For those of you who aren't friends with me on Facebook, I bet you're wondering how Ginny is doing! Well, I can tell you that she is doing great! There is barely a trace of that shy little girl that we knew in China. She is out of her shell and now we trying to tame her (only as much as Connor and Zoe!)She is, in fact, a very funny little girl. She is constantly goofing around, making funny facing and laughing hysterically! It is hard to get her to calm down sometimes! She still cries pitifully when she doesn't get what she wants and can't eat the same thing two days in a row (particularly for breakfast), but she has gotten much better and doesn't do it as often.
She is a very sweet and affectionate little girl. She likes to be carried and to sit on our laps. She loves going to Tae Kwon Do watch the rest of us and even makes up her own moves and routines. We'll definitely have to start her in it next summer!
We have had a number of visits with different doctors and services regarding her ears and hearing. We found out that she hears almost nothing at a normal conversational level. We can communicate with her because we always get her attention and I think she reads lips and body/hand signals. (She is also picking up the sign language I have taught her very well.)
Her coclears are normal, but she hears through the bone, so we are currently seeking approval through my health insurance for a BAHA device. BAHA used to stand for Bone Attached Hearing Aid, but because insurances won't cover hearing aids, they just call it the BAHA now and considerate it a prosthetic. For now she will wear it as a headband and the devices with sit on the bones behind where her ears should be. When she is old enough, they will implant part of the device in the actual skull so she can snap them in and out.
We have also spoken to a plastic surgeon who said they typically wait until children are 6 or 7 to reconstruct the ears, which will be covered under my cosmetic rider on my health insurance (assuming we still have it in a few years!) Unfortunately, to fix these kinds of birth defects on children is considered "cosmetic" so most insurances don't cover it. There is legislation that doctors are trying to pass to change that. I'll probably write more about that as I learn more.
I am really glad we waiting a bit before doing a lot of this because Ginny is much more open and responsive now. I think as she becomes more comfortable and attached to us, she is much more open to new things, too. She knows that she's coming home with us, so it's okay if she has fun in new places!
All in all, everything is going well. We caved in and bought a van to better suit our needs. I don't really like vehicles that big, but I have to admit that it's nice when Connor & Zoe are bickering it's not right in my ears like in the car! We're also going to Disney World the week of July 4th and looking really forward to that. We can't wait to see Ginny's face as she takes in all of the new things she will see there!
No comments:
Post a Comment