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Thursday, August 10, 2006

Chance wants another implant

Chance was sitting on my lap last night, when he told me that he wanted another implant. I asked him why. He told me, "Because." I asked him, "Because why?" Then his face kind of fell and he pointed to his left ear and said, "because I can not hear in this one." His face and tone of voice conveyed a powerful feeling to me. I have not been through what Chance has been through, nor have I experienced what it is like to have to try to hear everyday. As a mother, though, you have such a deep connection to your child and feel their angst, pain and joys in a way that few other bonds allow. I thought "Wow. What must this be like for you every day all day long?" "What are you hearing?" "What do the things going on around the both of us sound like to you?" "How much do you struggle to hear?"

We were told that Chance should wear a hearing aid in his left ear after he had adapted to the cochlear implant. No one has mentioned that the time was right to use the hearing aid again though. Chance has pointed out that none of his friends wear a hearing aid in the ear without an implant. (Peer pressure rears its head!) We are not sure why the other kids don't wear a hearing aid. (Maybe this would be our first chance to use the classic parental line of "If your friends jumped off of a cliff, would you follow?") Chance has not said that he will not wear a hearing aid in the other ear, he has just informed us that no one else does.

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