Hello everyone I know that it has been a long time since I have written but things have been pretty hectic with a newborn and of course trying to give Rilee all the attention that she deserves as well. Reagan has been doing awesome, she is now wearing 0-3 month clothing and is growing faster than a bean sprout haha. She sleeps from 8PM to around 7 or 7:30 AM and she really is the best baby ever (besides Rye Rye). I was talking with Larry when I just looked at him and said, "How did we get so lucky?" I truly don't know what I did right to have such wonderful children.
Rilee is scheduled to have her cochlear implant surgery on August 25, 2010 in Portland and we are getting nervous and excited at the same time. There are pros and cons for this surgery:
Cons:
They have to drill near her face nerve
She has to go through surgery
She will be in pain
She won't know why she is in pain
Pros:
She will be able to hear
She will be able to learn and grow the way she needs to
She will be able to be POTTY TRAINED
She will have bionic hearing haha
When we went up on the 8th of July for her appointment to see if she was a candidate for the surgery things looked promising. The guy we talked to that specializes in Cochlear Implants said Rilee is a wonderful girl and that he is surprised that she doesn't have any behavior problems. (I thought to myself, "Doc you are not with her all the time she has behavior issues haha")
She will have this device an internal part and an external part. We have 30,000 hair follicles in our ear that help us hear, Rilee has those follicles, but they just work so what they will do is the internal part of the device has 21 electrodes that will act like the hair follicles, they will thread these electrodes into Rilee's cochlea. The surgery will take an hour and a half but it is an in out surgery, but because we live 5 hours away they want us to stay in Portland for 24 hours after her surgery just in case she gets an infection.
The gentlemen told us how much the surgery would cost and Larry and I thought to ourselves holy cow. The device itself cost $8,000 and we get two of them in case something happens to the first one. And the surgery cost $46,000 for a total cost of $62,000 luckily we talked to the insurance and we only have to pay $150.00 of it which considering they are paying for $61,850.00 that is pretty darn good.
Larry and I have been doing good we moved into our own place on the 30th of July and we are enjoying have our own space. We got everything pretty much organized and put away and the girls are enjoying playing in their own room. Rilee is being a ham and Reagan is looking around kicking and doing her own thing half the time. I think she is teething, because she will all of a sudden she will start crying. I will let you all go now love you all and I will keep you updated after Rye Rye surgery.
The Allen's
Larry and I have been married now for almost 7 years.We have two daughters Rilee and Reagan who are just the most amazing little girls God could have given us. We are living in Talent, Oregon where Rilee is attending Talent Elementary in the fall, Larry works at Miller Paint in Ashland, and I am a freelance Paralegal from home. Reagan is a spunky three year old who loves to make you laugh and pushes every button I have.
