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This is the story of Gabi. Gabi was born with Microtia and Aural Atresia. Since birth, Gabi has been taught..."You've got nothing to hide!" We have loved every piece of her. A hearing aide has helped Gabi hear, and she's been doing great!
Gabi and big sister Sophie
Gabi's surgery will be done in California. It will take 3 to 4 trips to get the process finished. This blog is for YOU to share the process with us. It's for all of you who love Gabi and who want to be there for her while she goes through this year.
Why the surgery?
Gabi has been taught to love her little ear, but there comes a time to make some decisions. Gabi's hearing aide is the type that has to be on a headband that she wears everyday until she grows big enough to have it surgically implanted into her bone. The headband is made for toddlers, with the idea that the hearing aide will eventually be surgically implanted. If there's one thing we've learned from her teachers, it's that she always does much much better when that hearing aide is working properly. We hear it every single year.
Decision number one...Do we continue with hearing aides and have it implanted? If we have it implanted, then she can't do the construction of the outer ear. It's a decision we would be making that would last her lifetime. The outer construction has to be done with "virgin" skin, meaning no previous holes or surgeries or anything.
Decision number two...Do we open that canal up so she can hear without a hearing aide? Again, if we open it up then we have to do the outer construction first. You can't do the ear canal and then decide later that you want to construct an outer ear.
Decision number three...do we just leave well enough alone and do nothing? We could...and that is what we have done the last eight years. Now that Gabi is eight we are faced with another issue. Teasing. Kids are cruel. Gabi started wanting to hide her ear. She started saying that she "only loves her little ear if other people can't see it."
The constructive surgery for an ear is an amazingly difficult process. You really have to be both a surgeon and an artist. There are only a handful of people in the country that are successfully doing the surgery. Another issue...if you don't do it right, then the ear is lost. One chance. There aren't any doctors in this state that are even doing the surgery.
After many years of diliberation, our insurance company gave the word that they saw the surgery as "medically necessary." Off we go to California to the doctor who pioneered the surgery and has had many many successful surgeries. After she is done with outer construction, she can have her ear canal opened with her doctor at the Mayo in Rochester, and throw the hearing aide in the toilet (or maybe donate it to someone else) and be done with it.
We're actually sad to say goodbye to our little ear...but looking forward to hearing without complications. :)
Decision number one...Do we continue with hearing aides and have it implanted? If we have it implanted, then she can't do the construction of the outer ear. It's a decision we would be making that would last her lifetime. The outer construction has to be done with "virgin" skin, meaning no previous holes or surgeries or anything.
Decision number two...Do we open that canal up so she can hear without a hearing aide? Again, if we open it up then we have to do the outer construction first. You can't do the ear canal and then decide later that you want to construct an outer ear.
Decision number three...do we just leave well enough alone and do nothing? We could...and that is what we have done the last eight years. Now that Gabi is eight we are faced with another issue. Teasing. Kids are cruel. Gabi started wanting to hide her ear. She started saying that she "only loves her little ear if other people can't see it."
The constructive surgery for an ear is an amazingly difficult process. You really have to be both a surgeon and an artist. There are only a handful of people in the country that are successfully doing the surgery. Another issue...if you don't do it right, then the ear is lost. One chance. There aren't any doctors in this state that are even doing the surgery.
After many years of diliberation, our insurance company gave the word that they saw the surgery as "medically necessary." Off we go to California to the doctor who pioneered the surgery and has had many many successful surgeries. After she is done with outer construction, she can have her ear canal opened with her doctor at the Mayo in Rochester, and throw the hearing aide in the toilet (or maybe donate it to someone else) and be done with it.
We're actually sad to say goodbye to our little ear...but looking forward to hearing without complications. :)
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