Movie Day

First I want to say, I'm very proud of my Brooklyn, she only got one check mark last week for behavior (this is a big improvement!) She's learning the rules, and hopefully will continue on with her good behavior. Gage can't seem to sit still, no surprise there. I've dropped off the ADHD papers, waiting on them to be graded by pediatrician so we can come in and talk about medications and if they are right for Gage. We've done this once before but declined meds, now we are doing it again. I personally have a lot going on. It all is hearing loss related (no surprise there) but I still look forward to the day I can contribute to the family's income by subbing part time...still no calls in that dept. The kids have been doing a fantastic job of wearing rechargeables batteries to school when their disposables for the FM receivers die down, changing the FM microlinks and putting fresh batteries in, and returning my rechargeables back to me. Sometimes they'll come home after school and the battery will die, I put the microlinks in their cases in their backpacks because all their disposable batteries are at school and let them use a rechargeable til they can change it the next day. Even my 5 year old is doing this!! Also a quick story about deaf children correcting hearing adults' speech. Gage was in the car with my mom and she said "Look for some deers." (lol) Now I've advised Gage to stop correcting people's grammar mistakes and speech, it's not polite. So mom notices that under his breath he said, "deer," as he looked out of his window. She says, "Well one would be deer and more than one would be deers." He politely assured her she was wrong and she figured he was likely correct so she took his correction (and laughed about it). Kids!

Okay, movie day...So I watched a movie we rented from Netflix (at my husband's request) called "There Will Be Blood". I'm really not sure what I think of it. It's really about how horrible this man becomes the more oil he acquires. Mo money mo problems! But if you haven't seen this movie, the man's son is injured and becomes deaf. Directly after the explosion, the boy can be heard saying "I can't hear my voice". And he never speaks again until his father demands he speak rather than "flap his hands around". I find that not realistic (about immediately not using his voice anymore) but I guess the movie wanted to quickly get into the signing. The old man actually mocks his son's deafness when the grown son returns to tell his father he'll be an oil competitor rather than continue working for his father. I think you should just watch the movie and draw your own conclusions, it is interesting and more of a guy's movie I guess, but I did watch it all and found it interesting. And the boy's hearing loss plays a big role in the movie you'll find.

the Southern Women's Show

me, Scott Rinehart and Jennifer A.

Thank you to all the volunteers who have helped already and will continue helping throughout the weekend at the Cochlear booth at the Southern Women's Show in Birmingham, AL. Today alone I got to speak with several who were scheduled for hearing evaluations (one was a 9 month old) and I talked to an audiologist who Jennifer knew that worked with a local school system, an up and coming Speech Language Pathologist, a mother of a Teacher of the Deaf, a lady at another booth who has a clothing store and whose daughter is a senior with a cochlear implant(s), and many more lovely folks. Scott is our Awareness Manager and is doing a fabulous job sporting his new Nucleus 5 processors. He came in today with the his little flasher on hoping to attract some attention, which I found hilarious...he doesn't have to work too hard to attract attention at a women's show, come on!! Jennifer came by for a few hours and was off to get her son's Nucleus 5 processors. John is a new recipient of Cochlear devices and just had his initial stim this week! If you didn't get a chance to come to the show and you do get a chance to come to my presentation on November 16 for Alabama's Early Intervention (details to come) please do so. I love meeting new families and will be glad to listen, talk to, or help in any way I can. Hopefully Scott will be able to swing by that as well, but it's not specifically all about cochlear implants, it'll be about our experiences, and simple things you can do at home to help these little guys learn to hear and speak. I have lots of resources as well so when I get the time for that presentation and details I will surely post them. Have a great weekend.

Avoidance...

...something I did twice today. First, I took the kids to school and dropped off the ADHD papers at the pediatrician's office. I then stopped by and checked my p.o. box while I was in town. As I pulled into the parking lot, there was "the old man". This old guy has been around town for many years. He had a stroke and has some paralysis in his face but still speaks well and gets around. This morning as I see his car at the post office, I park my car and wait...avoidance. I felt guilty checking my emails as I wait for him to leave. He's the nicest thing ever but I didn't have 15 minutes to talk to him about his deceased wife today. He loved her. He misses her every...single...day. He's actually very interesting to talk to and I normally never avoid him but today, I knew I couldn't give him the full time he needed to tell me how lonesome he is. I didn't want to rudely rush his story, that I know he needs to tell. So I opted for avoidance. Now I feel guilty. I will again go to the post office in the morning (he goes at the same time every morning) and I will NOT avoid him. I will give him his 15 min he needs, and I'll enjoy listening to him, as always.

