We find ourselves in a situation that we never could have dreamed of when Chance was first diagnosed as being deaf. Three years ago when our journey into deafness began, we were quite frankly against cochlear implants. They seemed so permanent and intrusive. We were of the opinion that hearing aids were just fine thank you very much. Then came our real life testing of hearing aids. For Chance, the aids were not giving him all that he needed to hear. Right before we got approval from the insurance company for the cochlear implant, we found ourselves in a discomforting situation. Chance wanted to hear and had chosen to talk. He had made that very clear by never really taking to sign language no matter how much exposure he got. However, the hearing aids were not giving Chance enough hearing power. He was missing too much and we realized that this would only get worse with age. The cochlear implant finally being approved was a God-send. We finally had a direction to go instead of continually treading water as precious time for language development slipped by. Now, 3 months after getting the implant turned on, Chance is doing wonderfully well. His vocabulary and language continue to improve daily.
Due to the success Chance is having with the implant, one might wonder why in the world we would consider a second cochlear implant. After much prayer, study, prayer, research, prayer, consultation with people who have two implants, and prayer, this is our reasoning in a nutshell.
First, there is the argument that technology might improve and therefore offer deaf people something even better than an implant. Anything is possible. In our research, though, predictions of a better technology seem to be at least 10 to 15 years out (and that is optimistic). For a medical time table, this is soon. In the language development window of a child, this is years of schooling and life experience that you miss out on waiting. Something fabulous might be developed someday, but if Chance was held back by language and hearing during his growing up years, his life choices will have already been impacted. Also, from our understanding, there is no proof that if something fabulous does come along, that people with cochlear implants can not benefit from the new technology.
Second there is the argument that there is not a lot of research on how bi-lateral implants benefit children. This is true. There is not the same kind of proof of the benefits for bi-lateral implants as there are for one. Bi-lateral implantation has not been around as long. Europe and the East coast have been performing bi-lateral implants for years now and they have seen positive results. Plus, for me, it just makes sense that if all of us have two ears, there must be a reason that having two is better. If people go blind and medicine can improve sight, they are not told to only fix one eye in case something better comes along.
We have spent the past several weeks going to conferences on bi-lateral implants, calling people from all over the country who have two implants or are the parents of kids with bi-lateral implants and reading everything that we could get our hands on. This has been a gut wrenching decision for me. I spent a lot of time analyzing everything from how much a second implant was needed to what could go wrong. In the end, I just feel that it is the right thing to do for Chance.
People that we have talked to who have two implants, report a significant improvement in social situations and being able to relate to people in group settings. Childhood is one big group setting of school, church, t-ball, family, and friends. Also, adults who have bi-lateral implants that we talked to, said that having two implants greatly diminished their fatigue in group settings. After getting the second implant, the adults found that having one implant had been exhausting. They had had to focus so hard on who was talking in meetings and in groups that they left drained. After getting two implants, they found that they could actually take notes in meetings and are much more willing to engage in group settings. They also express that they appreciate music much more. Couple this with the scientifically measurable benefits, such as localization (identifying where the sound is coming from), better distance hearing, better incidental hearing (overhearing, eavesdropping, hearing when not actively participating in the conversation), and better hearing in sound-to-noise ratio (testing hearing when white noise is present).
Given all of that, our analysis of the situation is that Chance will greatly benefit from a second implant. We attended a lecture where statistics on bi-lateral implants were shown. Kids who have had some hearing before going deaf, (those not born deaf), seemed to fair better with bi-lateral implants. That would be our little Chance. In the end, we are basically helping to restore something that Chance had at one time but lost due to unknown causes at about 14 months.
So, pray for Chance on Friday as he heads into surgery once again. And, of course, we will keep you posted on how that goes and the adventure of bi-lateral implants!
Oh, and thank you for following Chance's progress and taking this journey with us.
PS - If you didn't fall asleep while reading this novel, we love you all the more :)
No comments:
Post a Comment