A Whole New World

That's what the Esteem has provided for me - a whole new world!  You can thank me later for having that song stuck in your head now - haha! :)  I've started so many blog posts and never seem to finish them because I just don't know how to put all of this into words.  There have been some pretty major developments in the last few weeks, so I guess I should share!

1) BIG NEWS: Anthem Blue Cross covered my 2nd Esteem at MORE THAN 100%!  There were MAJOR issues with the surgery center and insurance this time around.  The surgery center neglected to fill out the right paperwork then called and demanded $19,400 the night before my surgery.  Seriously.  But, y'all, God is so good.  I had that money saved from the reimbursement the first time.  Normally, I don't have money like that sitting in my savings account, but He provided.  Anyway, when the surgery center filed with insurance they billed for the correct total ($39,000 - SERIOUSLY!) but did NOT use the code for the Esteem device, just for the surgery.  Needless to say, they did not get reimbursed for much....so neither did I.  About a week ago, I got word that they corrected their claim to include the code for the Esteem and Anthem reimbursed the surgery center $21,700 for the device.  Now I just have to get reimbursed from them...which should be fun, considering they still haven't reimbursed me from the first surgery.  I am also still fighting Anthem to cover the surgeon's portion of the surgery, which they did the first time, but not the second.  Good times, y'all!  As stressful as all of this is, BlueCross covered TWO Esteem surgeries in California!  That is groundbreaking!

*Note: I am being VERY open with dollar figures here, which makes me nervous, but there are several potential Esteem patients reading this who need to know details.  If you are a patient and want the codes used, please email me and I will gladly share everything with you!  When I had my first surgery, God provided every step of the way, even when it seemed impossible to me to come up with $30,000.  He IS our provider and sometimes He uses insurance companies. :)*

2) PR: I got a call from my surgeon's office (His office manager is one of my favorite people in the whole world!!!!!) asking if I would be willing to be involved in some publicity for Envoy, the company that makes the Esteem.  Yeah, me.  You can stop laughing now. :)  I am SO not a good speaker and I don't particularly enjoy talking to grown-ups, but God has performed a miracle in my life and if I am given an opportunity to glorify Him, I have to take it.  I also want to get the word out about the Esteem.  It still overwhelms me to think of this incredible change in my life and how it all came about because a girl I went to high school with (Hi, Tori!) watched Good Morning, America one day.  If I can share this incredible opportunity with other people, I will.  The same day that I got confirmation that Anthem covered the device, a representative from Envoy called and now I'm just waiting to hear from the PR firm.  I have no idea what this will entail and I'm kinda scared to death, but I pray that God will use me to glorify Him and to open doors for other people to experience this.

3) New experiences:  After a year of hearing, you'd think that I would run out of new experiences, but that has NOT been the case at all!  Just today, a group from church was working on our float for the Memorial Day parade and one of the guys was joking around with kids in the backyard of the house while I was standing in the garage.  I couldn't understand every word he said, but I got a lot of it.  I didn't think anything of it until a lady said, "Even Jill heard that!"  Little moments like that still amaze me.  I even went on a motorcycle ride two weeks ago!  That would never have been fun for me with hearing aids.  The wind noise would have been unbearable if I'd kept hearing aids in and nothing was fun if I didn't have my hearing aids in.  We rode a motorcycle up to Sequoia National Park and found a great little meadow there.  Standing in this meadow, in the middle of God's beautiful creation, listening to the water in little streams...our God is so good!  Now I'm crying again! :)

4) Healing: My ear is still not healed.  I haven't tested my tympanograms since activation, but I can tell there's improvement because I don't hear fluid in my ear.  I can tell it's not completely healed because the Esteem still whistles a lot.  It is so weird to hear whistling inside my head.  Unfortunately, this whistling usually starts about 4:30 a.m.  It's a very convenient alarm clock, I suppose. :)  I will go back for hearing testing this summer and that should provide more information about the healing process.  It's completely normal to heal slowly.  Even with the diminished quality and the whistling, though, it's 100 times better than a hearing aid ever was.

I know I say it over and over again, but this has been life-changing.  I am a completely different person than I was a year ago.  Life is just so much easier when I don't have to struggle to communicate!

Concerts and Ramblings

It feels odd posting on here now because having two working ears seems normal now. I'm still amazed every day and hope that I never lose that, but it feels natural to hear now. I have had a few "firsts" lately to share! I LOVE music and am very thankful that I can experience music in a whole new way now. I can hear intricate details and distinguish instruments. I can ENJOY music that I used to hate because now I can hear the sounds instead of a roar. It is nothing short of wonderful!! Since my first Esteem was activated, I've wanted to attend a love concert but never had a chance until last week. I was pretty nervous that it would be too loud or I'd be hypersensitive, but at TWO different shows in very different venues, I didn't even have to use my remote! It was soooo much fun to really enjoy a concert. The company wasn't so bad either. ;). After almost a year with one Esteem, I can't believe how different so many experiences are. It's surpassed my greatest dreams.

Lately, I've been thinking about growing up without hearing. I was really fortunate to be able to function with hearing aids, but now I get how awful they are and how much I really did have to struggle. High school would have been a completely different experience if I'd been able to hear. Part of me wishes I'd never had to go through all of the hard things that I did. However, I get to experience a miracle every day. Those of you who know me know that I worry about everything and over analyze everything. It's no fun and it's NOT ok for a Christian. It's always been a struggle for me. This Esteem journey, though, has changed a lot. God made me able to hear. He did that! I never dreamed that would happen but it did! Knowing that helps me trust in other situations. If God can heal me, He can take care of everything else. Being able to see (well, hear haha!) God work like that is so worth every painful hearing related experience I've ever had. He is amazing. I am constantly in awe.