One thing I didn't avoid was the Southern Women's Show. I always try to volunteer when asked to stand at a Cochlear booth, and will do it again tomorrow. Just this morning, my deaf child turns the radio on in the car to his favorite country station and says "George Straight" with a smile. He wasn't asking, he knew it was George Straight, and he was proud. Having only been hearing with his current ci's for five months, this is well worth my trip to the civic center to talk to people about cochlear implants. I met my new friend Joy who has a precious five year old girl with one ci. Sorry about the photo quality, I had left my camera in the car! You can see Scott from Cochlear talking passionately about a Baha device to a lady with single sided deafness. Tomorrow my friend Jennifer will come for a while to sit with me at the booth before her child has mapping. Both of her children are now in bilaterals which you probably read about on Bama Ears. We will have better pictures tomorrow! Although I didn't avoid the event itself, I did unfortunately have to park in an undesirable area (across the street from a Salvation Army). It was the last of the free parking spaces, I did not want to pay 8.00 to park when the only cash I had was 10! I'll bring more cash tomorrow. Last time I went to the civic center, I parked in the same area and as I walked to my car, I had to pass a man I thought was talking to me. He said, "I wanna be a boxa". I smiled nervously, not sure how to take that but when I looked up at him, I could tell he was looking at someone other than me! But there was no one there. He then began to air box. So I avoided that side of the street completely. I walked as fast as my elevated shoes and fitted skirt would take me, which is faster than I would have imagined them going. No one spoke to me, no one was boxing. Whew!

I emailed more teachers today in hopes they will soon start calling for me to sub! Still no calls! And as for the October Challenge, I'm down almost 5 lbs and still a ways to go, I hit a slump. But my other girls are rockin' it and doing great, better then me. Go girls....to be continued.

a hearing cat

It was so nice of Brooklyn to share her processor with her new stuffed cat that Nanny brought back from the mountains...looks like it's complete with a microlink FM battery cage as well.

(yes Brook loves her overalls! she wore them Thurs. to school and again on Tues. and will likely want to wear them Fri. if I let her.)

Just a couple of more weeks til Gage's surgery on his face, just a minor proceedure, no hospital stay or anything...just a Goldenhar kinda thing....

Go read about this adorable kid on Bama Ears....click here

I'll bring photos from the Cochlear booth we have on Thurs and Fri at the Southern Women's Show.

I'm All Ears

Rachel from Cochlear Implant Online put up a YouTube video of Vivie (who she was visiting in Greece) working on an I'm All Ears translation. Click here to view that short video. If you haven't got a copy of the book co-written with a fantastic SLP/AVT in training please click here and order your copy today, they are only 20 bucks plus shipping. You can scroll down to pay online and there's also a print out if you need to send a check so look for that as well. I'm All Ears will be presenting once again at the Early Intervention Conference in November-details to come. The book is our tale from ignorance to advocacy while enjoying the journey with a silent beginning to world full of life and sound.

Also, I did an interview (along with some other parents) for Say What Club, click here to read that. Thanks Kim!

the weekend

In case you wonder what the Cochlear Kids do when it rains........

My mother calls me a terrible blogger. Apparently I'm not blogging as much as I used to so I'm trying to be less neglectful. It's just that the kids are in school and with me less, so I have less inspiration with them not around. Today, we walked up to the cabin to clean out the fire pit so the fellas could gather around it tonight for their weekly "camp out"(the adult fellas). This field is what separates out house and the cabin so yes, we are very "Little House on the Prairie" here. Brook is my little writer, she never goes anywhere without her pens and paper. I bet you she has written at least three hours today alone!

This week is the Southern Women's Show and I'll be at the Cochlear booth on Thurs. and Fri. Brook takes her first field trip on Thurs. and I hate it I can't go but they are basically just taking a tour (walking) around our one horse town. I know they will take excellent care of her and they know she can't hear as good as everyone else so I'm confident she'll keep with group. (There's not even a red light in this town so traffic is of little concern) They will be taking full advantage of all the language opportunities the town has to offer. The teacher tells me they will get locked in a jail cell, I asked her if we could pay extra for them to keep her (only kidding!) They will get to hold a thousand dollars at the bank and eat at a small diner before heading back to school.

