|
||||||||||||
Click here to go back to the main page.
Friday, July 21, 2006 10:40 AM CDT
We just returned from a week-long adventure that took us to both Michigan and Alabama. My family has a house on a lake in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and Madalyn and Jarrett had fun canoeing, playing in a treehouse, and tubing down a river. We were there from Thursday to Sunday and then flew to Atlanta where Paul's parents picked us up and drove us to Huntsville. Madalyn and Jarrett enjoyed going to the Space and Rocket Center for the first time, and then went to Birmingham to visit their cousin. Lots of swimming took place, and it was all in all a fun and busy trip. It's hard to believe how fast the summer is flying by!!
Megan
Sunday, June 4, 2006 4:25 PM CDT
Swim season is here! Madalyn and Jarrett are so excited to be on the swim team again. We've still got two weeks left of school, so it's hard to go to the pool everyday and still have to go to work! They will be swimming in the 6 & under group, so that will be fun for them to be the "oldest" swimmers this year. We're brushing up on our very limited sign vocabulary to communicate at the pool. Madalyn's pretty good at lip-reading, so it's not too much of a problem. Because she talks so well whether she can hear or not, our whole family forgets we can't talk to her from behind. The summer makes me remember how amazing the cochlear implant technology is; however, I am still holding out hope that the fully implantable device will come out soon!
The kids are finishing up their kindergarten year, and will soon be big first-graders! Paul and I still haven't decided if we will keep them together in the same class next year or not. There are definitely pros and cons to both scenarios.
Madalyn's IEP went well, and we are basically getting the same services as this year--including a 1 on 1 language facilitator. From what I hear, other school districts aren't being so cooperative, so I guess we're lucky in that regard. I want to encourage all parents of deaf and hard of hearing kids to fight for the services their children need. Many schools are trying so hard not to give our kids what they need and deserve, especially with the large number of cochlear implants entering their systems. Together we can make a change!
Megan
Saturday, May 6, 2006 7:33 PM CDT
Well, we finally settled the t-ball disaster. Every time Madalyn tried to put the batting helmet on or off, she would knock off the magnet of at least one processor. She was so worried about the helmet that she ran really slowly and got tagged out at first each time. After Madalyn dropped her entire processor in the dirt, I decided we couldn't go on that way. We had had no luck carving out the padding--it was the putting on and off so frequently that was the issue.
At the end of that first t-ball game, my eyes welled up with tears which really took me by surprise. I guess it was because that was the first time I really felt like she wasn't going to be able to do something because of her hearing loss. Her options were to play deaf, or to not play at all--neither of which was really acceptable to me. She wanted to opt for the not playing at all, but we also didn't want to teach her that quitting was okay. We finally worked out with the league that Madalyn could play without using the helmet. This didn't seem to be a big problem since there's no pitcher. She enjoys playing so much more now that she doesn't have to worry about knocking off her "ears." Today, she scored 3 runs! I'm pretty sure this will be a one year sport, however. :)
Megan
Saturday, April 8, 2006 2:59 PM CDT
Okay...pretty embarrassing. I just noticed that my last journal entry was almost a year ago. I found out from an email and recently checking the guest book that a few people are still reading, so here goes an attempt to catch you up on the last year of our lives. Things have become so "normal" and routine, that I figured it wouldn't interest anyone. One mom with a hearing impaired child told me that that was okay--people want to see a light at the end of the tunnel and that things can become settled down!
Madalyn and Jarrett were mainstreamed in kindergarten this past fall. We decided to put them in the same class, and it worked out fairly well. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses, and they don't seem to rely too much on each other.
