The Results are In!!

Hey everyone,

Praise God, for He is so good!! The scoring system for the cat scan is on a 1-10 scale. Makinna scored a 9!! The only thing she lost a point for, was the outside malformation. They said that her situation was as perfect as it could be considering. They said that they have only had one surgery that was unsuccessful who had scored a 9. It will give her the highest level of possible hearing that he can provide. They said it will never be as high as her normal ear, but it would be as close as he was capable of getting it. We were so happy, yet not too surprised. I felt in my heart that it would be good news. I have always believed that she could hear at least sounds on that side. I would whisper in her ear, and she would seem to know I was saying something.

New news, the surgery date was put in wrong, so it is now November 5th instead of the 9th. That actually makes the stay shorter anyway.

Thank you all so much for the prayers about this test. Obviously prayer is powerful. We would have been thrilled with an acceptable score, but this exceeds all hopes and expectation.

Awesome Web Page!!

Thanks to Auntie Jessica,(my lifelong bf & cousin), courtesy all the way from England, We have a professionally designed web page for Makinna! We are going to keep blogging for the up to date information, but this page is incredible. Jessica is an artistic wonder. She put her whole weekend and some of her week into making this incredible gift for Makinna. Our family is so grateful, and I just wish so badly that I could jump on a plane and give her a huge hug. Please check it out, on the web at,

http://www.helpmakinna.com/

You will see just how much effort and love went into the page. We love you Jess, you are truly one of a kind!!

The results are.........LOST! Yes, I said lost. The office either lost them (of course, they say that's not the case) or the post office lost it. Long story short, we had to express mail it so that her results could be to us before the Dr. is out of the office again. I am positive that they are good results, it would just be nice to hear that from someone with actual medical skill, rather than an overly optimistic mommy!

Surgery #2 has an official date now, it is February 2nd, 2010. That will be the outside, and brace your selves, the surgeon called me personally! I know, I almost asked her to give me her medical license number so that I could confirm that an incredibly well known, and busy surgeon called me without me asking, to discuss a surgery that is months away, and if that wasn't enough, she emailed me complete instructions on pre/post opt, and success pictures, and theres more!, she gave me her personal cell phone number and said if it was better for me, we could talk on the weekend!!! I know, and shes from California. I almost died. The great news, she confirmed for me that there isn't another person I would let do her surgery. She was humble and kind and understanding. She told me that we have to choose which skin graft site we would use, between the head and the inside of her arm. There will be a long scar on the inside of her arm, and it will never go away. The down side to the scalp is that there may not be enough good skin, in which case, they take it from the arm anyway. The arm has far less return rate then the split graft in the scalp. The scalp, when perfect, is beautiful she said, but it has a 25% revision rate because of the thinness of the skin. So we have to really pray. She cant choose, and I don't want her to be upset that she has a large scar, yet, i want the best for her ear. I guess life is a trade off sometimes. Thankfully we have until Feb 1st to decide. She said we would make the final choice in office together. Down side to this surgery, its minimum of 8 hours long!! Someone please sedate me too!! I could use a good sleep. Well, anyway, thanks for the support in reading, and praying. I have beach pictures to come. Makinna loved the beach, the water was her favorite. She wanted to stand in the shallow water and just be lifted up when the waves came to smack her, which was about every 3.5 seconds. I think we got an arm workout for sure!

I will post results next week!

New pics, and no results :(

Well, we took a few new pictures of Makinna for some stuff coming up, and they were so cute, I couldnt help but share. Hope you enjoy. Also, our test result is in, its just not in to us, its sitting on someone's cluttered desk, someone who hasnt waiting 2 1/2 years to see the inside of their babies head! :) I guess they are overwhelmed with work, and no one really knew who had Makinna's scan, so they are in the procecss of asking Dr. Roberson if he has indeed seen it, and if he has scored it as of yet. All of that to say this, Im supposed to hear for sure on Monday! Pray they are as good as we hope! We have lots of stuff in the planning stage and in the works for Makinna right now, so check back when you can to see whats going on next.

Mommy, Daddy and Makinna. My mom took this, and if you had grown up with her you would laugh right now, because even though my husband is not vertically overbearing to say the least, she still cut off half of his head. That was the best we got. Some were missing eyes!

Once again, you can be sure my mom took this. She comes up with great little shots, but then whacks the head! still too cute to keep to myself!

Makinna getting to enjoy the swings for the first time at a new park. She really liked it.

This was my favorite! She was hushing us because she saw birdies. It was so sweet!

Our Daughter Makinna

Our Makinna! This is usually how she looks, smiling!

Our family, Trey, me, Karessa, Dakota and Makinna

Makinna is our (Trey and Stephanie) 2 and 1/2 year old daughter. She was born with an ear deformity known as Microtia and Atresia. It effects her left ear, and it is basically something that stopped her ear growth while I was carrying her. She does not have a canal on that side, or an eardrum. The outside never fully formed either. She will undergo a series of surgeries starting in November to first, open her canal and give her hearing, and then to reconstruct her outside so that her new canal can be protected and her ear can look normal. Microtia effects about 1 out of 10-20,000 live births and is 2:1 in males. It is also most common in the right side, so Makinna is unique in so many ways. When she was born we had no idea what Microtia and Atresia was, but quickly became part of a community of people who have the same struggles as we are facing. Testing is still in process at Harvard University to determine the cause of this defect, but it is assumed that many are genetically connected.

Now we are preparing for a trip to California in November for the first stage of reconstruction. We will need so many prayers for this journey. I have never been fond of flying, and we will have to be separated from two other children in the process. It is such a bitter sweet event, we are so happy to be able to give Makinna her hearing, but there is so many variables that make it hard. We trust that God will continue to protect us as He always has, and ask you for your prayers and support. We have such an incredible church family, and because of that we know our family will make it fine.

Just a little information on our sweet girl, Makinna is honestly one of the most happy, jolly and loving babies I have ever known. She is my personal little sunshine, because she radiates light. She is so easy going, and wants to love everyone. She laughs like there isn't a problem in the world. Its so easy to fall in love with this amazing little girl. She loves to have her belly and back rubbed, and is so cute how she doesn't feel the need to speak when she is ready for you to rub her legs or arms, instead she just shakes whatever body part she wants you to scratch until you comply. :) She rewards us with bountiful kisses and hugs. She sings Jesus loves me, but since she cant speak the words she just mumbles whatever she can come up with to the tune. She is delayed in her speech a bit, but she is working hard to pick words up along the way. She is making so much progress. We have been truly blessed with such wonderful kids all around.

Thank you to everyone that has been with us through this, and continues to be there for us, and those who are just joining this endeavour. We love you all and you have no idea what your support has meant to us.

In Christian Love,

Trey and Stephanie Sherwood

Her personality spills out everywhere. She was sporting her new shades on Christmas.