miss ellie

one week from today ellie is having surgery.

i don't want to make a big deal out of it.

but i am going to be honest. i am worried. 

she is having her lingual tonsils removed. 

i know what you are thinking.....what are your lingual tonsils?

well..a little anatomy lesson. we all have three sets of tonsil tissue- one being the tonsils in our throat that we all refer to as our tonsils, the second is the adenoids, and the third set is your lingual tonsils. your lingual tonsils are located in your tongue. pretty much no one knows about them. we have been to five doctors including four specialists. more than half had not seen something like this. 

ellie's are enlarged and swollen. we are not sure why. but they need to come out. 

we have learned this is a rare condition. especially for someone her age. and it is a rare surgery. 

the surgery to remove them is similar to a regular tonsillectomy. except it is much more invasive and has many more unknowns. 

ellie will stay in the hospital overnight following her surgery. and from there we really are not sure what to expect. 

ellie will need to relearn swallowing and speaking.

a big challenge will be making sure she is taking in enough calories. the doctor did talk about the possibility of a feeding tube. it all depends on how she is doing.

we expect her to be out of school for 2-3 weeks. when she returns it may be for half days.

the doctor estimated 4-6 weeks before she feels 100%.

again it all is very much unknown. guys, when we scheduled the surgery they didn't even have any paperwork to give us. 

we are hopeful that all will go smoothly and that afterwards she will feel so much better.

we are very thankful for good health, doctors, and health insurance.

we are also very thankful this is all that this is.

early on we did some testing to rule out some yucky things. those days of waiting and letting your mind wander were not fun. thankful that is not what we are facing. my heart goes out to families who face those types of diagnosis.

please pray for her. for us. for her doctors and nurses.