Update on Olive

So we have been back and forth with the doctors and specialist getting conflicting opinions about what is going on in her ears and with her tubes. Finally, last week, they were able to get a good look and confirmed that both tubes were still in but the one in her right ear has migrated up in the ear drum. At the time, there was no fluid in her ear, so she could hear fine. We are going to continue to monitor it, because, if she does get a cold and fluid, it won't be able to drain because the tube is too high on the drum, and she will most likely get an ear infection. We would like to wait until closer to winter to do the surgery again, because the life expectancy of the tubes can be short and the probability that she will get more colds in the winter. That way, she would hopefully have the tubes all winter, when she'll probably really need them. The other benefit of stretching theses ones out, as long as there is no problems with them, is less surgeries for Catie.

Today I went to her IEP at Marin County Office of Education. Catie will be going to a special "Speech Pre-School" five mornings a week for two and half hours a morning. The school is structured like a regular Pre-School, except her teacher will be a Speech Pathologist (Catie got a really good, experienced teacher!) and there is the class size is smaller. They told us they have seen hundreds of kids like Catie and that with the consistency of services of every day, she is going to make a lot of progress. Needless to say, we are very anxious for August 25!