The kids told me today that I needed my mapping done, simply because I didn't follow ALL of their orders. Have a great week!

Cochlear Kids...Live !

Wow, that mapping really livened things up around here! We woke to some Saturday early morning entertainment. I've already seen everything from cross-dressers to leotards with football jerseys to Ms. Claus. They've been jammin' out to Fergie and Allyson "Krapps" (Krauss) and much more. Thanks to our audiologists, we've been blessed with live entertainment and it's only eight o'clock in the morning!

I can't wait to see what else the day brings on this rainy Saturday.

Better

Here's an article from Kim over at Say What Club, she interviewed me and several other parents with children who have hearing loss: http://www.saywhatclub.com/newsletter/sept09/interview-val.html

sorry for the quality, taken w/blackberry

Our mapping went well with only a few minor bumps behavior-wise and before we knew it, we had four freshly mapped ears! Yea, and Brook is going to try and go every six months now instead of three. She's not due back until MARCH!!! Gage goes back next month for another tune up. Today, the heat was ON. He and audiologist Emily are both very competitive! Neither likes to lose. This never ending Jenga game finally came to a crashing halt when the tower came crumbling down. Gage cheated! I took him for a walk (ADHD was full on) while they started on Brooklyn and when we returned they had already completed one ear. Gage was upset because he didn't have time to go to school (can you believe that?). Have a great weekend. We are all better now, I'm calmer-not so overwhelmed...kids hear better...it's good to be BETTER.

What a day......

So Brook has two "big sisters" that come see her each day and try to be good role models for her, since she's sorta started off on the wrong foot so far in Kindergarten with her aggressive behavior. One big sis gave both of my kids a prize yesterday from home and when they got home, they wanted to return the favor and give her something as a thank you. Brook ran to her room and wrapped something up(I have no idea where she found that wrapping paper but she put masking tape all around it). She got a stuffed ladybug that probably came from McDonalds and a little pony. Gage said he was going to make her a music box...and he meant music box! He took the lid off of a little wooden box he had in his room and glued yarn or string on the bottom and made a little guitar. However, the string wasn't good for actually making a sound so her canned that idea, took it apart and glued the letter K out of Legos on the bottom of the box. I said "Oh what's her name?" thinking it started with a K. Gage says "I have no idea." Puzzled I ask why he put a k on the bottom and he looks at me as if he can't believe I had to ask that question...."it's for Keep, it's a keep box!" I just acted as if I should have known this. Oh the stresses of elementary school. I know my mother didn't stress this much (I was an Angel anyway). The less sleep I get, the bigger my coffee cups get. I have to redo all the ADHD paperwork we did last year for Gage's pediatrician and turn that in...again, if we are interested in medication. The school has the papers already since we were in the process of filling them out for the psychologist for our upcoming eval w/him, we can simply take those by our ped's office, have them copy it, schedule an appt. to talk w/him about it....again. We'll have the psychologist appt. as well to get the second opinion I need before we medicate. Then we have his face surgery (minor) we go talk to the pediatrician that next week and discuss meds (hopefully I can get in that quick) and do our post op appt w/the surgeon that week, go back to the psychologist and have the IQ test while on meds, then I go back to psychologist the 21st to get all the results from the ADHD and IQ....the following day on the 22nd, I go w/Brook's class to the pumpkin patch. We go in the morning (always a dreaded appt. that usually turns out fine) for our mapping at the HEAR Center. I was at the school volunteering all morning and ran into the TOD (Teacher of the deaf) and she noted the kids needed to get their mapping done. Brook was complaining about noises from the FM and I stepped into the classroom to check it and came to the conclusion that the teacher who had the mic on at her desk while grading homework and checking notebooks was where the noises were coming from. All I could hear while plugged into the processors was pages flipping back and forth. I told them this and they removed the mic while grading papers, and Brook was happy with it sitting on the teacher's desk. She'll put it back around her neck when instructing the class. Whew, what a day, this all thrown at me today. My head hurts and the kids will be home in thirty minutes. I'm going to try to rest my eyes til then. What a day.

a few announcements.....

