"Is That It? I’ll Just Pay Cash."

We got Drew’s “Explanation of Benefits” for his bilateral, simultaneous cochlear implant operation in the mail on Tuesday. We had a little bet going on who would come closest to the total cost, but both Drew’s Mom and I were way too low.
The total “Provider Charges” were a whopping $155,232.71! However, because our [...]

Quick Update

I am feeling a little better tonight. I decided to take Drew to the pediatrician to see how he was doing with the fluid in his ears.
Drew’s doctor found that the fluid in the right ear has completely cleared. He could not see the left ear drum, as Drew has a bit of an ear [...]

Final Meeting With the ENT

We had our final appointment with the surgeon today, just under two weeks before Drew’s surgery. Dr. Kang wanted to have the meeting to answer any last minutes questions we may have and do one final evaluation on Drew.

During the evaluation Dr. Kang found fluid in Drew’s ears. He has had a runny nose for [...]

Under Two Weeks Until CI Surgery

Well, the countdown clock that Drew’s Mom put to the right of the posts tells me that we are now only 13 days away from Drew’s cochlear implant surgery.
I’m happy that it is almost here, but I’ve been getting progressively more nervous. The surgery itself is not very risky, but I suppose that even [...]

Raise Your Hand!

Everyday in the US, approximately 1 in 1,000 newborns is born profoundly deaf, with another 2-3 of 1,000 babies born with partial hearing loss. While pregnant with Drew I worried about so many things, but not once did I ever worry about him being able to hear. Little did I know that it is the [...]

Please

Read this. Then you will understand why I feel the need to comment here.
. . .
Drew’s Dad stumbled upon this blog post today about “Turn On My Ears” and he made the mistake tonight of letting me read it. I can not ignore this blog post, and feel the need to comment here.
I can imagine [...]

Too Good to be True?

I have experienced some of the greatest challenges of my life over the last seven months. There were days after Drew was diagnosed that I did not want to get out of bed and face his deafness each morning. Luckily my family and friends were there to support me, and finally I realized that staying [...]

Communicating with Drew

It’s hard to believe that Drew is over six months old! These months have just flown by, partly because every day and week is consumed with appointments for Drew. I was encouraged this week when talking with the mother of an implanted four year old. She told me that her life is back to normal [...]

CT Scan Results

Dr. Kang called yesterday with the results of Drew’s CT scan. Drew’s inner ear formation is in tact and there are no structural issues with his inner ear. This confirms his candidacy for his cochlear implants! While this is the news we were expecting, we are very happy that our son has two perfectly shaped [...]

CT Complete…Barely

Drew had his CT scan today, a critical step in moving forward as a cochlear implant candidate. This will allow Dr. Kang to see the anatomy of Drew’s inner ear, and to ensure that Drew has a cochlea for the electrode array of the implant to be inserted in.
When the CT scan was scheduled we [...]