Morning Walks of Beauty

I have been enjoying morning walks this last week, and discovered the joy of looking for something special every day for which to thank my Creator. Since I walk my youngest son to his bus stop in the morning anyway, I decided to make this my exercise routine while the weather is nice. I wave goodbye to him, and off I go on a loop of one sort or another, trying out new paths or venturing down unknown roads, scanning the houses as I go, and looking for interesting birds, deer, squirrels at work or play, or other signs of "life". While my walks so far are in complete silence, making me all the more alert to traffic and the goings-on around me, I look ahead two weeks to when my cochlear implant will be activated for sound, and my walks will take on a whole new dimension.

One day this week, Caleb and I remarked at the huge, orange, full morning moon rising in the sky. Another day, we felt almost criminal walking across the red leaf carpet laid before us on the sidewalk under a small maple tree that looked to us like the flame on a candle. Each leaf had brilliant color and texture in the yellow and green veins of the leaf. We keep trying to collect the most beautiful ones, and give them to each other as a love gift, but by the end of the day, they are withered and dry, and have lost their beauty.

Another day, as I was walking along with the road on my right and a swampy area on my left, I noticed at my feet a little black and brown fuzzy caterpillar about the cross the road. At first, I kept walking. And then I thought that I'd like to bring the little guy home and show the boys after school. So, I went back and picked him up and carried him home. I grabbed a clear plastic deli container and ripped some grass out from the cracks in the driveway (it needed to come out anyway!) and made a temporary home for him. Caleb enjoyed him and helped me release him the next day, mentioning that he hoped some bird didn't swoop down and eat him.

I've seen Blue Jays and Cardinals this week, which we should enjoy during the winter months, too. And I saw my first "V" formation of geese migrating South for the winter. All of these wonderful things cause my heart to sing in praise and worship for the God who not only made them, but made me as well. Have you gone a morning walk lately?

Last update on surgery recovery

Well, tomorrow will be one week since I had my implant surgery, and today I went without any pain meds. at all. I'm pleased with the progress, and have resumed driving and real light exercise (no sweat yet!). I'm trying to keep the steri-strips in place until my post-op check-up with Dr. Telian on the 23rd, but if they come off before then, I won't be too bothered. They are a little annoying, but serve to keep things clean from infection, so I put up with it.

My activation dates are now set with the audiologist: October 9th & 10th. The first day they give me the external speech processor to attach by magnet to the implant on the other side of my skin. The audiologist will take me through a series of beeps to set real basic volume comfort levels at various frequencies and pitches. The next day, I will come back for a more complete "mapping" session to set specific programming in place on the various program slots available for my use on the speech processor. Then I'll go home for a week and try it all out in different listening situations. I'll also start working on listening exercises, and reading and listening to unabridged audio books for more listening practice.

This morning while walking with Caleb to his bus stop, he asked me, "Mom, why don't you home-school me this year?" I told him that I have my own homework in having surgery and rehabilitation to get my hearing back so we can return to our work in Africa next year. Plus, he needs to make friends and have fun at school. I got the impression that he was a little down this morning, and he asked if I could pick him up from school rather than have to ride the bus home. Just then, we saw a little mouse hopping across the grass, and we were delighted by the creature. We told him he better stay outside; no-one wanted him inside their house.

We kept walking to the bus stop, and Caleb saw a deer in the back yard of the house across the street. I told him that God was giving him a little gift this morning to cheer him up; He was sharing His creation with us to say, "See, Caleb, I love you today!" And then we saw two more deer feeding under a fruit tree nearby. Many cars were whipping by on the road, never seeing what was mere feet from their windows, but Caleb and I had the pleasure of savoring these beautiful animals before the bus pulled up.

Aren't those the kind of moments to treasure for a lifetime? I'm so glad Caleb has worked hard at being able to communicate with me, even in my deafness. We really enjoy each other's company, and when I need a buddy to go somewhere with me, he's usually "game".

I told my other son, Ben, this afternoon, that when I get activated, he's one of the first people I want to sit down and have a conversation with. I miss him and not being able to have a "heart-to-heart" with this tender one. I also miss just hanging out with my husband, and he with me, so we'll have to plan some fun "together" time to make us for a few lost months. We have a required trip to Denver in January at mission HQ, so we're considering taking the train out there and getting a sleeping compartment and making a fun adventure out of it. Better than trying to drive out there in the middle of winter, and who knows how expensive or risky air travel will be then, so I think the train is a good option.

