CT Scan Results

Dr. Kang called yesterday with the results of Drew’s CT scan. Drew’s inner ear formation is in tact and there are no structural issues with his inner ear. This confirms his candidacy for his cochlear implants! While this is the news we were expecting, we are very happy that our son has two perfectly shaped [...]

Implant Failure

Through this journey there have been many surprises, and there will be many more in the days, months and years to come. One thing I have been most surprised about is the network of parents of children with cochlear implants I have found through the Internet. These parents have been a great source of information [...]

CT Complete…Barely

Drew had his CT scan today, a critical step in moving forward as a cochlear implant candidate. This will allow Dr. Kang to see the anatomy of Drew’s inner ear, and to ensure that Drew has a cochlea for the electrode array of the implant to be inserted in.
When the CT scan was scheduled we [...]

Moving Forward

We are very excited with the pace at which we are now moving toward having Drew bilaterally implanted. I am so happy that we re-evaluated the decisions we had previously made and that we decided to change course.
In the beginning, we had only looked outside of Columbus because the reputation of the cochlear implant program [...]

Drew Heard Something!

Today we had our monthly parent education meeting through the Regional Infant Hearing Program here in Columbus. I should say bi-monthly in this case, since we were snowed in for our February meeting! Our parent educator had not seen Drew since January, so I think she was really excited to see how much he has [...]

Drew’s Sister Is A Blessing

In all this excitement and concern over Drew’s hearing, sometimes I get worried that someone is getting neglected. That someone is our two-year-old daughter.
The books say that bringing home a new child can be traumatic to their older sibling(s), and so naturally we were a bit concerned. It ended up that Drew is [...]

Back to the Drawing Board

What made us start questioning our decision to go to Cincinnati? We thought we had everything figured out. We have agreed to be a part of the research project Dr. Choo is doing at Cincinnati Children’s. We have had all of Drew’s diagnostic testing conducted in Cincinnati. Why the sudden change of heart, you may [...]

Columbus – We Don’t Want to Leave

I feel like my life is in a constant state of fast forward. Between balancing two young children, work, home, doctors appointments, school intervention, family obligations, I hardly have time to sleep (and that has been rare recently, with Drew waking during the night). And just when I think things are about to go back [...]

ABC’s What About Brian – An Absurd Depiction of Cochlear Implants

Last month Drew’s Mom discussed ABC’s Monday night drama, What About Brian. It was quite exciting because it concerned two parents struggling with how best to care for their young daughter who was not hearing, which is obviously the situation we are in right now with Drew.
We weren’t the only ones who were excited. [...]

Genetics

I received the results of my genetic test today. I have the same mitochondrial abnormality found in Drew. This means that my daughter most likely carriers this abnormality, as well as my sister, brother, Mom, her siblings, my Maternal Grandma, and the list goes on and on. Your mitochondria is only passed from your mother, [...]