Happy Fifth Birthday, Zane!

Zane is celebrating his fifth birthday in Florida—the state where he was born. For a child who was given a prognosis of only a few months, he is most certainly doing better than expected. We’re so grateful to be able to celebrate with him! We love you, Zane!!! Happy Birthday, Zaner!

Mom Versus the Hearing Aids

Day two of Zane's hearing aids.

I feel totally inept when it comes to using them. Yesterday, when the audiologist placed the aids in Zane’s ears, they remained in for 6-7 hours. Since I first put them in this morning, they have fallen out at least seven or eight times. Since they were out, I attempted to use the listening tube to test them. That proved frustrating, as well. First, I couldn’t get the listening tube to stay in. Then, I couldn’t hear any difference when I tested them. Completely frazzled, I called the audiologist. She ran through everything with me again on the phone. Her explanation sounded reasonable—doable. But when I attempted insertion and testing on my own, I was back to the same exasperating experiences.

I guess I am trying to master these hearing aids immediately. Instead, I need to learn from Zane. For him, the mastery of such things as sitting upright, standing, communicating, walking, all take patience. He has an abundance of that. Apparently, I am not as patient as he is. So my lesson from Zane is to be more gentle with myself, don’t expect to do things skillfully right away. I will keep practicing and, hopefully by next week, Zane will keep his hearing aids in for more than thirty minutes at a time.

(Pictures to come)

Can You Hear Me?

As of today, Zane has hearing aids. He had the fitting this afternoon and was very cooperative. In fact, he fell asleep after the audiologist showed me how to properly insert them. Both the audiologists in Denver and here in town said that Zane’s loudness factor likely would decrease. (For anyone who may not spend time with Zane, he is often so loud he gets kicked out of family movies). Well, this afternoon, his vocalizations and intensity of sound increased. Dramatically. We’re hoping it is because he is experimenting with his voice. He kind of looks like he stepped right our of Mission Impossible. Except he is much cuter than Tom Cruise J