Okay, I have a few quick announcements to make regarding local events here in Alabama regarding hearing loss....

1.) Go read the latest on Bama Ears blog if you haven't already.

2.) Come see us at The Southern Women's Show in Birmingham Sept. 24-27. Cochlear has a booth and a couple of the volunteers and I will be "manning" the booth so stop and say hello. If you are a Cochlear volunteer and would like to work the booth please let me know.

3.) If you are in north AL and can get out to the charity golf event (Sept 26) to benefit the Children's HEAR Center, please do so! There are still sponsorships available and plenty of room for teams to sign up and play, goof around, get out of the house, whatever you want to do, all to benefit the HEAR Center. Click here for details.

Whew! What a weekend

So Gage had this 18 hr stomach bug, he gave to me (mine was 12 hrs) and I in turn gave to Brook in an even weaker form since her's lasted about five hours. When I said this morning to Brook just after it was apparent she was sick, "Oh no, you have the virus," Gage piped up and said, "hey is that the school virus? You know the spine flu." lol

During the well hours though, the kids decided to make an audiology station, or testing chair they said. Brook was the AuD. and I'm not sure what she determined about Gage's hearing since the actual playing AuD only lasted like five minutes. The construction of the chair/table was the most fun and took an hour.
But Brook took her notes and I assume she'll reschedule him for a booth testing later on...?

Both kids should be back in school tomorrow! The school sent home a note today by Gage though that said they had closed all water fountains since Swine Flu had been diagnosed in a few students already. So I guess we have that to look forward to upon our return. Each student has a water bottle with their name on it for their daily water intake while at school. They have sterilized the school as best as possible and of course encourage hand washing and germ x.

Our Doc called (the psychologist) and scheduled some ADHD testing w/Gage. Just some typical follow command/stay on task type things and we'll get his second opinion on the whole ADHD (and do we need meds question!). The day after that Gage will have his minor surgery on his face and a week or so later, come back for the IQ testing. He did suggest the IQ testing be done w/Gage medicated if we choose to go that route because he feels he may do better with the meds but if we choose not to, it's fine, he'll just do the IQ testing w/full on ADHD.

Whew, what a weekend! The kids go for mapping on Friday and we should be set!

this week....

She's doing so well with her glasses, and she's quit telling people how big their heads and faces (and chins, lol) are...so she's getting used to her new found vision. Behavior in school is sllllloooowwwly improving *smile* so that's always good news. I think I forgot to mention B has a bit of a lazy eye (I had no idea!) and we go back in 2 months to check to see if glasses have helped or look into other options such as a patch, etc. She digs pirate patches anyway!

Gage was out today with a stomach virus (he threw up like 15 times last night) but was much better today and is back to normal now. His ADHD is at an all time high and his grades are going DOWN! Still not sure if he's bored, careless or distracted but we get the IQ test soon (hopefully), mapping next Friday and if those two things don't help solve the mystery then we'll be looking into those meds. I'm in no rush, I want to dot my i's and cross my t's before medicating my child.

As for the October Challenge, I only have seven weeks to lose 11 lbs but I know I can do it. Like I say, now that the kids are in school, I'm not as hungry because I'm not a short order cook all day long.

And we are still waiting on the batteries for the kids' FMs. I've been paying out of pocket for them for a month now and I can't do it anymore so let's ALL hope they come in next week!

I've been keeping myself busy most days working on some special projects which I'll announce later, but yes they are all hearing loss related! Have a great weekend!!

and now visually impaired as well....

Isn't she adorable? Already Miss Independent is cleaning her own glasses! She did fabulous, let them blow air into her eyes, she read charts, she let them put three different drops in each eye, and she didn't go go crazy til the last 30 min, on the way home. Did I mention we were gone for six hours, we waited there while they made her glasses. As soon as they were ready, they placed those tiny specs on her face, they told her to turn to the side and look at Mama. Her precious big blue eyes looked up at me thru her lenses and smiled so lovingly and said to me, "Mama, your chin looks like this" and she lowered her face to turn her one chin into three.......she faced my mom (we made Nanny go with us) and told her the same thing. We may be taking these things back! haha, just kidding. They did tell her everything will look big at first....let's hope her eyes adjust quickly! We went with smaller thinner frames since her CIs are already on her ears. We didn't want to overload her little ears and make them sore. So far so good, hope she does well in school. They said she needed them full time.