Madalyn has a 1:1 language facilitator who will work with her again next year. This person helps with her equipment (between bilateral implants and a personal FM system, this can be quite labor intensive!) She does whatever needs to be done to make sure that Madalyn understands what is going on it the classroom. For example, she may pre-teach some difficult vocabulary, she may make sure that Madalyn is in the best seat for a certain activity, or she may ask Madalyn to repeat the teacher's directions to make sure she knows what going on. Parents of deaf children know that our children often nod when they have no idea what's going on!! One of the best things we did this year was to make sure that Madalyn and Jarrett are in a quiet environment for lunch, fondly referred to as "lunch bunch." They, the language facilitator, and two other friends (who rotate a week at a time) eat in the hearing impaired teacher's room. This has not only given them quality social time with friends, but the language facilitor has been able to use it as a time to sneak in some language activities.
I have gotten a lot of questions about Madalyn using a personal FM system with her CIs--there's a lot of controversy about what's best at that age because kids aren't really good at self-reporting. The personal FM was definitely the right choice for us. Her receptive language has improved over two years in one, and is grossly within normal limits. Expressive language still lags behind, most because of syntax errors. I think the FM has really allowed her to stay focused on the teacher and classmates. They put a mic in the middle of the table when there's group work, and student's will wear the mic for show and tell, etc. The other kids in the class think it's pretty cool. I think the great thing about starting the personal FM in kindergarten is that we've been able to work out a lot of the kinks and Madalyn's getting really good about making sure the art teacher, music teacher etc are wearing the mic when they switch classes, and she lets people know when it's not working. Granted, that took us until March, but now she's really ready for first grade when the material gets harder.
Both Madalyn and Jarrett played soccer in the fall and have started the spring season recently. They participate just like any of the other kids. We also just started t-ball, which is going to be a bit more of a challenge. The batting helmet knocks of M's processors, so we need to cut out some of the foam or something. (Do you really need to wear a helmet when there's no pitcher?!) But like I said, we're pretty boring. The hearing loss is obviously a part of our lives, but it is no longer the entire focus of our lives.
Well, I'll leave you with that rambling. Maybe I'll do a better job updating it this year...?
Megan
Thursday, April 21, 2005 5:04 PM CDT
Here's the latest article that ran in the Virginian Pilot on Monday of this week.
Whatever happened to ... girl who received cochlear implant?
The Virginian-Pilot
© April 18, 2005
WILLIAMSBURG — Madalyn Hopkins is a celebrity, but it hasn’t gone to her adorable blond head.
Occasionally, it’s true, Madalyn doesn’t look at you during a conversation – but nothing makes her mother happier. It means that Madalyn, 5, is relying on her electronically enhanced hearing, instead of the visual clues that got her through years of silence.
Not much else about Madalyn has changed, though.
She still bosses around her slightly younger twin Jarrett. She still barrels through life. And she still loves using her “ears,” the computerized devices that allow her to appreciate music and respond to speech.
Those cochlear implants are what made Madalyn famous. After The Pilot wrote last summer about her getting a second implant, she was featured in The Daily Press and Woman’s World magazine.
The devices have taken her to medical conferences to serve as an ambassador for getting dual implants. Madalyn’s parents believe the second “ear” has made a major difference in their daughter’s life.
Madalyn still has weekly speech therapy sessions, and every couple months, experts tweak the computer program in her implants to improve the way she perceives sound. These days, she hears well enough to have her own CDs, which she sings along to.
Madalyn nods her head and says, “Yes,” when quizzed if she likes her “ears.” Asked why, she replies, like any 5-year-old: “I don’t know.”
Madalyn, born prematurely, was completely deaf before getting the devices. She goes back to total quiet when they have to come off while she sleeps, swims or plays in those little plastic ball bins at restaurants. The static electricity generated by the balls can wreck the delicate and expensive electronics.
Both of her parents are teachers, and they say Madalyn is ahead of her age group in writing and reading and is closing the gap in spoken language skills. She and her brother, who is able to use hearing aid s instead of implants, will attend regular kindergarten classes next year.
“I’m not worried about peer pressure being a problem,” her mother, Megan Hopkins, said, “unless she’s the one pressing.”
MED-EL , the implant manufacturer, recently ran an ad campaign touting the life-changing results of the devices.
Mom shared the “I-can” list she sent to the company.
