Day Two-Sara.

[Guest guest]

I was too tired from work yesterday to post on Sara's activation.

For those who forgot (don't worry, I do...a lot!), Sara is 17,

sophomore in high school born deaf.

Her aided hearing on audiograms with her Phonak hearing aides was

just at the bottom of the " speech banana " . Today, she was placed in

the sound room and with her new Cochlear Esprit 3G, she was in the

middle of the banana!!

She heard things a 6000!

I called a dear friend who always is interested in my family and she

cried. She was so happy for us and said " What a wonderful time to

have this news, just before Thanksgiving! "

It really is!! 17 years of Sara never hearing the 's' in her own

name and now she can! (Excuse me if I use exclamation marks a lot

tonight....a VERY happy father!!)

Yesterday, she was turned on using only the computer direct with no

outside sounds. She responded to all signals. After I left, to go

bac to work, they turned her on in the room with Charlene and the

programmer (Ross) and Sara's main staff member (Jody). The three

were talking very normally and soft. When Sara first was turned on,

Charlene said the look in Sara's eyes, as they BULGED wide open, was

like she was being thrown against the ceiling!!! ABsolutely blew

Sara away.

Her comments that evening (with VERY big smiles!!) was that eveyone

sounds the same and kinda like chipmunks. She said that most of the

new sounds sound like clicks and electronic...BUT...that she cound

hear ALL of the sylables of words!!!!!

Thank you God.

Today, as I mentioned above, she blew them away with the sound booth

results. Ross said he already has seen a big change in the level

of 'hearing' in just 24 hours.

It is important here to pause and state that the hospital is

Houston's Texas Children's and that Sara is the oldest person to

have the operation by this group. Virtually all the implants are

very young children. Sara's doctor personally does from 1-2 every

week.

Jody said it is such a treat to actually have a young person who can

actually TELL them what she is experiencing. Ross said that when he

programs the young one's he has to guess what they need. They will

learn from her exchange of thoughts on the process.

Anyway, on the way home from teh hospital, Charlene was probing a

light weight plastic bag between the seats (she reenacted it for me

and the sound was VERY soft) and Sara shouted " STOP THAT! IT's

ANNOYING! " !!!! Charlene said " Does it sound like thunder? " . Sara

responded " IT'S WORSE THAN THUNDER! " .

When I came home and came to say hi, she was ALL smiles and so very

optimistic. Later we came in the house and she said she

could 'hear' us entering (never could before)!!

I need to rest from typing for now, didn't realize how emotional

this is for me. Happy Thanksgiving all!

Sincerely,

Don

PS: I write this all to hopefully help anyone with a very young one

who wonders what it is like for their child. We entered into this

with cautious optimism and know that the road is still very long,

but the light shines at the end for us to reach.

Most important goal with a child? Give them the highest self-esteem

you can possibly offer.