I have noticed an unsettling trend in the media. It seems that almost everyday a "miracle" occurs. The "miracles" can range from a homeless man with a great radio voice being discovered through youtube to a contestant on American Idol being saved and allowed to compete another week. Now I know in our society of 24 hour news cycles, there is a lot of pressure to make stories exciting and a bit over the top to keep viewer interest and yet...
Perhaps it is the Easter season that has caused me to notice this trend. There is a lot of talk of miracles in church at this time of year and somehow those miracles seem to carry more weight than "if the price of gas came down anytime soon," which I also heard would be a miracle according to a CNN contributor.
Big news of the week: The new cochlear implant upgrade is available for Bella. While some say it is only change in appearance (quite a bit smaller and thinner) there is also research that states it improves overall quality of speech recognition for recipients. We did go ahead and order it through Mayo Clinic, but I am always nervous about insurance until we actually receive it. By all my calculations, insurance should pay for it, but for anyone who has dealt with the wonderful world of insurance companies, you understand my hesitation and uncertainness. Anyway, if we do receive the new upgrade, we hope to be able to keep Bella's current processors as backups. And if we do, I have a plan. For years I have read about parents who have used diving bags, food saver machines and water tight balloons to allow their children the ability to hear while swimming. The key is to provide a waterproof environment for the cochlear implant. I have never risked this with Bella's implants. I mean if something goes wrong and the implant gets wet, that's a big "whoops". And expensive! But with all of the swimming Bella is doing and the research I have done over the last few weeks, I am willing to give it a try if we have a back-up to spare. Bella does a great job of lip reading and keeping up on her swim team and yet...Just imagine if she could hear all the instructions the teacher gives; all of the counts that help develop timing which is so important to the sport. Well I dare say it would be a mir...well, ok maybe not, but it would be super cool!
Perhaps it is the Easter season that has caused me to notice this trend. There is a lot of talk of miracles in church at this time of year and somehow those miracles seem to carry more weight than "if the price of gas came down anytime soon," which I also heard would be a miracle according to a CNN contributor.
Big news of the week: The new cochlear implant upgrade is available for Bella. While some say it is only change in appearance (quite a bit smaller and thinner) there is also research that states it improves overall quality of speech recognition for recipients. We did go ahead and order it through Mayo Clinic, but I am always nervous about insurance until we actually receive it. By all my calculations, insurance should pay for it, but for anyone who has dealt with the wonderful world of insurance companies, you understand my hesitation and uncertainness. Anyway, if we do receive the new upgrade, we hope to be able to keep Bella's current processors as backups. And if we do, I have a plan. For years I have read about parents who have used diving bags, food saver machines and water tight balloons to allow their children the ability to hear while swimming. The key is to provide a waterproof environment for the cochlear implant. I have never risked this with Bella's implants. I mean if something goes wrong and the implant gets wet, that's a big "whoops". And expensive! But with all of the swimming Bella is doing and the research I have done over the last few weeks, I am willing to give it a try if we have a back-up to spare. Bella does a great job of lip reading and keeping up on her swim team and yet...Just imagine if she could hear all the instructions the teacher gives; all of the counts that help develop timing which is so important to the sport. Well I dare say it would be a mir...well, ok maybe not, but it would be super cool!
No comments:
Post a Comment