“Watch her yell at her brother to be quiet
“Read a story to her when she’s on my lap
“Call her from outside to come to dinner
“Laugh when she ignores me on purpose!
“Share my love of music with her
“Teach her nursery rhymes
“Sing her a lullaby
“Mainstream her with minimal support
“Know her life will not be limited
“Tell her I love her
“Believe in miracles.”
Madalyn called out from the kitchen for her father.
“Daddy’s not home yet,” her mother replied, pausing to note the significance of what she had just done.
“Isn’t that great. I can talk to her in the other room.”
Reach Tony Germanotta at 446-2377 or tony.germanotta@pilotonline.com.
Wednesday, March 2, 2005 5:30 PM CST
Hello everybody! Just a quick note to update. The picture at the top is from the article that appeared in Woman's World magazine in February. I'm also attaching the text from an article that ran in our local paper today.
Sound leader
BY ALISON FREEHLING
247-4789
March 2 2005
WILLIAMSBURG -- Like many kids her age, Madalyn Hopkins doesn't like going to bed. But Madalyn has an extra reason: Every night, she has to take off the equipment that allows her to hear. Profoundly deaf in both ears, the 5-year-old falls asleep in a world of silence.
She asks for a nightlight so at least she can see. As soon as she wakes up, she wants to "turn on her ears." "She wants both of them on all the time," said Megan Hopkins, Madalyn's mother. "She is talking more and more. It seems to me like she changes every day."
Madalyn isn't just changing herself. She's helping to change the scope of treatment for deaf children.
While children have used the same hearing devices as Madalyn - called cochlear implants - for more than 15 years, the Williamsburg girl was among the first in the country to have surgery done on both ears. Doctors hope the double, or "bilateral," implants will help her localize sounds, pick up speech in noisy environments and distinguish between similar words such as "call" and "ball."
With the jury still out on whether the long-term benefits will be enough to justify a second surgery, Madalyn's progress over the past year is turning heads.
One of those heads belongs to her surgeon, Dr. Barry Strasnick of Eastern Virginia Medical School. Strasnick, an expert on cochlear implants, at first hesitated to do another operation on
Madalyn. But since her surgery in late January 2004, he has operated on two more children with good results. Bilateral implants are especially promising for young kids because the first five years of life are crucial to language development, he said. "To be honest, I've been surprised by how well they've all done," he said. "So far, it really does look like two is better than one."
Cochlear implants don't cure deafness. Instead, they convert sounds into a series of electrical pulses that the brain can interpret. An external microphone worn behind the ear picks up noises and a speech processor creates the pulses, which travel through a wire to the inner ear, or cochlea, and along the auditory nerve to the brain.
About 13,000 adults and 10,000 children in the United States have cochlear implants. Their ears are too badly damaged for hearing aids, which only turn up the volume on sounds. The implants aren't perfect either. Sounds can be slightly mechanical and some people hear echoes. Still, many children do well enough to go to regular schools, talk on the phone and be understood easily in conversations. Success rates have climbed as doctors operate at earlier ages - when a child is 1 or 2, rather than 6 or 7.
Cochlear implants also aren't free of controversy. Some parents believe the best way to teach self-pride in hearing-impaired children is to immerse them in a rich deaf culture that revolves around sign language. They also want to avoid an invasive operation that can cost more than $40,000. For the Hopkins family, though, the choice was clear. Madalyn and her twin brother, Jarrett, were born about 10 weeks premature and weighed a little more than three pounds each, but they grew quickly and passed a wide range of health tests - including newborn hearing screens.
As the babies grew into toddlers, Megan Hopkins and her husband, Paul, began to worry. Madalyn was a happy child who liked to dance and run, her sandy-brown hair flapping in a ponytail and her blue eyes shining. But she said only one word, "Mama." Unlike Jarrett, she didn't answer to her name. Doctors said twins could be slower to develop speech, but the Hopkinses pushed for another hearing test after the children turned 2.
