Quick Update

I am feeling a little better tonight. I decided to take Drew to the pediatrician to see how he was doing with the fluid in his ears.
Drew’s doctor found that the fluid in the right ear has completely cleared. He could not see the left ear drum, as Drew has a bit of an ear [...]

Final Meeting With the ENT

We had our final appointment with the surgeon today, just under two weeks before Drew’s surgery. Dr. Kang wanted to have the meeting to answer any last minutes questions we may have and do one final evaluation on Drew.

During the evaluation Dr. Kang found fluid in Drew’s ears. He has had a runny nose for [...]

Under Two Weeks Until CI Surgery

Well, the countdown clock that Drew’s Mom put to the right of the posts tells me that we are now only 13 days away from Drew’s cochlear implant surgery.
I’m happy that it is almost here, but I’ve been getting progressively more nervous. The surgery itself is not very risky, but I suppose that even [...]

"The Ends Justify The Means?"

I have mentioned the raging debate over whether cochlear implants are destroying “Deaf culture” or not, and have been trying to learn more myself. I understand that as a hearing person (“hearie”), I cannot fully realize what it is like to be Deaf (Deaf with a capital “D” is often used to refer to [...]

Raise Your Hand!

Everyday in the US, approximately 1 in 1,000 newborns is born profoundly deaf, with another 2-3 of 1,000 babies born with partial hearing loss. While pregnant with Drew I worried about so many things, but not once did I ever worry about him being able to hear. Little did I know that it is the [...]

Activation Scheduled

Drew’s activation of his bilateral cochlear implants has been scheduled for June 28! I think I might need another countdown clock…the day he will start with his hearing journey.
Drew and his Gam-ma now have a special day to share with each other. We will always celebrate Gam-ma’s birthday and Drew’s hearing anniversay on the same [...]

Please

Read this. Then you will understand why I feel the need to comment here.
. . .
Drew’s Dad stumbled upon this blog post today about “Turn On My Ears” and he made the mistake tonight of letting me read it. I can not ignore this blog post, and feel the need to comment here.
I can imagine [...]

Auditory Verbal Therapy

With Drew’s surgery now scheduled and a much easier than anticipated insurance approval process behind us, I have now begun to seek out therapists that will help our hearing Drew learn to identify and listen to sound and eventually speak!
Right after his surgery was scheduled I began to get really nervous about the surgery itself. [...]