I cannot tell you how behind the poor blog is. I have about 10 things I want to post, but I just haven't had the time. Here's a great picture to tide you over though....

Mike's face the first time they turned his implant on. More on that (and everything else after the holidays). Have a very Merry Christmas!

So Much to be Thankful For

Thanksgiving this year was different, but very nice all the same. We truly have so many things in our lives to be thankful for. Here are just a few....

- Our fun, little family and the fact that it's an eternal family
- Our membership in the Church
- My job and the opportunity for Mike to go to school
-Mike's implant - from the insurance approval to the surgery everything went as smoothly as possible and we couldn't be more thankful.
- Our wonderful, supportive families - Mike's brother drove all the way from Utah to be here for his surgery. Thanks TJ!
- Food on the table, a roof over our heads, and so much more than we actually need
- Hazel who is happy, healthy, and developing normally. She recently learned to open pen caps and I was so annoyed because of the inconvenience to me. Then I thought of some of the kids I work with who struggle to learn basic skills like that and I was so thankful she is learning and developing so well.
- Our Savior, Jesus Christ, who's atonement gives purpose and direction to our lives
- The freedoms we enjoy in this country and all the men and women who fight to protect our land
- The newest Harry Potter movie:)

Like I said, this is such a small portion of the things we have to be thankful for. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break with lots of family time, turkey, and fun. On Friday Hazel and I went and hunted down our Christmas tree which looks beautiful in our apartment. Enjoy some pictures...

CI Photos

Surgery Success

Mike has been begging me to post a quick blog about his surgery yesterday. Pictures and videos to follow, but I don't want to upload them now.

Surgery went very well yesterday. It took just over an hour. The surgeon said the implant went in very smoothly. They test it before they close you up, and everything is working well. All 22 electrodes are working! With meningitis there is always a chance there will be some bone growth in the ear that will block some electrodes or break them as they go in, but Mike's ear was perfect. Also, when they tested the auditory nerve, it was picking up strong signals from the implant!

Mike did very well with the whole process. He has had mild pain and discomfort but nothing too bad. Last night he was having a hard time with "motion sickness." Because the implant goes in your inner ear, it messes up your balance/orientation so it was causing him to feel very sick/vomit. Thankfully the doctor had good advice to give him motion sickness medicine and he's doing much better now. He's even feeling well enough to go to Thanksgiving dinner at my uncles house for at least a few hours.

We're so thankful everything went so well!!!!

More on Mike's Implant

Lots of people have been asking us different questions about the cochlear implant Mike will be getting, so I decided to answer some of them....

What is an implant? How does it work?
Essentially a cochlear implant is a bionic ear. There is an internal component that will be surgically place on November 24th and an external component that Mike will wear during the day but remove to sleep, shower, swim, etc (see pictures below.) In a normal ear, sound waves get converted to electrical impulses by hair cells inside the cochlea. The electrical impulses then travel up the auditory nerve to the brain. In Mike's case, his hair cell are damaged from the spinal meningitis he had as a child and thus very few electrical impulses are sent to the brain. The implant takes over the work of the hair cells and directly simulates the auditory nerve with electrical signals received from the external component of the device.

Internal component (notice how thin it is! They used to look like this


External component

How well will Mike be able to hear with the implant?
First of all, let me explain what Mike hears now. With his hearing aids, Mike is able to hear about 5-15% of speech sounds. (I know that's hard to believe if you've talked to him, but it's true. He relies on lip reading and context A LOT!) With his cochlear implant, he should be about to hear about 90-95% of speech sounds! But, it will take time for his brain to learn how to process all that information, weed out background noise, etc. He will not have perfect hearing when they put it on. It will take a lot of work on his part. But, with practice he will be able to hear much, much more than he does now. He hopes to be able to hear well enough talk on the phone again.

How long is the surgery and recovery?
Cochlear implants have come a long way. In the past the scar from the surgery was about 4-5 inches long and surgery time as 3-4 hours. The new technology is so small that the surgery time is only about an hour and Mike's scar will only be about an inch long! Also, in the past they have had to drill a "bed" for the implant in your skull, but now the implant is so thin they just place it without any drilling. It's an outpatient surgery so we'll be home that night.

The recovery is similar to any minor surgery. Some discomfort, swelling, and pain at the surgery site for several days to a week. The only major side effect is that sometimes when they place the implant your balance/equilibrium get throw off (the inner ear also controls balance). If this happens, he may experience dizziness for several days to several weeks following the surgery. The incision heals for two weeks before they "activate" the implant and you begin wearing the external piece.



We are very excited for Mike to have this opportunity. As Mike mentioned, the Lord has guided this decision and definitely prepared a way. His implant was approved with NO problems from the insurance company, we got the exact surgery date we wanted, and so many other miracles have occurred along the way. We know Heavenly Father's hand has been in the process.

Say What?

After much thought and much prayer, a decision was reached. For a long time, years to be more precise, I have wrestled with this decision, but since have found peace and comfort. Daily scripture study and frequent Temple attendance has given me insight in what is right for me.

In August, I received a blessing from my wonderful Bishop who has since counseled me in trusting my Father in Heaven more. I felt that if I am going to listen to Him, I best do so with not just with an open mind, but with an open heart.

Sometimes, there is peace when you dive into the deep end of the pool. I dove in, and came up feeling peace, hope and love from my Heavenly Father, and my sweet wife, Justine. I thank them for their love and support.

Say what? Surgery? Me? I've never had surgery in my life (that I know of or remember), if you don't count getting wisdom teeth removed.

Coming soon, November 24th, to a hospital in Denver ... (lights dim and soft, dramatic music in the background) ... is a cochlear implant.

Halloween

We enjoyed a very fun Halloween weekend! On Friday Hazel went trick-or-treating to the office at our apartments in her princess dress. She loves her pumpkin bucket and mostly wanted to wear it as a hat. She would rather just carry all of her candy around with her.

Then Saturday we went to the ward Halloween party as hippies. Mike really wanted to tie-dye matching shirts. The costumes actually turned out really cute!

We didn't get any trick-or-treaters which is too bad because our pumpkins were awesome. I'm quite proud of them. Can you guess who?

Here's Hazel doing twirls in her princess dress from Grandma Teri and Grandpa Tony...

Sorry the blog has been totally neglected. Here are some adorable videos of Hazel to make up for it....

Here she is trying to get Kiara to come out from under the table to play. It's so cute how she says her name:)

Purple for Grandma Ballard