The results were terrible: Jarrett had moderate hearing loss in one ear and severe loss in the other, and Madalyn was profoundly deaf in both ears. No one knows what happened - whether the twins had an inherited disorder, a mysterious infection or something else - or when their hearing began to fail. Hearing aids could help Jarrett, but not Madalyn. Her parents, both teachers, hated seeing their daughter struggle to keep up with the brother she'd beaten into the world by a minute.
Madalyn got her first cochlear implant in the summer of 2002, in her left ear. She bounced back quickly from the three-hour operation. Overwhelmed at first by all the noise once the implant was activated, she began talking more within a month, thrived in speech therapy and fell in love with music.
It was wonderful, but it wasn't quite enough. Madalyn had trouble pinpointing the direction of sounds. She could tell a car was approaching but didn't know from where. She could hear her parents calling but had to search the house to find them.
After learning bilateral implants had helped children in Europe, Megan Hopkins was sure Madalyn should have another operation. She wanted her daughter to hear more normally and also have a "back-up ear" if one of her implants ran out of batteries or failed completely.
Her husband wasn't so sure. Beyond the risks of surgery, Paul Hopkins worried better medical technology would come along - such as ear drops to re-grow sensory cells - and Madalyn wouldn't qualify. Strasnick had the same concern, but both men also knew the clock was ticking.
"Her mom's argument was, 'I need to worry about helping her keep up today, not what might or might not happen,' Strasnick said. "I couldn't argue with that."
So with a green light from their health insurance company, the Hopkinses and their doctor dove into unfamiliar territory, making Madalyn one of about 80 children in the country with two implants. After another adjustment period, her hearing has become noticeably better, Paul Hopkins said. "I yell from one side of the house and she knows what room I'm in," he said. "It has eased frustrations for all of us."
Megan Hopkins isn't sure how much to credit the implants or Madalyn's growing maturity, but her daughter has moved from one-word statements to three and four word sentences. "She especially likes to boss her brother around," Megan Hopkins said, smiling.
Madalyn hasn't totally caught up with other kids her age. She has trouble with words that sound alike and doesn't pronounce every letter of some words. She also tends to drop certain words from sentences, such as saying "in bag" instead of "in the bag."
Still, Madalyn has made great progress, said Liz Abeyounis, a speech therapist with Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters who has worked with her since July. She is about at the level of a 31/2- or 4-year-old, Abeyounis said, which is remarkable considering she likely didn't hear much during her first two years of life. At a recent session, Madalyn - dressed all in pink and full of smiles - identified animals, listened to a story, answered questions and turned toward sounds such as a crinkling paper bag. "Whatever it is that is making this happen," Abeyounis said, "it is definitely working."
Madalyn is doing well in Stonehouse Elementary School's Bright Beginnings program, which mixes special needs students with students who have no disabilities. She takes karate and likes learning to read and write. At home, she has turned into a serious ham, belting out songs from Disney movies. For surgeons, the next step likely will be operating on both ears in a single surgery, Strasnick said. "I really believe that's the direction we're heading," he said, "especially with more hearing problems diagnosed early."
And Madalyn - the little performer who wants to burn the midnight oil - is leading the way.
Copyright © 2005, Daily Press
Tuesday, December 28, 2004 1:04 PM CST
I can't believe how long it has been since I updated this site! I'm blaming that on the fact that I went back to teaching seventh grade English in the fall. To say it is a challenge would be an understatement. I laugh when I think of last year's Christmas letter...and I quote, "I hope to stay out of the classroom for good." Oh well!
The kids are doing really well. Jarrett had his tonsils and adenoids out on Dec. 22, so Christmas was pretty low-key. It turned out to be a great time to do it though--we used presents to bribe him to take his medicine, and Santa's gifts took his mind off of the pain as well.
Madalyn continues to improve her vocabulary, although there's something wrong with her map now that we'll have to check out tomorrow at the audiologist. She keeps asking, "What did you say?" I'm sure we'll get it straight. (12-29-04 update: All is well with the map. The audi said I shouldn't wait nine months between mappings :) She continues to enjoy her new AVT, Liz, although she misses Susan, too.
