Thursday, December 1, 2016

Trying again.

Life just seems to be getting in the way of this blog.  I was pretty faithful in writing when my kids were younger, but as they have gotten older I just don't seem to have the time.
We are now a 2 cochlear implant family.  Jared, who is 15 is one year into his cochlear implant journey.  We discovered that he had lost what usable hearing he did have in his right ear, so we made the decision to get an implant for him.  Dec 4, 2015 was his surgery date.  To say he has taken off is an understatement.  He has told us he never realized how much he was missing.  He is a freshman in high school and is doing fabulous!  A's and B's on his report card and a 3.6 GPA!  He is actually talking about going to college, which he never did in middle school.  It was a long hard fought battle with our insurance company to get them to agree to pay for it.  They fought us every step of the way, saying that it was not proven that cochlear implants worked( hmmm, have they seen our daughter).  We even had his teachers writing letters to the insurance company sharing how his grades were slipping because he did not have access to sound.  I just took him on Monday to the ENT and his doctor asked if we wanted to implant his other ear.....UMMMM YES!  We are starting the process to get that done and hope to not have to fight so hard this time around.  My husband changed insurance companies and they seem to be a little bit more cochlear implant friendly.
Allison is in 8th grade and is doing fabulous as well!  A's and B's and 3.7 GPA!  I can't imagine what life would be like for her without her CI's.  She is 14 and has been doing some babysitting for people in our church.  I love that she is a normal teenage girl.  Nothing stopping her!
Jordan is 9 and is in 4th grade.  He is still schooling at home and loves it!  His favorite subjects are history and reading.  Life is good!  He has enjoyed the fact that his cousin lives down the street from us and can come play whenever he wants!
I will try to do better with my updates, but I don't make any promises.