Good byes are hard...

Elliot transitions to a new child care facility next week, one that is able to more adequately address his medical needs. I didn't anticipate how hard it would be to say good bye to our daycare family. They love our boy and he loves them. I will be forever thankful for our daycare teachers/staff for caring for Elliot these past two years.

Our sweet boy loves his daycare teachers and will often hang out with them instead of playing outside.

Mom guilt set in this morning on the drive to drop off...worrying that it's the wrong decision, worrying that he will be confused about not seeing the people he's comfortable with and grown to love, worrying that moving to a facility with children with more needs than him might stall the progress he's had. We also got the unexpected news that his current feeding therapists are going to discharge him as of today because they feel he needs a higher level of care for feeding therapy and want him to see a swallowing specialist and insurance won't pay for both services. All these changes brought me to tears while driving to daycare drop off this morning; I just wish that he didn't have to go through all of this, that he could experience a "normal" childhood without the doctors, therapies, and surgeries.

Reading time at daycare!

We are a few weeks out from brain surgery- posterior fossa decompression and laminectomy to be exact. Posterior fossa decompression involves removing a portion of the skull at the back of the head to create more space for the brain, while laminectomy involves removing the bony arch of one or more vertebrae to enlarge the spinal canal. The purpose of the procedure is to repair Elliot's chiari malformation and restore normal cerebrospinal fluid flow which should resolve the spinal syrinxes he has putting pressure on his spinal cord. The procedure can take up to a few hours and we will be staying at the hospital for a few days at least. Fear and anxiety about this surgery has been at the back of my mind since scheduling it earlier this year, but as it gets closer the worry has become more intense. I'm working on allowing myself to let go of my need to control the things I cannot control, and working more on self care and accepting that a lot of what is happening now is beyond my control.

We appreciate everyone that continues to follow along on our journey and for all the prayers and love that have been sent our way.