Our famous girl will appear in the February 3 issue of "Woman's World" magazine. It is a thin weekly magazine that can most often be found in the grocery store (not to be confused with "Woman's Day" which is a more widely circulated magazine). It should be on newstands around Jan.25 if you want to check it out.
I hope all of your holidays were happy. It was a joy to hear the kids sing Christmas carols this year. I will never cease to be amazed at this awesome technology!
Friday, August 27, 2004 1:20 PM CDT
Well, Jarrett is four going on fourteen. I told him to do something the other day, and he said, "Whatever." I guess I should be happy that he can understand me enough to formulate an obnoxious response. Hmm...
Madalyn is now attending a new A-V therapist in Newport News, VA. We miss our previous one, but our total trip is now two hours instead of four. We are working on getting her to add articles and other small words that she typically drops. Her articulation continues to improve, and I believe that this is due in large part to her second implant.
School begins on September 7. Both kids will attend Stonehouse Elementary. This will be a new school for them, but they will have the same teacher as last year. Their classmates will be mostly "normally developing" students (whatever that means!) I look forward to their being inundated with age-appropriate language models!
Saturday, July 17, 2004 11:15 AM CDT
Not much new to report, but I felt like it was time for an update. Madalyn is turning in to quite the celeb. A magazine called "Women's World" phoned us yesterday about possibly doing a story similiar to the one that ran in the newspaper. They will let us know in a couple of months.
Both Madalyn and Jarrett are attending a morning camp at the local rec center. They love it! The best part is they are completely mainstreamed for the first time and are doing fabulously! We had a little scare when one of Jarrett's FM boots came off of his hearing aid. Luckily, a counselor found it the next day on the soccer field. Phew!! We weren't really planning on sending them anywhere this summer, but after a week with Mom, the kids were ready. Madalyn told me she wanted to go "play with the little people." Don't know if I should be excited or have my feelings hurt. :)
We head to New Hampshire at the end of July for my cousin's wedding, and then the kids and I will visit family in Maine for a few days after that. They are becoming quite the world travelers...
Tuesday, June 15, 2004 9:21 PM CDT
Madalyn Makes Front Page News
The Virginian Pilot newspaper ran a three-page article detailing Madalyn's journey to bilateral implantation. Use the following links to access the story.
PAGES 1 & 2
For some reason, when you click this it comes up on page two of the article.
You have to click back to get to the front page of the paper. The first page of
the article has a color picture of her, and the second has a black and white
picture of Madalyn and Mommy. Click the next link listed to get page three
(includes a sketch of Maddie with the device).
CLICK THIS LINK to see clipping:
http://epilot.hamptonroads.com/Repository/ml.asp?Issue=VirginianPilot/2004/06/13&ID=Ar01400&Mode=Gif
AOL USERS, click this link:
PAGE 3
CLICK THIS LINK to see clipping:
http://epilot.hamptonroads.com/Repository/ml.asp?Issue=VirginianPilot/2004/06/13&ID=Ar01500&Mode=Gif
AOL USERS, click this link:
Friday, April 30, 2004 7:00 PM CDT
Well, I'm failing miserably at keeping this updated. The kids are doing really well. I just went to IEP meetings for both of them, and it's so neat to see the progress they've made in one year. Jarrett doesn't have significant delays in any areas but oral motor skills and articulation. Madalyn is only delayed in receptive and expressive language.
Madalyn continues to do well with her new implant. It's taking her a little while to get completely comfortable with the new CI--she still doesn't like to wear the new one by itself and Mommy is not doing well at making her do it. Her receptive language is now the equivalent of a 3.3 year-old child, and her expressive language is around 2.4 years. This is pretty amazing since her hearing age is only 20 months! I think her overall progress has slowed a bit since the introduction of the new CI. I am sure once she gets adjusted to everything, she will continue to forge ahead.
