OPUS!

I just got an email from the implant coordinator. Emmi's bilateral OPUS systems are in! They received one a few weeks ago, so we were just waiting on the other one. Now we just need to get a MAPing appointment, and Emmi will FINALLY have her new processors. I am supposed to call her tomorrow morning to find out when her appointments will be. I am doing a little happy dance right now.

Okay. I am back from my happy dance. Now let me tell you why this is so great. Emmi was in that little group that only received ONE set of equipment for each side, because we were waiting on FDA approval of the new processors. We were originally told it would be months. But months turned into years. Everytime something broke, Emmi just couldn't hear until a replacement part was overnighted to us. Plus that meant, I never could wait for insurance approval on parts. I had to just pay out of pocket or make her wait even longer for the parts. Now we will have a WHOLE ENTIRE backup system FOR EACH EAR! Extra coils. Many battery packs. Ahhhh! And the battery packs.... ARE RECHARGEABLE!

No more buying hundreds of dollars of batteries! We went through 9-12 batteries in a week (depending on the rotation), as sets of three last four days. That's two ears, six batteries running at a time. You can't just run to Walgreen's and get standard hearing aid batteries. Oh no. You need cochlear batteries. They have to be special ordered, and insurance doesn't cover them. But the new processors run on rechargeable batteries! We can still use the old battery packs as backup, so we are completely done with those batteries yet. But unless the power goes out for many days at a time, I think we are good!

There are so many other amazing things about the new processor that I could go on and on. But I won't. You get the picture already!