We had E's pre-op appointment yesterday. The surgery is not until November 4th, but a pre-op is valid for 30 days so we went ahead and grouped it with his other appointment. The second appointment was to discuss the MRI results and make final choice of implant device. It was a good day, but an exhausting one. We made the decision to go with the Cochlear Freedom implant and the N5 external processor. As excited as we are about the promise of a waterproof, swimming approved neptune processor, we couldn't argue with the reliability of the Freedom. In the end we chose proven reliability over future promises. It is not our ideal solution, but it is the best we have.
Our latest exciting news is that E has been approved to receive an iPad to assist with his communication therapy. We will hopefully receive it mid November. It will be a great post-surgery surprise! It is not actually here yet and so we are continuing to be cautiously excited, but it will be fantastic if/when he gets it. E loves our smart phone and the toddler apps. They have been so great while waiting in doctors' offices and to prompt him in his sound therapy. I can't wait until he has his own iPad and can stop killing the battery on my phone!
We continue to meet new deaf friends and many of them have started visiting our church. I continue to improve in my signing ability, but I am still far from being fluent or even "good". I can carry on a conversation, but I still have much to learn. I teach an adult Sunday School class. I was excited to find that our deaf visitors wanted to stay for Sunday School this past Sunday. We do not yet have a deaf Sunday School class in place yet and so I went in search of our interpreter. Unfortunately, our interpreter was not available. I grabbed our secondary interpreter and invited the visitors into my class. I proceeded to try to teach by signing as I talked. I was TERRIFIED! I am so grateful that our guests were willing to hang in there with me and I am excited that they desired to attend so much that they were willing to accept this very improvised situation. We all made it through and I am proud to have forced myself so far outside of my comfort zone. I would not call it a success, but I think that there is a lot of great things to be said about the patience, determination, and understanding of everyone involved.
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