We got Tessa's surgery scheduled for her right cochlear implant for Tuesday June 7th! Our goal will definitely be to get our house sold and into a lease house and settled before this date so that Tessa can have a peaceful, speedy recovery from surgery. Our house is officially on the market (as of last Friday!). You can go to http://www.alanandheatherdavis.com/ and it's the first one listed under "Featured Properties". We haven't had any showings yet, but are hopeful and prayerful about God's timing. We also had an adjuster come out and take a look at our roof and we will be getting a brand new roof and new guttering...can't hardly beat that as a good selling point. We will be working with a property leasing company to find a lease home for when our house sells and to stay in while our new house is being built.
We met with Tessa's surgeon on Monday and he said that the implant procedure itself will take about 2 hours and as long as she does well with the anesthesia and everything, we will take her home the same day. There will be about a 3 day window of intense recovery and then just general incision care for a week or so after that. After the implant surgery, Tessa's audiologist will begin the process of programming in preparation for activiation of the device within 2 to 4 weeks after surgery. There will be lots of anticipation wrapped up in our month of June. There are no guarantees that the implant will work for Tessa, this is why they only do one at a time. We ask all of you to begin praying with us now, that it will be a huge success and that Tessa will be granted this amazing gift of hearing. Without cochlear implants, since she is profoundly deaf in both ears, she will not likely ever learn to talk...if the implant is unsuccessful, we will be facing a huge shift in focus for how to open up her world of communication. Tessa's CP presents a difficult challenge for her in the world of sign language. It might be that we could teach her how to understand sign...but it would be very challenging for her to physically be able to communicate back to us in a simialr way. I hate to even write about the potential 'shift in focus' because I truly have such a peace about the cochlear implant path for her and really feel that God is going to bless Tessa with success!
It is so hard to believe Tessa will be a year old three weeks from Friday. We are really excited about all the changes and opportunities that are happening for her in her life. We are surrounded by such amazing therapists and doctors and it is always encouraging to see their optimism in what she can and will do. Tessa may have a multitute of physical challenges...but she is smart as a whip! Kind of like when we bought her a new big-girl stroller and we took her into the store in it for the first time, sitting up tall, looking around and just taking in every moment. I told Darin that day that I swear if she could have talked she would have said "It's about time you got me out of that darn carrier and sat me up like a big-girl~it only took you 9 months ;) !" I can envision the same scenario when she gets her right ear turned on ~ "It's about time...it only took you a year and 2 months ;)!" We might be in for it though...cause I tend to think my little Tessa is going to be a bit of a smart-butt like her Mom...but she needs all the 'edge' she can get and I have a feeling she is going to bring lots and lots of laughter to the Bynum household....it's just a matter of time.
~Whitney
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