In the beginning, it was difficult for me to imagine how much more potential cochlear implant (CI) technology had to offer than traditional hearing aids for a severely or profoundly deaf person. But the access to sound offered with a cochlear implant is orders of magnitude higher than with hearing aids. Especially when that person is profoundly deaf; most especially when it is a profoundly deaf young child.
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We do not have a coffee table in our living room. We own a coffee table, and it is perhaps one of the nicest, coolest pieces of furniture we’ve got. But it is upstairs in the guest room. The reason there’s no coffee table in our living room is that two bear cubs live in our house.
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The girls and I were out having dinner last night, when I spotted an old college classmate of Jason’s. She asked what I was up to? How was work? “I’m not working much right now,” I told her. “But I’m writing a lot.” She asked what I was writing. I tripped over words, trying to find the best, short explanation.
“She’s writing a book about ME!” said Grace. I cringed.
Kali was sitting quietly in her seat.
Read MoreJason’s brother Adam and his wife, Christine, were married a year after we were. Grace is the first of our kids. Casey was born about a year later. Another year, then Kali, and ten months after that came Charlie. Four cousins: girl, boy, girl, boy, each a year apart.
Read MoreOver the past decade, it has become standard practice to implant deaf children bilaterally (that is, on both sides), but this was not always the case. When our family was going through the implant candidacy process, it was customary to only implant one side, even when, like Grace, the recipient had a profound hearing loss in both ears.
Read MoreGrace started her second year of Middle School yesterday. She knows how to take the bus. She knows her way around the building. She’s got a lot of friends. She was still nervous, though – nervous enough not to be able to take more than a couple of bites of her pumpkin bread. Usually she eats three whole pieces of pumpkin bread.
Read MoreWe live in Washington, DC, where we are fortunate to have access to many resources for deaf children and their families. One of these was the parent infant program, called PIP, at Gallaudet University, where we were welcomed with warmth and understanding when Grace was a baby. In the midst of my overwhelming sense of loss and confusion, and my struggle over how best to help my daughter, I had, in the Deaf community, an option for solace.
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You know what I hear a lot? “Kids are mean.” I know this can be true.
Read MoreI have noticed myself getting a little smothery at bedtime lately. A little desperate in my snuggling, as I sniff deeply the smell of Kali’s hair, or hug Grace a little too tightly before I leave their rooms. I try not to think too often about how quickly these girls – now nearly ten and just turned twelve – have sprouted. How relatively few years remain before they fly out of the house.
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