Throughout my dad's dementia battle, I had great support from friends and family, but didn't have the chance to find that "community" of families who had been there, done that. I still wanted to tell my story and share what I learned to help families avoid the same pitfalls and hell I did. I feel I never got to end my dad's fight before starting a new one, Aiden's deafness; they are so different, yet similar. My dad stopped listening and speaking ... the demon won, and we knew in the end, that it would; we didn't have that choice. With Aiden - HE WILL LISTEN AND SPEAK and the only way we won't win is if we choose not to! We already see "grandpa Bob" in Aiden, he's a stubborn little thing and he makes sure he's always heard, just like his grandpa!!!!
On another note .... a precious little boy (and cochlear implant recipient), Christian, gets activated (once the implant surgery is done, it takes a few months before they actually "turn on" the new ears) in a few days! How exciting! I can't imagine being at this point! I picture it as feeling like the night before your wedding day, the moment before getting induced to have your baby, or for military wives - the night before your husband gets home from an unsponsored tour ... it's the day your baby will hear! What is more exciting than that!!!! We still have a while to go before that big day, but in the meantime, we are here to celebrate other "hearing birthdays" with this great community of friends along with providing HOPE, BELIEF, and FAITH to all the families who enter our world too!
2 comments:
I guess I really should have told you that not only is Allison deaf, but her father and brother are also hearing impaired. They wear hearing aides, so we are able to understand what families with both are going through.
My husband, Bill was raised oral and given a great start in life from my wonderful mother-in-law who worked every day with him. So it was easy to make the decision to raise Jared and Allison in an oral setting.
What a pleasant and wonderful day it was when the nurse told us that our newborn, Jordan had passed the newborn hearing screening, I cried and Bill let out a "Praise the Lord". I am no longer the minority in our family:-)
As I sit here writing this, Allison is in our kitchen play with her doll house carrying on an imaginary conversation with her dolls, it is moments like this that make all the hard work worth it. It will be worth it for you also, when you hear those wonderful 1st words.
You are going to be continually amazed at what a wonderful group of Moms (and Dad's too) are out there. I truly feel that I couldn't have gotten through many of the hard days without my all of my "girlfriends on the web". We're all here for eachother, and we all pray for eachother's families. Always remember that you are not alone
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