New Shop on Etsy - Home Business

Havent had time to post with this crazy new hobby / business.

Etsy Wooden Animals - Custom Wooden figures

Lily is doing incredibly well.

Here are some photos from the Holidays

First Cochlear Implant in Uganda

Excellent story and video of NYU Doctor and the first implant in Uganda. Plus a lot more to this video - Josh Swiller and his brother and controversies.

Young Cochlear Implant from England

Story from Britain

A baby girl who was born deaf can now hear after becoming one of the youngest people in Britain to have a cochlear implant.

Ava Pearson, 14 months old, can listen to bedtime stories and jiggle about to music thanks to the life-changing operation. She received first cochlear implant at 9 months and second cochlear implant at 12 months - Full article

What is a cochlear implant... Michael Chorost Video

So many people have no idea what is involved with a cochlear implant.

I have gotten pretty good at explaining it but this 4 minute movie may help some people... Like the lady staring at my daughter in the restaurant, or the people who say those are nice hair bows and wonder what is that device?

http://www.exploratorium.edu/listen/lg_michael_video_sub.php


What does Cochlear Implant sound like
What is a cochlear implant

American Gladiator Brick Reilly NBC Full Episode

NBC.com has the full episode of Brick Reilly Episode NBC makes you watch some commercials but they separate into chapters and you can skip around. It is the May 26th episode the one with the ridiculous looking "Wolf" guy grimacing.

Besides the first ever Cochlear implant athlete on network TV there is a interesting dynamic in the episode between the female competitor De and her loving husband who is not pleased that his cocky wife couldn't win - 54:54 mark is the most telling moment.

Check out this still - I am sure the ride home was not a pleasant one.



The really remarkable thing was Brick Reilly dislocating his shoulder in the final gauntlet and continuing. That is mental toughness and I think most would have stopped. I can say I never have cared who wins on American Gladiator but when he hurt his shoulder I was like oh man can he hold him off?
From Webmd Dislocated Shoulder I am sure they taped all the preliminary episodes to get the top 6? for the finals so I wonder if he had any time to recover and if they have already finished the show.

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The fall on his shoulder.





His shoulder bulging from dislocation

Swimming with Cochlear Ziploc Food Saver

Lily could hear at the pool today and it was great!

What a difference. Instead of fighting me as she swims, I was giving her instructions in a non yelling voice- "like close your mouth", "use your arms", "open your eyes underwater", I will hold you up"...

Today I said "paddle like a dog" and she had never thought about dogs swimming I think but said "I am a puppy"

Without hearing, swimming with Lily is more like a contact sport were I think she thinks I am trying to tickle her or chase her. Without her implant she also thinks "I can do this myself" when she really can't swim yet. And yes because she can't hear she gets very loud.

This year is better than last because she is 42 inches tall (not yet four years old) and the pool is 3 and a half feet deep(42 inches).... So she has learned to bounce off the bottom. She is also very close to being able to actually dive and swim.

We used the modified food saver and ziploc attempt as seen and detailed on a blog from Holland about Lottie Soffie -http://lotte-sofie.blogspot.com/search/label/Swimming

After 3 or 4 attempts in getting the speedo bathing cap on and holding the implant coil and processor in the right spot we were able to get the cap on properly. It did take my wife and I one to hold the magnet in place and one to get the cap on.

A ridiculous scene really.



I didn't get a lot of good photos because I was in the water with Lily, but I did get one of her waiting for "the bucket" which fills up and dumps ever 2 minutes.


The force of the water actually moved her cap (see photo) and the experiment was over... But if we had avoided the bucket everything would have continued to work.



A couple more photos

American Gladiator Brick Reilly Cochlear Implant

This is great - awesome to see contender Brick with a cochlear implant. I guess he isn't wearing the implant under his helmet over the water. Maybe Cochlear can come up with a water proof version...(see Lily post) He was also being hit in the head by a 290 pound behemoth named "Justice" in the joust.

He is a tree climber and is dominating the other contestant. He even dislocated his shoulder and popped it back in and finished.

From his bio on NBC. Brick Reilly is a 27-year-old tree climber from Springfield, New Jersey. He was born deaf and has always deemed athletics an important escape from the realities of life. Though Reilly recently had a cochlear implant which gave him the ability to hear, he never used his disability as an excuse in his life. He works as a mentor for deaf children in the New Jersey area.
http://www.americangladiatorsblog.com/contenders/season-2-contenders

Cochlear Impant 16 year old dancer

Nice article on girl from New Jersey. Annette Tavernese
Born to dance
Teen determined that being deaf will not keep her from achieving her goals

Great video too.

Video from last December

This video shows how far Lily has come from March 2007 activation to December 2007 - She is answering her sister's question... What do you want for Christmas?

You Tube Hookup Cochlear Implant at Shands

From March 2007

Non Updated Blogs are the worst

Lily is doing incredibly well and coming up on her 4th birthday.



Lily and her cousin listening to a story by Grandpa

Turn on Day

March 26th Lily got hooked up with her Nucleus Freedom Processor.

Looking back now we were all very excited about the big day. I think we all expected instant results.

They hooked up to the computer ran through some tests and turned it on. It didnt bother her at all. It was definitely not like the videos you see on youtube or other cases were kids go from hearing nothing to something. Lily has had some hearing, and she still has hearing in her left ear even unaided... So when the Dr. rang the bell... on her left side, well yes she heard that.

She wouldn't respond to her name or our voices but she did pick up Shhhh sound right away - so that was pretty amazing . And she definitely cannot hear high frequency sounds. She even said something right after using Shhh sound - something like I am spinning the bear. The Doctor said it was the best hook up she had ever seen.

Magic Ear Surgery Day Details / Photos