The Beginning...

In 2004 we felt the Lord calling us to adopt. After months of praying we began the adoption process, immediately our hearts desire was to adopt a child that had the greatest risk of never being adopted, one that may spend their entire childhood in an orphanage, which at that time were the special needs children. In 2005 we brought home our daughter, Miata, who was born with an ear defect called Microtia/Atresia.

At a glance our daughter seems to be normal without blemish but at a closer look one could see that our daughter has one normal ear and one abnormal ear "missing/no ear" without an ear canal. She has always been right on target with any other child her age and in fact at many tasks even further along than many her same age because she is very out going and independent! Despite being deaf on that side she speaks very clear and very well just a little louder than most, which I am not ruling out the possibility of this just being "her" due to her bubbly outgoing spirit.
So we will just have to wait and see if after all the surgeries are complete if she speaks more quietly.

Once we brought Miata home, we began her medical journey by taking her to our pediatrician for her initial visit consisting of a complete physical, bloodwork, vaccines, etc. Our pediatrician then referred us to Dr. Zadanski at UNC Chapel Hill for her microtia/atresia. While we waited for the appointment with Dr. Zadanski he had us go to our local hospital for a CT scan of her ear. During that visit we had a technician tell us that it didn't look as though Miata's inner ear was developed properly. From that comment I had concluded that Miata would probably never hear from that ear and our only decision would be whether we would later proceed in having something done to help her have a normal looking ear on that side or whether we would just leave it as is.

Well during our 1st visit with Dr. Zadanski he explained many options to us and told us that no matter what decision we made there was no "wrong" decision that it was a personal choice for each family/individual. Even if we would choose surgery they like to wait until the child is between 6 and 7 before proceeding. So, over the next 4 years we continued to see Dr. Zadanski with the last visit being April 2009. During this visit he sent her over for a hearing test to be performed. The technician explained to Miata what she was going to do and each time Miata heard the sound (no matter how faint it was) she was to pop a ball into a toy gadget they have set up for kids. Well, I am sitting behind her thinking "yea right" she is deaf and will not be able to hear any sound in that ear (no matter how loud it was!) To my "TOTAL SURPRISE" she started popping balls into that gadget over and over again through out the entire test!! I about fell out of my seat watching this as I sat right behind her!! I was in total disbelief as I watched the technician continue to give her a smile and a "thumbs up" through the glass (she performs the tests from another room with a glass window separation.) The results of this test showed that she definitely had hearing in that ear and could hear even very soft and very faint sounds.

We immediately switched gears from thinking (all these years) that we would probably choose to do nothing to her ear because the end result would be the same.. she would still be deaf in that ear.. to now thinking we have to do all we can to help give her the opportunity of a new ear, opening her ear canal, and allowing her to hear from that ear!!

One thing learned from this is...
Never listen to what a technician may say about any tests for they are not doctors. From that little comment over 4 years ago (...it didn't look as though Miata's inner ear was developed properly) I hadn't at all anticipated or planned for even 1 surgery much less 4 or 5!

That brings me to the present which is...
We are now preparing for Miata to undergo 4 or 5 surgeries over the next year! She is scheduled for her 1st surgery on November 17th which will be performed by Dr. Burt Brent, located in San Francisco, CA. Miata and I will leave for San Francisco on Nov. 14th and will return home on Nov. 25th, Thanksgiving Day.

This first surgery will consist of Dr. Brent taking a piece of Miata's rib from her chest, then sculpting it to match her other ear. Next he will surgically position it in place. Then taking some skin from an area on Miata, Dr. Brent will use this skin graft to cover the newly sculpted ear. This 1st surgery will take about 4hours. Below are two videos of Dr. Brent performing this surgery...