How do you protect your children from things that … well, you honestly can’t protect them from?

If you caught my story today, you saw that Sierra + I spent the day at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville. If you’re new around here in my life, you might not know that just about 2 years ago, we were absolutely blindsided by the fact Sierra was NOT suffering from ADD, but instead was actually losing her hearing.

Then we got her in for an MRI, and it showed she has an incurable, untreatable condition called Enlarged Vestibular Aqueduct syndrome … which is a fancy way of saying sound doesn’t bounce around in her hearing system because it’s misshapen.

Then came the first hearing aid for her left ear.

And now today, we were presented with some more devastating news – Sierra is going to need a hearing aid for her right ear. And not just that, but it’s almost time to start talking about cochlear implants.

And as her pediatric ENT said today, we need to get the idea of Sierra becoming permanently deaf in our wheelhouse, sooner rather than later.

It took everything in me not to just sob. After the doctor walked out, I scooped all 107 pounds of her into my arms and rocked her right there in the doctors office.

You guys, I can’t fix this. 😞 I can’t save her hearing. I can’t protect her from it, there’s literally nothing anyone can do. It’s degenerative and a fact of her life.

I’m heartsick. I know in the grand scheme of things, this is not the end of the world and while inconvenient- not life threatening. But it still just blows.

Yet, here’s the thing. We drove home and we laughed, we shared some ice cream on a hot summer day, we talked about the fact she wants to be a surgeon someday, we listened to Taylor Swift and she held my hand as we picked out a yummy candle for a friend’s birthday today.

She didn’t let this news ruin her day. She isn’t dwelling on it. She isn’t angry. She is a bit sad, but she puts her headphones on and feels the music in her heart.

And you know what? I’m gonna take her lead, and do the same. 🙏