My older daughter Sydney, Peter, and I were picking up our "Happy New Year" cards at Costco yesterday (yes, we totally missed the Christmas card window this year), and I happened to see a boy with a bright yellow ear mold. I looked to check that it wasn't an earbud for music, and it was in fact a hearing aid. I didn't think much of it, but I smiled, and wondered if they had seen Peter's bright blue hearing aids. I don't want to stalk people with hearing loss, but there aren't that many young people that I see, so I figure a smile of solidarity is a happy medium.
We ended up behind the boy and his mom in the checkout line, and I saw he had a cochlear implant on the other side! I decided a little more than a smile might be OK...so I said to the mom that I noticed her son had a cochlear implant, and that mine was a candidate. She was friendly, and said her son had had hearing aids since age 2, and I think she said he lost all hearing in his right ear at 3 and got the cochlear implant then. I asked the boy if he liked his CI, and he said it helped a lot. He had slightly nasal speech, but it was completely understandable. Then I asked what brand CI he had, and they said Adcanced Bionics, and that they were so happy with the customer service. Advanced Bionics is the brand we are leaning towards, and hearing the boy say he was happy with it was like a little candle of hope, and it made me feel like we were on the right path.
All the hustle and bustle of the initial diagnosis, research, and getting hearing aids has subsided. The busy schedule of newborn-6 month doctor visits is done. Even the Early Start and School for the Deaf programs are on break right now. The lull is welcome, but also a bit strange. I felt like we had been swept into a calm pool when I was used to rafting the rapids. To make sure we didn't get stuck in the eddy I emailed Peter's ENT to see about scheduling the Pre-CI CT scan and possible MRI.
The CT scan is to check inner ear physiology, the MRI is just because he won't be able to have one after he gets the CI (at least not without removing the magnet in the internal part of the CI). We don't have to do the MRI, but they say if he is still sleeping after the CT they might as well get the additional images. Turns out Peter's Dr. is on vacation, but she emailed to let me know she would work on getting everything scheduled as soon as she got back. We should get a call from Radiology/Imaging in the second week of January! Another little bright spot:).
No comments:
Post a Comment