Funny Jarrett saying: "It's a accident, Mommy. Everybody has accidents" usually uttered after something very large has spilled or broken.
Funny Madalyn phrase: "Thank you shopping" said after she has "sold" you something from her room and demanded real money for it! (Then she takes back the item you "bought" and keeps the money. She took her grandpa for quite a few pennies.)
Friday, February 27, 2004 1:51 PM CST
Hello, again! I wanted to update this site with news of Madalyn's activation yesterday. It went better than we could have ever imagined!
We arrived at CHKD at around 1:30 PM. Claire Jacobson, our audiologist, and Ray Gamble, an audiologist from Med-El, were ready to begin her mapping (programming of the new implant). Things were a little bit trickier than normal because Madalyn is the first child in the U.S. to get a second Med-El implant.
Madalyn cried a little bit when the new implant was turned on and her old implant was turned off. Daddy distracted her with some of Claire's toys while she and Ray continued to work on the new map. Madalyn seemed to adjust quickly and was not upset for long.
The funniest part was Claire and I trying to devise a system to keep the processors straight--she now has four devices--one for each ear as well as back-up for both. For two intelligent women, Claire and I were confusing ourselves with an elaborate sticker coding system.
Eventually we sorted it all out, and Claire and Ray decided to put Madalyn in the booth. That was amazing in itself! After only a couple of hours, Madalyn was already localizing sound. Although she couldn't discriminate actual words or sounds (and wasn't expected to be able to yet), she was able to turn to the appropriate side of the booth as Claire piped in sounds. Madalyn left all smiles. She wore both implants until she went to bed and was really excited about having her "two ears."
We had a minor set-back this morning. She cried when I put on the new implant yelling, "TOO LOUD!" I turned the program to a lower setting and added her old implant, but she still cried and complained. I decided to send her to school with just the old implant, and we tried both again after school. It was difficult to get her to put the new implant on again, and she cried for about 15 minutes after I turned it on. She then stopped crying and became engrossed in a television show. She has been wearing it ever since and seems to be doing fine.
After she has a chance to get used to it some more, we will try to have her wear just the new one for a little while each day. Her brain has to get used to this implant just like it did for the last one (although we assume this will go much faster since she already understands the concepts of words and sounds). As her brain continues to adjust, the audiologist will bump up her programming until her map is 100 We don't know how long that will take, but with Madalyn, I guess it won't take too much time!
More updates to come...
March 2, 2004
Madalyn had her first A-V therapy session with the "new ear" today. She could discriminate a few of the colors, but not reliably yet. After therapy we visited the audiologist again. The map on her new implant was given some more power. This is a gradual process so that Madalyn won't be uncomfortable. We will go back for more adjustment in two weeks. Meanwhile, she doing really well. I know this is going to help her!
Tuesday, January 27, 2004 3:28 PM CST
We're home! Madalyn is such a trooper. We left the house at 5:30 AM yesterday morning, hoping that we could make it to the hospital despite the snow and ice that had fallen and was still falling. We arrived at the hospital at 7:30, and we were actually a little bit early. They checked us in around 8:00 and Madalyn played in the waiting room until surgery time at 10:00. Paul was able to "suit up" and carry her back to the OR. He stayed with her until she was asleep and then the big event began.
We got updates every hour from the OR nurse, and our awesome audiologist, Claire Jacobson, was in and out of the room keeping us updated as well. The entire surgery actually lasted for six hours (about an 1 1/2 longer than the last one.) We were thinking that since the surgeon was implanting the ear he originally started on, things would go more quickly. Wrong! Scar tissue built up where the previous drilling had been done, forcing the surgeon to clear that up before he could even begin the real surgery. On top on that, he had to remove an ear tube and patch the hole (making sure that no infection can sneak in), so that added extra time as well.
Things went just as they expected in the OR, and we were able to join Madalyn in the recovery room at around 5:00 PM. Because she has had trouble in the past with coming out of anesthesia, they went ahead and gave her some extra meds to keep her calm. At around 5:30, twelve long hours after leaving home, they wheeled Madalyn up to the seventh floor.
