Happy New Year!!

Is it 2008 already? What happened to 2007? This past year has flown by. This time last year, we had a road full of hurdles ahead of us. Landon had his hearing aids but that was it. We still had the CT scan plus other hearing tests to run to make sure he was a candidate for CI's. We didn't even know what surgeon we were using.

It seems like the first part of the year drug on because we were just waiting to hear from the surgeon that he could get the CI's Then came gathering information to get insurance to approve bilaterals - which surprisingly they did very quickly. Then the year started flying. It seemed like in no time surgery was upon us. It was definitely harder on us and our family than it was on Landon. By the night of the surgery he was back to his old self. I think it took the adults a little longer to get over it. I know the biggest hurdle is ahead of us - teaching him to understand sound and to talk - but it feels like the worst part is behind us. Hopefully 2008 won't be as stressful as 2007 was.

It's amazing to think how much can change with just a little time. If Eric or I would have been born deaf, we would have been raised in a world of silence with limited communication - only being able to talk with those who know sign language. Fastforward to now and we are living in a time where children born deaf are able to learn to hear and speak and have no limitations on who they communicate with. If you check out Rachel and Jessica's blog in the blog list, Rachel is a gifted college student who is also fluent in French. Did I mention she was born deaf? She was in the trial group that received the first CI's and she recently went bilateral. She spends her vacations from school traveling in France. I took 4 years of French in high school and could probably count on both hands the words I can say. It is amazing to see how far these kids can go.

In just the past year the CI world has changed. When Landon was first diagnosed, we met with a CI audiologist (not the one we are using) who showed us the implant and how it worked. When we asked if they would do one or two ears, we were told surgeons only did one ear, that no one did both ears. You had to save an ear for future technology. By the time we learned Landon was for sure a candidate, it was pretty much a given he would be getting bilaterals. The only question was one surgery or two. Now it is getting to be the norm to have simultaneous bilaterals. What a difference a year can make. I'm sure in a few more years the CI technology will probably get to the point where the whole device is fully implantable. It will be interesting to see in 20 years what the norm will be for babies born deaf.

Hope everyone has a great 2008!