Denver Trip #2!

Sunday morning rolled by, and I was up and at them early once again.  We were on the road at 9 a.m. heading back to Denver!  Quick stop in Cheyenne, made it to Denver.  After getting checked in at the hotel, mom and I stayed while stepdad went to the Rockies game with his son and grandson (hey hey, the Rockies won!).  Mom and I had lunch at Chili's, got a few things at King Soopers, and just hung out in the hotel, relaxing and taking it easy.  After the game, we all headed over to Casa Bonita for dinner.  I remember my first time going with the middle school class 13 years ago for our Spring Trip, and the fun I had with my friends.  It was fun watching a gorilla pick on a lady and a zoo keeper guy trying to catch the gorilla running amuck in the restaurant (there are several performances in that joint!).  Lady ended up off a cliff into a pool... haha.  I don't really know what the story was, I couldn't hear a word!  It was so noisy inside, it was nuts.  After we finished eating, we got up and roamed around, did some exploring.  There's a cave to explore, which was fun!  We watched another performance (Black Bart and a sheriff), which resulted in Bart ending up in the pool.  More exploring, and we hit up the arcade so my nephew could play some games for tickets to redeem for prizes.  It was pretty fun!

on the road!

 

Casa Bonita!

the water fountain in front of Casa Bonita

got a new light saber from Casa Bonita!

Next day, up and at'em early on, once again!  Made our way down to Swedish Hospital and got to the clinic.  I filled out some paperwork, updated information, blah blah blah... Then I was called back and led to a room.  I chatted a bit with the surgeon's assistant while she got some information from me and verified stuff (and confirmed I did indeed get the Prevnar 13!).  Then she left, and I sat and waited.. and waited... and waited.  Good thing I had my iPad with me, I played on games on it while I waited.  Finally the surgeon came in, and we discussed implanting the right ear.  He's all for it (good candidate and all).  Mentioned that since he did run into some ossification with the left ear, there is that possibility of it happening again with the right ear (MRI and CT scan both didn't catch the ossification of the left ear).  Confirmed that it'll be Advanced Bionics again, he mentioned the newer implant (the Mid Scala), and I told him I was thinking maybe October would be a good time to do all this.  He was cool with that.  Then we were done discussing, and the surgeon's scheduler walked me to her office, and from there she scheduled everything!  Pre-op for Oct. 14, surgery morning of Oct. 15, activation and post-op for morning of Oct. 28.  Whoa!  She wrote down all the times/dates onto a dark pink sheet of paper and handed it to me, and told me to call if I had any questions, and then I was free to go.  Mom and stepdad certainly weren't expecting for everything to have been scheduled already, I wasn't either. 

ready for the day!

everything's all scheduled and on this piece of paper

After we left the clinic, we headed back to the hotel so my stepbro could follow us as we made our way to the Denver Zoo. It's been 13 years since I last visited the Denver Zoo, but I enjoyed it.  Lots of walking, seeing all the different animals.  We even rode the mini train as well, which was fun!  My request was to see the primates, which we did last. Yay!  Didn't see very many monkeys/primates though... Oh well.  Was still fun anyway.  After spending a few hours at the zoo, we exited and sat on the benches and chatted for a bit with stepdad's sister and niece (his niece joined us at the zoo).  I scoped out the gift shop, and even bought a stuffed Gorilla. I collect monkeys, and wanted to add a gorilla to my collection!  From there, mom, stepdad, and I hit the road to head home, finally.  It was a long day, and a long trip home.  We did stop in Cheyenne to have dinner at Chili's, and to fuel up.  Ran into some rain storms, but we made it back into town at about 9.  Ooohh it was a long day.  Was really nice to get back home... of course I had to go to college classes the very next day!  I missed the first day of classes due to the appointment with the surgeon, but first day is usually orientation stuff, getting familiar with the class, that sort of thing.  So I wasn't worried about missing anything important.

Denver Zoo!

about to be kissed by a bronze snake!

new gorilla friend!

Hear in the Dark 5k video

Here's my video footage from the Hear in the Dark 5k! Enjoy!

hearing test video

Recorded most of the hearing test that went on in the sound booth yesterday and uploaded to youtube.  After watching it and listening to the words/sentences with both CI and hearing aid on, holy moly!  There were still words and sentences that I couldn't make sense of while watching, but wow I really did horribly with only one device on at a time.  Shew!  While sitting in the sound booth, listening and trying to make sense of what was being said via the computer, it all sounded like a bunch of mumbo jumbo to me, or a bunch of gibberish.  I could figure out when it's a male or female voice, but other than that it was hard to make sense of the words or sentences.  It's insane.  I would certainly hope for a big improvement when I go bilateral!

Hear in the Dark 5K: a success!

The Hear in the Dark 5k was held on August 15 (last Friday), and it was a great success!  I don't know how many participants there were this year, but a bunch!  It's was another fun night for all, for sure.  Schwan's was available to sell frozen treats, and a farming group were also available, selling drinks and food.  There were bounce houses and face painting for the kids.  I helped at the registration table, which was quite busy!  Runners started running at around 8:30 if I remember that right, with walkers following suit.  It was a long walk, but it was fun!  I had fun passing people on the path and checking out their glowy decor (light up wigs or hair strands, glow sticks/bracelets/necklaces, etc.). It was great!  I had a lot of fun getting myself glowy for the 5K, and even found a use for the finger lights that I still had from last year's 5K.... I put them on my ears!  There are elastic bands attached to the finger lights, so I put one on my Harmony CI processor, and one on my Phonak hearing aid, and voila!  Lit up ears!  I thought that was great and wish I had thought of it last year!

my stash before I headed out to the park

school mascots dancing and having fun!

finger light on my Harmony

both ears lit up!

ready to walk!

the line of walkers

during the walk, runners passing us by

I followed these two girls for a while

green glowy wig, I thought it was neat

at the half-way point

two girls chained themselves together with their glow sticks

a small foot print on the path

more prints!

one of the signs

Run Forrest, RUN!

after the walk, cleaning up.

my glowy stash

the number of steps I made all day Aug. 15! shew!

I had some pictures that I took with my Canon powershot camera, but unfortunately, the SD card that was in it is busted (as in I can't use it anymore, computer won't even format it).  Darn it!  But I did get some good shots with my Sony Handycam, so it's all good!  Even got some video footage, which I will upload to youtube at some point.