A Long Overdue Tribute...

You know I’ve been thinking a lot this weekend. I know it’s dangerous. However, it just "happens". I will try to be more careful in the future but I'm can't make any promises. So, I realized that I need to share something important.

I really need to post a tribute to my husband. I will just jump in here and tell you why. Three months before we were married I was diagnosed with type I diabetes. It was a crazy time. I was in the middle of graduate school. I was planning our wedding and did I mention graduate school? LOL. My life has not been the same since my diagnosis and it never will be but we make it work. Life is a new normal...and I can accept that. Little did we know how EXPENSIVE the stupid disease is as well. The average person spends about 2,500.00 a year on health care. The average type I diabetic spends about 12,000 a year. Thankfully we have great insurance now but it doesn’t come cheap. We still make a monthly payment to my doctor’s office for bills that occurred the first 8 months of our marriage. The insurance we had at the time did not cover the doctor’s appointments. Not ONCE has he ever complained about the financial aspect of it. NEVER! He’s never even joked or made comment about how much more money we would have if I didn’t have type I diabetes. One day he came home from work I was all upset and I told him I wanted to get an insulin pump and that I was sick of the injections. He said okay and told me he thought it was a great idea and I called and started the process and was pumping a month later. It was a great decision! I love my pump. The pump alone cost 5000.00 bucks. We had to dish out 1,000 for it but the insurance covered the rest…actually we make payments on Forrest Pump and I’m happy to say he should be paid off by August. We also have to pay for supplies every three months and that cost a lot too a couple hundred and again he never complains.

So, lets fast forward a little bit. I’m having problem after problem with the hearing aid. I would be upset about it a lot. Crying, angry, frustrated. I keep going to the audiologist to try new hearing aids to keep having the digital one programmed but to no avail. One day I come home crying and I’m so mad and frustrated. I can’t function like I used to. I’m crying and I said: “I’m going to get a cochlear implant b/c I don’t want to deal with this anymore”. He says “let’s do it”. No kidding. Wow! Well, We didn’t realize the process was long and that it cost 80k but hey the out come is worth it (so they say). I freaked out about the cost more than he did. In his mind the outcome is worth it. Again we have insurance and hoping that they will pay a lot of it. We know that it will actually. I know he remembers the all the times I cried and would become frustrated b/c the hearing sounds so distorted. I almost wonder if he's relieved about the implant. I was pretty adamant that it wasn't something I was interested in. I'll have to ask him that (he's sleeping right now...he's so cute when he sleeps!).

In all honesty it’s not all about the money as I make it sound like that. His support knows no bounds. I think I focus more on the money aspect b/c I’m the one who runs up the bill. He has supported me every step of the way. He’s gone with me to HLAA meetings; he’s gone to a deaf/hoh seminar; he’s gone with me to several doctor’s appts regarding the implant; he’s gone with me when I’ve met up with Susan (and Laurie). He wants to be a part of all of this. I think he has enjoyed meeting others with the implant just as much as I have. He likes seeing the results and hearing the experiences other people have had. I’m so thankful and blessed.

I do think I know why he’s so supportive with the implant though. Does he want me to hear better? OF COURSE! Does he know how frustrated I’ve been? YES! Is there more to his support? I think so! You see, the truth is the man is obsessed with Star Trek. I mean OBSESSED. I think he is so freakin’ excited to have a wife that is going to become a Cyborg b/c in some weird way it ties back to his love affair with Star Trek. Haha. Funny stuff. Sometimes I wonder if he’s going to start calling me Seven of Nine or something crazy. We’ll see!

He has no idea I have written this so he better be reading my blog! All I want to say is thank you Jason for all your support and hang on …b/c this is going to be an interesting voyage and we are in it together! I will let you be Capitan Picard (for all of you non-trekies- you normal people... that's the name of the Capitan in Star Trek Enterprise! I'll just be a cyborg...it's fitting though don't you think? Hang on for the ride!

Oh one more thing..Jason, just remember when we are old and you are saying “what” all the time b/c you can’t hear and I can (b/c I have the implant) I promise to be patient with you.

Signing off for now people…I’ll be back soon!