Today was supposed to be one of the biggest days of Dallas’s life thus far.  For us and our immediate families, we have been highly anticipating this day since the day we learned of Dallas’s profound hearing loss.  It is with great disappointment that I write the cochlear implant surgery has been delayed.

Dallas woke up Wednesday morning with a typical cold and after lunch he was clearly struggling to breathe.  I took him up to the ER and he was admitted that afternoon for respiratory distress.  He was treated with antibiotics, steroids, and neb treatments.  No-one knows why he was having difficult time breathing.  They treated him as though he has pneumonia, although there was no hard evidence that he did have it.  He was deemed unfit for surgery, as I suspected he would be, and we came home yesterday.  He’ll continue to be on oral steroids, an antibiotic, and neb treatments for the next week or so.

We had the second opinion down at Mayo yesterday and I left there with mixed feelings.  This surgeon had a far different demeanor and feeling regarding the surgery.  He was very positive and confident regarding the implant itself.  He was not confident regarding long-term outcome, and stated it would all depend on how Dallas's brain reacts to sound.  His brain may decide to take in the sound, but do nothing with it.  He stated that an improved quality of life for Dallas is a reasonable expectation.  He did agree that the implant is the only way to get Dallas any sound and also concurred that the hearing aids are virtually doing nothing for him at this point.  He felt like there were two options, do nothing, or do something.  This reassured us in our decision to go ahead and give the implant a try.  While I did like this surgeon's personality and overall disposition, it's hard to erase the connection with Dallas's current surgeon at the University.  He does express more skepticism, but we believe that to be his MO (so to speak).  He likes to under promise, and then over deliver.  Let's pray that's the case this time.

We have not rescheduled the surgery yet, but my best guess is that it will be about 6-weeks out from now.

Dallas has his first independent skill!!!!