We learned a valuable lesson yesterday. We need to put batteries for the implant in the car. We usually had extra batteries for the hearing aids in the car, but we neglected to put batteries for the implant in the van.
Chance's uncle took the kids to a movie yesterday. I dropped Chance off at the door to meet his uncle and before I could pull away, Chance was back handing me his dead implant. What are the odds that the implant would die right then? It was unfortunate for Chance since he would not have optimal hearing for the movie, but good for me because if the implant had died in the theatre, Chance may have taken it off and forgotten to bring it home. I leaned out the car window and called out to Chance's bewildered uncle (Chance's uncle had taken 4 other kids to the movie as well) that Chance would not be able to hear much as his implant was with me. Chance would still enjoy the movie; he could hear some things since movies are so loud. And frankly, Chance had been mostly just watching what happened during movies for most of his time with the hearing aids. But Chance would hear close to nothing that his uncle might say to him. :)
After the movie, we all met at Chance's grandma's house for a family get together. It made me realize just what a good job the implant does to help Chance hear. We all had to adjust to the fact that Chance could really not hear much at all especially with all of the noise that accompanies a large group of people. We had to resort to tapping Chance to get his attention and he had to look right at our mouths in order to have a prayer at getting anything that we said.
Chance didn't seem to mind too much, but we had to make major adjustments. There was no calling out to him, and Chance had to rely on watching us to know when it was time to eat, go swimming, or get in the van. Chance also asked lots of questions as he did not just hear anything that anybody said and had to clarify what we were doing.
Having Chance's ears "al-natural" made us realize that the implant is a good thing for Chance. With the implant, he can be more apart of family gatherings and know more about what is going on around him. The implant gives Chance more control over his environment. He can be apart of what is going on around him, instead of having to react to things after they have happened.
Now I better go put some batteries in the van.
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