Bullet Updates

Not a whole lot going on here.....actually I've been very busy getting some things together to try and help the hearing impaired kiddos here in Alabama (all details later, I have many irons in the fire right now).

Gage's surgery is scheduled for October 9 to have the little thing removed from his face. Yay!



Gage's ADHD is beyond manageable anymore. He's went to school several times w/shoes and no socks, even though I hand him his shoes and socks and repeat the instructions several times, he gets distracted and forgets to put the socks on, then we get to school and he's embarrassed w/no socks. Bless his heart and his grades are going down! He's brought home three D's which is so not like him and he can't focus on anything long enough to complete any task. His hyperness is still the same (he has his motor running full speed at all times) but his ability to concentrate or focus is just gone. I'm calling the doctor next week to discuss medications to see if any may work for him.



He does get bored with school work since the first six weeks are all for review. We will take him in the next couple of weeks to meet the doctor who will do his IQ testing to see if he's considered "gifted" or just plain smart. That will help us with school. School can test him but we got insurance approval to do more comprehensive testing so we look forward to that.



His hearing is still great and he didn't even need many adjustments the last mapping session he had. I still have hope that he will be able to go ever three months or so in the future and not go monthly like he had to do with his old ci. He loves country music now but still listed AC/DC as his favorite group on a school worksheet. He loves it when a singer says a bad word like d#m* or a$$. He can hear those little words in the song and giggles like a silly girl when hears them. Boys .

Brook goes to the eye doctor on Monday to have her vision screened for the first time. She refuses to sit any farther than 2-3 feet from the tv. I know she sees well close up but I'm not so sure about her distance vision...?

And if you haven't visited Bama Ears in a while, click here....there are several new stories up.



And as far as the October Challenge, still only down a couple of pounds...eight weeks to go, I gotta really work hard(er).

Advocating for themselves

It's hard to teach someone to advocate. Advocacy isn't just standing up for yourself or someone or a belief...it's an entire feeling and the emotions behind a cause that creates a drive and a passion that enables us go from aggression to assertion sometimes overnight. It's reaching a place within yourself that allows you teach others who want to be taught, that allows you to move past those who do not, that allows you to have enough confidence in yourself and your peers to answer those hard questions that may first spark emotions that you didn't even realize were there.

Right now I'm trying to instill that confidence in my children who are at the age where they're not as trusting as many adults are with their peers who ask questions that seem so derogatory at first. It's hard at this age to know who's asking (friends/foes) and the intent behind those questions. I'm very glad they can come to me with these issues and that my brain allows me to pull up answers to the questions rather than defensive pseudo answers (we'll save those for those determined to be bullies/foes)! Here's the conversation on the way to school:

Brook: "Mama, Gage's processor don't hook around his ear like mine does."
Me: "Well, his ears are very small, and he can't hook his around like you can."
Gage: "Mama, sometimes people say 'Why are your ears so tiny?' and I don't like that, it makes me mad!"
Me: "What do you tell them?"
Gage: "Just shut-up, I'm not gonna play with you." (knowing him, this isn't what he says, it's likely more a shoulder shrug and embarrassement)
Me: "Why don't you just answer them honestly and there'll be no reason for them to keep asking. Just say, 'that's how God made me. He knew I would take good care of them no matter how small they are. They're little and don't work, but I can hear what you say with my implants'."
Gage: "But what if they just keep on saying it. I'll tell on them if they keep on."
Me: "Yes you could tell I guess, and you could also say 'They are small so I don't have to listen to rude people constantly making comments when you know I don't like it!"
Brook: "I don't like this girl in my room who always says 'What's on your ears?' either!"
Gage: "just tell her they're hearing aids and that's it!!"
Me: "Tell her that you use those to hear with 'cause your ears don't work."
Brook: "Gage, you come tell her that I'm deaf." ...........

It's tough sometimes and we don't always give the best answers but we can listen and learn. The kids left my car with what I hope was at least a day's worth of confidence. One of the best blessings we have is that they have each other, no matter how many times they fight over a certain toy, or who gets to sit next to Daddy, they always have each other and a special bond. Parenting is tough sometimes and beautiful always.

Val B.-CAN Volunteer

Val B.-CAN Volunteer

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