| A Brief Overview of Life Before the CI |
| Cierra was born on a beautiful snowy December day! She was absolutely beautiful, and I felt as though I had known her forever! She slept with me in the hospital bed, and I would not let the nurses take her out of my sight! When we went home, we did all of the things parents do with their children! We were in complete awe of this little miracle that God had blessed us with! She was a very healthy little baby, and met all of the milestones early. Then, when she didn't start talking, we took her into the doctor. He basically told us not to worry...that she will start talking in sentences when she is 2. Well, in the meantime, we were always talking about how she had "selective hearing". Then, we moved out to Seattle. She was just a month shy of turning 2 years old. A month later, on her birthday, her Uncle called to see how she was doing. He asked me if she was "talking" at all or if she could say any words. At this point, the only recognizable words she could say was, "bye-bye", "uh-oh", and "puppy". She would try to say other words...but were completely unrecognizable...for instance, she would say something to the effect of "guuuuang" for potty and "gauy" for daddy. For all other things, she would gesture...like, if she wanted something to drink, she would put her hand to her mouth, and if she wanted something to eat, she would smack her lips. She was VERY visual, and used tremendous facial expressions. She was a brilliant little girl! Well.....my answer to her Uncles question, unfortunately, was "NO!" She was not talking any. She would vocalize, and make a very loud pitch squeal(which everyone in the stores would stare at us for). So, her Uncle Trent said, "You should call a speech therapist". So, I did the next day. After talking with her, she suggested I go get a "hearing test" first. So, we set an appointment, and in January, we went to the Audiologist for the 1st time. It was there that we recieved the news of her having a hearing loss. The only thing, is the audiologist was confused with the results...which were anything but consistant. So, we scheduled some evals down in Tacoma. I remember my husband and I getting in the car, and it was POURING outside, so much so that the windshield wipers could barely keep up while driving down the interstate. It was very dark out, for being afternoon. This was the 1st time Cierra had ever had to be sedated. AND, of all things, they did not use chloral hydrate(which I found out later, was what should have been used), they instead used anesthesia through an IV. It made her become extremely "violent" and then in the next instant, she was asleep...this happened in my arms, and it was awful, looking as though she had died. It was there that we learned Cierra had what was called "Auditory Neuropathy". She had beautiful OAE's(oto-acoustic emissions--which measure the outer hair cells) and an absent ABR(Auditory Brainstem Response---which tells us how sound is getting through the hearing nerve). At that point, we were just relieved to get a diagnosis. We were given a wonderful Dr.'s phone number to call to get more information on Auditory Neuropathy, as it was a very rare diagnosis. As we left the hospital, we walked outside, and the sun was shining beautifully! I told Jason, "this is God's way of letting us know, EVERYTHING WILL BE OK!" I truly feel as though I was getting a hug from God himself....that is how much I "felt" His Spirit with us. Then, we got home and called professionals all over the country, trying to learn everything I could. We started learning sign language, and had a wonderful "teacher" come to our home once a week to work with our family. This helped us tremendously, and Cierra THRIVED! She soaked up the sign language like a sponge, and it was amazing to see the "transformation" from this wonderful, precious, BUT frustrated girl, become this same, wonderful, precious girl...BUT, she could communicate, and was SO happy! We picked things up extremely fast, and just kept on going. We then moved back home. Cierra attended pre-school at the School for the Deaf. She did wonderful. In the meantime, her baby sister was born. She also had Auditory Neuropathy. She was diagnosed at 1 month old, through an absent ABR and beautiful OAE's.....just like her sister's. We did everything just the same as we had been doing with Cierra. Life seemed so great, and it was! Then, when Cierra was 4, she REALIZED that she was "different". She finally realized that she was deaf. She would cry when she was around hearing children...maybe because Mom(I) didn't interpret every single word that was being said. She wanted to know EVERYTHING!! She got to the point that she wanted to communicate for herself, yet she could only communicate through sign. Then, this miraculous word came to us...the Cochlear Implant would be a possibility for Auditory Neuropathy patients! Actually, at first, I had a mindset of "No way---I love my children for who they are, and I refuse to change them." But then, as I talked about it with Cierra, more and more, together we realized this might be the right thing to do. I feel that giving Cierra a cochlear implant gave her a choice. Without getting her a cochlear implant, she would have had no choice. SO...she could then choose, whether she wanted to hear or not. Needless to say, she has chosen to hear! We actually went to meet a family who had 2 children with Auditory Neuropathy and Cochlear Implants. It was at that point, that I KNEW this was the right thing to do!! Kelcie had too much usable hearing to even consider a cochlear implant for her at that time. But, Cierra was functionally "stone deaf", and we knew what we wanted to do! We prayed ALOT, and God answered our prayers! I made sure I left no stone unturned. I got opinions from the Deaf community, who I adored so many members of, and I got opinions from staff at the School for the Deaf, and I got opinions from CI recipients and parents, and I also got opinions from professionals who work with CI's. Hands down, we knew this was it! We showed Cierra even the most graphic pictures of surgery...I just wanted her to know EVERYTHING...every aspect of it, trying to leave nothing out. We then contacted the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. We knew that is where we would go, because they were the most experienced with already implanting 4 AN recipients. So........ONTO COCHLEAR IMPLANT JOURNAL--Page 1 |
| Love hears no boundaries! |