The Pathway to EARS!

At the U of U hospital today, Katie is getting her first laser hair removal treatment, in prep for getting the abutments for her snap-on ears!  She was so excited yesterday after our consult, that she literally walked down the hall of the hospital and ran, jumped, and clicked her heels together!  This really means a lot to her.  It is a longer process than we thought it would be, mainly because she has so much thick hair in the way of where her ears will be that they have to do 6 – 8 laser removal treatments in order to get rid of it all!  And each of those treatments is supposed to be separated by 5 weeks, but we’re trying to squeeze them together into 4 week intervals.  The last couple of treatments will be done after she has the surgery to install the abutments, so we can get her into ears by the week school starts in August.  The surgery will be on 2 July.  We’re trying to, at the same time, have another hearing aid abutment installed on her left side, so she’ll have bilateral BAHAs, to improve directional hearing, etc.  We’ll see if that all can be fit in on the same surgery.  At least that’s the plan.  We’re trying to do all this before she’s 18 to ensure our medical insurance will cover it.