DO YOU HEAR THAT?: "Look, Mom--it's me"

I found these new Cheez-Its and my kids love them. It has been fun for Logan to match the letters with words he sees around the house. I was in the kitchen, and Logan came in, placed these crackers on the counter and said, "Look, Mom, L-O-G-A-N...it's me".

LOGAN'S STORY...

Logan was diagnosed at birth with moderate to severe hearing loss, due to E.V.A.S, to hearing parents. It was a progressive hearing loss and we were aware that his loss would get worse over time. He was fitted for hearing aids at 4 months of age. At about 18 months old Logan seemed unresponsive to most sounds, even with his hearing aids on. We battled with his audiologist about our concern that he had lost his hearing completely. She reassured us that it was just his age and most likely he was "ignoring us." We still felt like something wasn't right and tried hard for about a year to convince the audiologist to do a sedated ABR test to get accurate results. Once those results were in, we received the news that Logan was now profoundly deaf in both ears. Our hearts broke, but peace came when we knew that Logan was now eligible for the Cochlear Implant. We rushed the process of having his first surgery done because he was almost three and at a critical time for speech development. He is doing far better then expected and just received his second implant in December of 2008.

The Beauty of Holland

"I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability-- to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...

"When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous trip--to Italy! You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelango David. The gondolas in Venice. You even learn some handy phrases in italian. It's all very exciting.

"After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The flight attendant comes in and says, 'Welcome to Holland.' 'Holland?!?', you say. 'What do you mean Holland? I signed up for Italy. I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy.'

"But there has been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

"So you must go out and buy new guide books and learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you never would have met. It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills. Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

"But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all talking about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, 'Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned.'

"But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't go to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland"

--Emily Perl Kingsley

DO YOU HEAR THAT?

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

"Look, Mom--it's me"

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