SO much fun today!!
I got to meet another blogger today! If I remember correctly, I met Laurie on Yahoo! Groups. I posted the link to my blog, and she e-mailed me with a sweet comment about reading my blog and enjoying it, then posted a link to hers. She has been one of my favorite bloggers ever since, even though she's on the go too much to keep her blog updated properly ;). She let me know a few weeks ago that she would be in Nashville this weekend, and I told her that I would love to meet her while she was in the area!! We met today at Opry Mills Mall...we ate at Chili's and then walked around and shopped for a while. When it was time to go home, I realized that we had been together for four and a half hours....but it didn't seem nearly that long...time sure flies when you're having fun!
Laurie and I had plenty to talk about....she is another cochlear implant user. She was implanted with the Nucleus Freedom last year and has had great results. I was so encouraged by listening to her story and am even more excited now...that's what happens when I spend time with CI users that love their new "ears"! She showed me some of the COOLEST gadgets for talking on the phone, listening to the radio, etc...and she showed me her iPod (I accused her of showing off...I would love to be able to use one!!!) I came home and ordered me a new Harris Communications catalog. When I got my last one, I was in the denial phase ("I'm not deaf, just hard of hearing, and I don't need any of this stuff"). I have since gotten over it and am open to anything that will open my doors of communication just a little wider!! "I'm deaf as a post, and I'll take any help I can get". That's my new official position ;)
She is also a mom of four, so we enjoyed talking about our kids, of course :) She's an incredible, sweet person, and we had such a great time...I hated to say goodbye, but we both agreed we'd try to get together again sometime! :) Thanks, Laurie, for a great day!!!
In other news, Claire had her tubes put in yesterday. I had planned on a long recuperative period followed by much wailing and gnashing of teeth, but what I got instead was a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed little girl, who chirpily reminds me to put in her ear drops, and "don't forget my earplugs when I take a bath". If it had been me, I probably would have tried to get at least one days' bed rest out of the deal, but she did so well that we ended up going to church last night (I had originally thought I'd have to keep her home). Of course, at church she fell and skinned her elbow something dreadful, and I've heard more about THAT than anything else.
Claire also had kindergarten Open House tonight. She got to go meet her new teacher, and she met a few kids that are going to be in her class this year. She liked her teacher (I did too :) ) and is already talking about the kids in her class. One little girl was standing in front of me and happened to turn around and I saw two hearing aids behind her ears. Awwwwww! :) Of course, Claire was tickled to see the hearing aids, and we had to meet the little girl and her parents :)
I got a letter from the surgery coordinator at Vanderbilt today...she said in her letter that she was RE-faxing the paperwork to BCBS (her emphasis, not mine). So, apparently, she has sent it in already. I e-mailed her back thanking her and told her I would stay in touch with both her and BCBS until I saw that the pre-approval process was underway. Hopefully, things will start moving now. If not, the e-mails will continue :D
I'm going to try to have a good attitude and give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I am sure that everyone is doing everything possible to ensure that I get this implant as quickly as possible (yeah). If I find out otherwise, and e-mails don't do the trick, Laurie e-mailed me a link to an online relay service...I can type what I want to say, the relay people say it for me, then they type the other person's reply for me. I might be able to harrass by phone after all! Cool!
In the end, as Laurie and I discussed today, this is all part of God's master plan for me...and when the time is right, it will happen. I have faith, and have no choice but to be patient :)
Laurie and I had plenty to talk about....she is another cochlear implant user. She was implanted with the Nucleus Freedom last year and has had great results. I was so encouraged by listening to her story and am even more excited now...that's what happens when I spend time with CI users that love their new "ears"! She showed me some of the COOLEST gadgets for talking on the phone, listening to the radio, etc...and she showed me her iPod (I accused her of showing off...I would love to be able to use one!!!) I came home and ordered me a new Harris Communications catalog. When I got my last one, I was in the denial phase ("I'm not deaf, just hard of hearing, and I don't need any of this stuff"). I have since gotten over it and am open to anything that will open my doors of communication just a little wider!! "I'm deaf as a post, and I'll take any help I can get". That's my new official position ;)She is also a mom of four, so we enjoyed talking about our kids, of course :) She's an incredible, sweet person, and we had such a great time...I hated to say goodbye, but we both agreed we'd try to get together again sometime! :) Thanks, Laurie, for a great day!!!
In other news, Claire had her tubes put in yesterday. I had planned on a long recuperative period followed by much wailing and gnashing of teeth, but what I got instead was a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed little girl, who chirpily reminds me to put in her ear drops, and "don't forget my earplugs when I take a bath". If it had been me, I probably would have tried to get at least one days' bed rest out of the deal, but she did so well that we ended up going to church last night (I had originally thought I'd have to keep her home). Of course, at church she fell and skinned her elbow something dreadful, and I've heard more about THAT than anything else.
Claire also had kindergarten Open House tonight. She got to go meet her new teacher, and she met a few kids that are going to be in her class this year. She liked her teacher (I did too :) ) and is already talking about the kids in her class. One little girl was standing in front of me and happened to turn around and I saw two hearing aids behind her ears. Awwwwww! :) Of course, Claire was tickled to see the hearing aids, and we had to meet the little girl and her parents :)
I got a letter from the surgery coordinator at Vanderbilt today...she said in her letter that she was RE-faxing the paperwork to BCBS (her emphasis, not mine). So, apparently, she has sent it in already. I e-mailed her back thanking her and told her I would stay in touch with both her and BCBS until I saw that the pre-approval process was underway. Hopefully, things will start moving now. If not, the e-mails will continue :D
I'm going to try to have a good attitude and give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I am sure that everyone is doing everything possible to ensure that I get this implant as quickly as possible (yeah). If I find out otherwise, and e-mails don't do the trick, Laurie e-mailed me a link to an online relay service...I can type what I want to say, the relay people say it for me, then they type the other person's reply for me. I might be able to harrass by phone after all! Cool!
In the end, as Laurie and I discussed today, this is all part of God's master plan for me...and when the time is right, it will happen. I have faith, and have no choice but to be patient :)
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