Surgery is Officially On!

After anxiously waiting for a week, we received our approval from insurance yesterday that we can definitely have Butters' implant surgery.  All of the specialists at our implant center and our insurance case manager told us that we would hear something by the first of February.  But this is insurance that we're dealing with here, so I took their words with a grain of salt and braced myself for an impending skirmish over the phone.

But it didn't happen. 

What everybody else kept saying happened.  Which usually doesn't happen.  

I walked out to the mailbox yesterday not expecting anything but bills and more credit card applications.  And I saw our insurance company's name blaring in green on the outside of the last envelope in the box.  I panicked.  Oh crap, I'm not ready for this.

I took everything inside and refused to look at that envelope for about twenty minutes.  I opened it and saw the approval.  I forgot to jump up and down and scream.

Of course, it's a basic rundown of the surgery approval - no fine details are outlined ( I like details) but it's there.  And of course, I still had to log into our insurance website to check there as well.  The last time we logged in was last Thursday and it was still listed as "In Process."  By the way, after repeatedly seeing this pop up on the screen waiting for approval and getting annoyed every time I saw this, I have decided that the next time anyone calls me requesting anything from me, I am going to reply that I am "In  Process" and I will get back to them after I decide to sort myself out.

So, we are excited and admittedly, a little scared.  We still have to wait out what type of electrode array will fit Butters' cochleas due to the Mondini's.  We have to sweat out the big possibility of "gushers" due to the CSF leaks that often occur with this syndrome as well.  And, more importantly, we just have to wait and see how he does at activation day,  beyond that day, and the days after.

Wait and see.  It's tough.  It's tough especially because we all have so very little patience with anything anymore.

I have taken up mixed media art - again - after many years of letting it go.  I still really don't have the time to dabble in it and manage to work while Butters takes his nap, which has become a little sketchy lately.  But it's something that calms my nerves which is greatly needed at this point.