OT Daughter update
I only posted one on this subject but a number of you have asked so here it is.
Last July our Daughter was diagnosed with profound hearing loss, 100% loss in her left ear and only minimal low frequency tones in her right ear. She was put on hearing aids while we pursued CIs, but even with the most powerful pediatric aids on the market she could only hear a car motor and the MM and a few other sounds. We started her with speech therapy and she has a deaf mentor and is amazing at sign for her age and just doing it a few months.
During testing it was discovered that she had the Connexin 26 gene which causes total hearing loss, so as we suspected she was not born deaf.It did take a while for us to come to terms with the fact that the life we had hoped for our daughter may not be the one dealt to her, by my wife and myself as we are obviously carries of CX 26. Well typical process for a CI is 6 months or so and Chloe was implanted for her left at around 3 months and activated right before Christmas. She has made amazing progress so far and has picked up a ton of new sounds. Less than 5 weeks after activation she spoke her first words "Mama Bye Bye". Since activation she is learning to associate spoken words with signs and what the word represents you say Brother and she will sign and then point to one of her brothers along with a few other words. Her sign vocabulary is probabl around 100 words and she can form short sentances Like Daddy Sleep, Light On and stuff like that.
She had recovered so well from the first surgery so well that the doctor went ahead and scheduled her next surgery for March which is around when he was going to start discussing the second surgery.
Now I know there are those that may feel my family has done a horrible thing and taken away part of my daughters identity. This is not the case, we have accepted that even with CIs she is and always will be deaf. Experts have pushed that we should abandon sign and pursue only verbal language which we refuse to do for a number of reasons but one is that she is in fact deaf and needs to know how to communicate with or without her CIs.
If our decision offends anyone and you know my personality then you know where you can go, we made our decision as a family and believe that we made the right one.
First 5K 9/27/20 46:32 - 11 weeks post op (PR 28:55 8/15/11)
First 10K 7/04/2011 1:03 First 15K 9/18/2011 1:37
First Half Marathon 10/02/2011 2:27:44 (PR 2:24:35)
First Half Ironman 9/30/12 7:32:04
I don't understand why anyone would have a problem with you doing what you think is best for your child. Technology is a wonderful thing and I am thankful that there are ways to assist your child. Anyone who has an issue with that should get off their damn computers, toss out their televisions and cell phones and get a horse and buggy to get to work.
God bless you and your family. It sounds like she is very lucky to have such good parents who want the best there is available. It just burns my biscuits that anyone would give your family a hard time. If their kid had cancer would they not seek the best treatment available for them? Who wouldn't want to do anything possible to make their child's life better?
WLS 10/28/2002 Revision 7/23/2010
High Weight (2002) 240 Revision Weight (2010) 220 Current Weight 115.
Anyone who has an issue with that should get off their damn computers, toss out their televisions and cell phones and get a horse and buggy to get to work.
I heart your way of putting things, LT. Right on!
I fight badgers with spoons.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255
Suicidepreventionlifeline.org
