Long overdue update

Hope loves the outdoors and now has some stylin' shades to wear while she relaxes in the sun

Hope & Daddy sitting outside enjoying the apple blossoms


Lovin' bathtime!!

Well it's been so long since we've had a good update on Hope that I can't even remember all the stuff I need to write about...... The VERY big news is that all of the insurance paperwork has been cleared and Hope has a surgery date for her cochlear implant - JULY 1st!! We have one more finally consultation with the surgeon on June 11th. We are all a bit nervous just because it's surgery but very excited about the possibilities that this will open up for Hope.

So the time line is this: July 1st Hope will have the surgery to place the internal portion of the implant. This is the portion that receives the electronic info and sends it to the auditory nerve. About 4 weeks after the surgery (so around the beginning of August) Hope will make another trip to Ann Arbor to have the external portion of the implant/device activated. This portion attaches to the internal portion via a magnet and is removed when she sleeps, bathes etc. The audiologist says in the beginning what Hope will hear will be very electronic and "clicky". She will have to go back regularly to have the programming adjusted and over time if all goes well she should be able to hear voices and music and all of the sounds we normally hear.

No new changes have been made to Hope's ventilator settings. Around the time that we were going to make the latest changes Hope had some blood work done that showed she needed to stop taking her diuretic. This is good news in the overall scheme of things because it means one less medication, however, it made the pulmonologist nervous to get rid of the medication AND make ventilator changes at the same time. We are now hoping to make another wean towards the end of this month.

On a lighter note, as you can see from some of the photos, Hope has been getting outside more now that the weather is warmer. She loves to ride in her wagon and to sit and watch mommy and daddy work in the garden!