Anyone done train travel lately and want to share their experience?

The Day After Surgery

So, yesterday, I came home and updated this blog, Facebook, answered e-mails, and chatted with some family before I called it a night. Today, I'm wiped out in the recliner, taking it easy and enjoying the pampering. Trying to get by on Tylenol for pain, but I'll probably open the Vicodin for sleeping tonight.

My medical and cochlear implant friends will want to see the incision pictures after removal of the headwrap, so here they are. Unfortunately for the very curious, the steri-strips cover the stitches, and have to stay on for 2 weeks until I go back to the surgeon for a check-up on my recovery. By then, the dissolvable stitches should be gone, and I'll be getting impatient for the activation in another 2 weeks. This is quite a process to hear again, but it will all be worth it, I'm sure.

Cochlear Implant Surgery a Success, so far

Today was the big day for me; I had my cochlear implant surgery and all went well, according to the surgeon. But let me go back a couple of days to share the total experience...

I have been encouraged by other cochlear implantees to allow myself to be pampered and treated like a queen while recovering from surgery. And after reading the experiences of some who had facial or taste nerves cut or damaged during surgery, I decided that I was going to start the "queen treatment" a bit early, so in case I ended up being a worst-case scenario, I would have good memories to think back on. Also, I wanted to take my mind off of any anxious forethoughts, and celebrate the hope with my loved ones as I went into this first step toward returning to the hearing world.

So, on Monday night, I convinced my loving husband to take me out for all-you-can-eat shrimp at Red Lobster. We had Shrimp Scampi, Linguine Shrimp Alfredo, Cajun Shrimp, Hand-battered Shrimp, and Coconut Shrimp bites. Oh man, are you hungry yet? That was so good.

Then, when we found out that I had to be at the surgical center at 6:15 am on Wednesday and it's a 1.5 hour trip to Ann Arbor, I convinced my mom, who was driving me down for surgery, that we should leave on Tuesday and enjoy some of the sights of Ann Arbor that we'd never explored. When all you know about Ann Arbor is the University of Michigan Hospital and the audiologist's office near the mall, you know you're missing something.

So, I'd heard about Zingerman's Delicatessen and how it's "the best deli outside of New York City", so we decided to eat lunch there and enjoy looking around at all their imported foodstuffs and bakery, and then go on to Trader Joe's not far from our hotel. We had a great afternoon eating ourselves to the point of discomfort before I had to start fasting at midnight. By the way, Zingerman's does a brisk on-line business apparently, and I can attest to the fact that their food was DELICIOUS! Check out zingermans.com.


So, we got up early, arrived at the surgical center, were taken back for prepping, and wheeled away for surgery. Here's a picture before I was drugged unconscious.










The next thing I knew, I was being awakened, and told that the surgery was a "textbook case" and all went well. No nerve lines cut, and no other complications; in fact I was a best-case scenario, so far. The surgery was from 7:30-11:30, and I was released by 12:45pm to head home. Here's a picture of me after surgery, with my lovely turban headwrap on. Won't my African friends think this is quite attractive? I get to take it off tomorrow and see what's hiding underneath.



We stopped at Panera's for soup and Iced Green Tea on the way home. I wasn't feeling dizzy or nauseated, just a little embarrassed for my appearance. Then we were home by 2:30, and I felt good; energy to write blogs and e-mails, with a little help from my friendly Vicodin pill, I'm sure. By the way, have you noticed a theme here, with food? I like to eat.

So, there you have the surgery day update. My doctor said that I should be hearing again by Halloween. Of course, I have to recover, let the swelling go down, get the external pieces to make the implant work and get it programmed for sound three times before then, but I think the worst is over, now. We'll see how I feel tomorrow and the next day...

Thanks to all my prayer warriors for a busy, rewarding day of answered prayer. Keep up the good work!

First Week of School - The Ups and Downs

Our daughter left for school a few weeks ago and is doing well. But this week, our two sons started public school and there have been a few memorable moments. Ben, the oldest, went to Kindergarten in Wheaton, Illinois, and did 2nd grade in French public school in Quebec, Canada, but otherwise, he's been home-schooled. He started this week in Middle School - 7th grade, and is learning quickly about staying organized and lugging a huge backpack back and forth to school on his bike.

