We are all back home and Dallas is recovering very well so far.  He is slowly working his way back into his eating regimen and has been getting plenty of much needed rest.  His sister rejoined us this morning and you can tell her energy takes his mind off of anything he went through the last couple of days!

Late on Friday night, we had the chance to speak with Dr. Rimell's understudy who was sitting in on the surgery.  We asked her if she had seen a lot of implants done and she replied "Yes, but never have I seen anatomy like your sons."  She said it was very unusual and that Dr. Rimell was remarkable not only in being able to place the electrodes, but also knowing where the facial nerve would be and how to avoid it.  This story is relevant mostly because it made us feel more confident in our decision to stick with the U of M, versus switching his care to Mayo.  I agonized over this decision right up to this very moment before the conversation with this gal took place. 

Additionally, the bronchoscopy that was performed was completely normal from an anatomy perspective.  We were looking for some anomaly or slow reaction in the voice box as suggested by Dallas speech pathologist and feeding specialist.  It was good news to have this confirmed and also gives us the green light to go ahead with VitalStim Therapy if we choose to do so. This therapy uses electrical stimulation to help with dysphagia, i.e. difficulty swallowing.  It is very involved from a time perspective, my understanding is that it is 3 times per week for 3 months. It is also not guaranteed to work. We do not have time to incorporate this immediately into our regimen, but we may look more into this once we have the cochlear implant activated and are through the first several programming appointments and have a good speech therapy plan established.  We are currently set up to see speech at the U of M every Monday, and then programming changes take place separately.  At first there are a lot of programming changes and then it tapers off quickly once we feel like the program settings are optimal for Dallas.  With weekly  physical therapy and Early Intervention on top of that, the weeks are filling up.  The school district also has a speech pathologist that can join Dallas's team, and we are going to try and have her work with his U of M therapist and perhaps we can work out a plan together to have the school do therapy in our home every other week and alleviate some of the trips to the U of M.

Dakota is starting preschool this year!  She will go twice a week and starts the day after Labor Day.  I am very excited for her to be able to get out of the house and do something that is just for her.  I think she will love it and enjoy interacting with lots of kids her age on a regular basis.

Saturday Morning Cartoons! On a 52 inch screen TV.  The children's hospital at the U of M, is brand new and the rooms are crazy nice.  Too bad we didn't find the staff to be crazy nice, as that is far more important.  It was funny though, one of the nurses asked us if they could get us anything and Scott replied "Yes, how about a bigger TV!"