{"id":2146,"date":"2012-08-22T22:26:10","date_gmt":"2012-08-23T03:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/?p=2146"},"modified":"2013-10-18T18:16:44","modified_gmt":"2013-10-18T23:16:44","slug":"short-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/short-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Short of It"},"content":{"rendered":"

My son needs surgery.
\nNot planned surgery but that kind of kick-in-the-gut surprise surgery that is halfway between, sure okay<\/em> and It’s An Emergency<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Long of It
\n<\/strong>If you’ve followed my blog or podcast since 2005-2006, then you know that my younger son was born with Microtia<\/a>—a not-as-rare-as-you’d-think condition that gave him a very small ear and no ear canal on the right side, but a working middle and inner ear.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Here’s the cute lil ear he was born with<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Thing<\/a>

Here you can see the difference in size between his right (Microtic) ear and his left.<\/p><\/div>\n

Back in 2008 we had Medpor surgery<\/a> and I blogged about it here<\/a> \u00a0(and will blog updates there on this adventure, too). With Medpor, a surgical plastic form is placed and covered with a skin graft and then it magically (really, it looks like magic) molds itself to the form \u00a1et voil\u00c3\u00a1!<\/em> Insta-ear. It’s amazing. Later we had a canal added and, yes, he can hear now on that side.<\/p>\n

\"Thing<\/a>

This is the miracle ear before his canal surgery.<\/p><\/div>\n

However. At some point that plastic frame started to poke out of the back of his ear. We only caught it at the beginning of this month and I let the surgeon know last week. He let me know we had to get into surgery asap<\/em> or—and this is the scary part—if the plastic has been exposed for too long they will have to Remove It And Start Over<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We’re happy to see our surgeon again (he’s fabulous) but it’s the difference between a 2-1\/2 hr surgery and an 8-1\/2+ hr surgery. Plus if we start over it means more skin grafts, another 115 stitches, and recovery right as school is starting. I know you parents know how much your heart aches when your child is in a new-school situation (which he is, knows no one at the new school) and that it’s even worse when something about your child is “different.” We’re hoping the bandages from his surgery will be off and his swelling will be down so it won’t be too bad.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

So why am I writing about this here on my knitting blog?
\nBecause we need help.
\nWorking from home and taking care of the kids has made it impossible to try to track down a “real” job (plus, finding jobs for teachers with 10+ yrs of experience is a tad tricky in this economy) and four people on one income in the third most expensive area of the country has been…ah… \u00a0challenging<\/em>. Nonetheless, from my home office I’ve been blessed to be able to \u00a0write patterns<\/a>, edit and design for the Defarge books<\/a>, teach \u00a0online classes<\/a> (sign-up links are in the left sidebar), teach<\/a> \u00a0around the country, and offer extras to my Subscriber-Supporters<\/a> over at my \u00a0CraftLit<\/a> \u00a0<\/em>podcast. It’s been nice, but it’s not a living. And making “a living” would have made this surgery thing a lot less scary.<\/p>\n

Friends in LA and the good people of CraftLit<\/em><\/a> and Cooperative Press<\/a><\/em> have helped us with gifts of housing and airfare, but I’ll still need to feed the kids, purchase Thing 2’s post-surgery meds, and get to and from the surgery while in LA (not to mention the further specter of going through a whole replacement surgery). So, to raise funds for the trip and any other “surprises” that get thrown our way, I thought I’d host a sale and more! (Thank you, Tara<\/a>!) There are lots of ways to help that get you something nifty, too! For example, you could:<\/p>\n