He started the first day on the school bus, but we discovered that he should have taken a different bus at a different stop; and getting home he got confused, so he ended up at one of the elementary schools and called us to come and pick him up. After that, he said he'd ride his bike for now. He forgot to make a sandwich for his lunch, so he came home starved. The second day he decided he'd try the school's hot lunch program, so I gave him $3 to pay in cash, since we hadn't yet gotten onto the on-line Lunchdeposit.com to fill up his Meal Magic account. It's like a pre-paid credit system in the lunchroom where you can make deposits from your credit card. Ben hadn't memorized his Meal Magic # yet and was too scared to ask about it all, so he skipped eating on the 2nd day. The third day he got his lock and locker assignment, but when he came home that afternoon, Tom had to go back over to the school to help him figure out why he couldn't work the lock. I laugh because this is all the stuff of future bad dreams, for the rest of his life. Do you still have dreams about not finding your classroom, or forgetting you had a test that day, or losing your class schedule? I do.

Caleb, our youngest, started 3rd grade this week. He's only been home-schooled in Africa, so this was big stuff for him. He was very upset about the whole bus situation the night before school started because we could see by the published schedule that he'd take one bus to Murphy School in the morning and then transfer to the bus that would take him to his school, Ralya. In the afternoon, he'd take a different number bus to Wilkshire School and transfer to the bus that would bring him home. Two transers, three different locations, for a kid who hadn't yet memorized his address or phone number, and didn't know anyone in the system.

I walked him out to the bus, loaded with a card to read for all his connections as I understood them, but also with his vital information in case someone needed to know where he lived to direct him properly. Tom and I "stalked" his busses all the way to Ralya that first day to make sure he made the transfer okay. On the way home, someone directed him to the wrong transfer bus and he rode all over town on the wrong bus. When it was nearly an hour and a half after I knew his school let out, I told my husband that we needed to go find him, he must be lost somewhere. So, off we went, instructing Ben to be the point man at the house. We went to the transfer spot, Murphy, and asked if there were any straggler bus kids hanging around. The staffer there started making phone calls to Ralya and then the bus garage, and they had Caleb there and would bring him to us at Murphy. Poor kid; just what he'd worried about. But he didn't seem too traumatized when he arrived, and the drivers apologized for the mix-up, so the next day, we tried the busses again. His first driver apparently heard of the mix-up and wondered why Caleb hadn't been on his home-bound bus the night before, so he assured me that they'd get it straight that night. Which, thankfully they did, and all is now well on the busses.

However, poor Caleb is so clueless about how school works, and the rhythm of the day, that the first day he didn't know to bring his lunch from the classroom to the cafeteria, so they had to give him a hot lunch. I don't know if they thought his delinquent parents didn't even pack this kid a lunch, or what, but I know we had a whole teaching session at home about what constitutes a healthy lunch and what the options were in the fridge and cupboard. So, he brought back his warm Go-gourt and smooshed PB&J and said they gave him a free lunch! The next day his teacher sent me a note to let me know that he'd assigned some older kids to Caleb to "show him the ropes"; I can only assume that means that he's still trying to figure it all out.

But I'm so proud of my kids, all of them. They are showing tremendous courage under the circumstances, and I know it's not easy for them to have a deaf mom. But they've been so great about repeating and air spelling words for me, or playing charades to help me understand what they're saying. They've really had a good attitude about all of the adjustments they've been required to make these last few months.

This next week will be a challenge for us all as I have my cochlear implant surgery in Ann Arbor on Wednesday. Tom will stay with the boys while my mom takes me down for the outpatient procedure. We talked today about going down a day early, in case my surgery is early morning, so we don't have to get up too early on the day of and be wiped out before we ever get started. There are some interesting shops we haven't visited yet, so we might make a girls' day of it Tuesday and take my mind off the surgery the next day.

I hope to post pictures of my incision for those who are interested here. I know it's sounds gory and is a bit, but other implantees understand the interest in these things: how long the incision?; how much hair did they shave?; how did they close--with staples, stitches, or glue?; how ugly the turban bandage afterwards?; you know...the comparisons to their experience. I'll try to post a surgery update as soon as I'm able. In the meantime, I'd appreciate all prayers for a successful implantation and quick recovery. Thank you, my friends.