubes again in the future.  Wesley's surgery is scheduled for next Wednesday morning.

Please join us in praying that God would use this surgery to relieve Wesley of all the pain he has been experiencing and to improve his hearing, resulting in him speaking again.  We also covet your prayers that there would be no complications with the anesthesia and that God would give the surgeon wisdom and knowledge as he performs the surgery, as he informed us that if Wesley has any malformation of his palate, removing the adenoids would cause permanent speech problems.

Our prayer is to the Lord, and we pray that in the abundance of His steadfast love, He would answer us in His saving faithfulness.