The evening was fairly uneventful. Madalyn woke up about every four hours for a shot of morphine. That seemed to keep her pretty comfortable until the morning. She woke up for real at around 6:00 AM and we started trying to get her to eat. The doctor told us that she could go home once she was eating and drinking on her own.
Three hours later, we were still trying to get her to eat. Finally she ate three pretzels, drank some apple juice, and took her Tylenol with codeine by mouth. This seemed good enough for the docs! After doing all of the discharge things, we ended up leaving the hospital at around 11:00.
Madalyn seemed happy to be home, but also ready for some more drugs. Once she was settled, she fell asleep and is resting confortably as I'm writing this. The left side of her face is beginning to swell up, but I remember this as normal from her last implant surgery. I expect by tomorrow she will be up and about, and she'll probably go back to school early next week.
We won't know how the implant is working for a while. Madalyn's first mapping (where the implant is programmed) will be on Feb. 26 and probably also on Feb. 27. It will then take her brain some time to interpret the electrical impulses it receives as sound, much like what we went through on the left ear. We hope that things will go faster since she understands sound now.
I will continue to post news of her progress. Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.
Love, Megan
February 3, 2004
Quick post-surgery update: Madalyn returned to school on Monday. Although the day after surgery was pretty rough for her, she began a quick recovery after that. When her hair covers the incision, you can't even tell she's had surgery! She seems to understand that she'll be getting another "ear" when the "boo-boo" is healed. I'm sure the activation will be pretty interesting.
Sunday, January 18, 2004 6:51 PM CST
The surgery date is near...
We went and saw Madalyn's surgeon, Dr. Strasnik, for a pre-op visit this past Wednesday. Her ears look clear right now, so we hope to keep her healthy until the 26th. She's been struggling a bit with a stomach virus, but seems to be almost back to normal. Paul and I feel very nervous as the date is only one week away--it's so easy to begin to second guess ourselves. What if something goes wrong? What if she would have done fine with one implant? But we still feel strongly that we are making the right decision. I'll just be very happy when the surgery part is behind us! The activation is scheduled for Feb. 27, so that's when the real excitement begins as far as her actual hearing goes. I will update this journal with more details after the surgery. We appreciate all thoughts and prayers!
Friday, December 19, 2003 11:47 AM CST
Happy holidays, everyone! We're headed to Alabama tomorrow to visit Paul's family. Thought I'd write a quick journal before we head out. The kids are really getting in to Christmas this year. Jarrett is constantly concerned that we keep the chimney and fireplace clear so Santa doesn't hurt himself. He'll sit in his rocking chair and pensively exclaim, "I miss Santa so much!" Jarrett wants a Buzz Lightyear book (Toy Story) and not to be outdone, Madalyn is asking for a Barbie book. I guess they're letting Santa off easy this year... Madalyn's favorite Christmas carol is "Jingle Bells," and she sings it everywhere we go (except when I try to make her sing on command, of course!) She is excited about getting "another ear" although I don't think she remembers all that is involved in getting it! Surgery's still set for January 26. More soon...
Thursday, November 20, 2003 12:35 AM CST
I just found out from the hospital that insurance has approved Madalyn's second implant. I can't believe it! I really thought we'd have to fight hard for them to cover this one, and it was so easy! So I guess now we just wait until January 26. Seems like an eternity, but I'm sure it will come quickly.
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 11:40 AM CST
We have a surgery date! Her second implant is scheduled to take place on Monday, January 26. We're still waiting to hear about insurance (that could take some time). I'll keep you posted!
Thursday, November 6, 2003 12:48 AM CST
This page has just been created. Please check back for additional updates.
Click here to go back to the main page.
----End of History----
| Privacy Policy | Sponsorship/Donations | About Us | Contact Us | FAQs | ||
| Copyright © 1997-2003 CaringBridge Nonprofit Organization, All rights reserved. | ||