David’s CI Activation and Mapping Days

I just finished making a vlog about my son David’s CI activation and mapping, done in American Sign Language (you can view it at the bottom of this posting), and now I am writing this posting, in English, as a transcript for my vlog…  That way, people whose native language is ASL could view my vlog while people fluent in English could read my posting, so that they would not miss anything.

The experience has been interesting for me, to observe David undergoing the cochlear implantation, recovery, activation, and mapping.  Three weeks ago, he had a minor surgical procedure which he had the magnet planted against his skull and electrodes in his cochlea, leaving a small scar right behind his ear.  Three weeks later, this past Thursday, we woke up early in the morning for a 30-minute drive to the hospital.  We waited for several minutes and three audiologists came to us and took us to the therapy room.  David sat next to the desk where the computer was, with three audiologists seated before desk, ready to observe him and to take notes, and an interpreter sat next to me.

The audiologist handed the CI device to David for him to put on.  He had a few seconds of confusion of locating the magnet and when attached, the audiologist started the program.  She tested to see if all electrodes (22 electrodes) worked, no circuit shorts, etc.  They worked beautifully.  David was not hearing anything at the moment.  Then he was told he’d be hearing “beep”s  as the audiologist tested each electrode to see if he responded to each.  He raised his hand as he heard the beep… he responded to all electrodes, which meant all electrodes were fully inserted in his cochlea.

Then the next step was to have David to respond and to inform when the “beep” from each electrode got a bit loud for the audiologist to establish the maximum comfort and threshold levels.  It went for about an hour, which was a little boring for him… enough for him to become fidgety in the chair.  The reason for the slowly establishing the threshold/maximum comfort levels is to prevent to overload the brain when the CI is activated.  That was the initial mapping.

He was asked if he was ready for the activation and he said yup.  She turned it on and at first he heard nothing.  Then she turned the volume up a bit… he heard little.  She turned it up more and then he reacted, by laughing shortly and claiming it was weird.  He heard us talking… we sounded like cars honking and geese honking to his brain.  We were told to expect the sounds to sound robotic or Donald Duffy’s voice.  Then the audiologists showed us the box containing the twinkles and bells of the CI device (another processor intended to be used as back up, hooks, etc.)  Of course, David was fascinated with the box’s goods.  No, he did not show any discomfort nor pain; he acted it was cool, different. To observe his reaction (around the minute 2), you could observe the URL link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_wJ5VbqUg4

Then I drove him to school where he spent the rest of the day there with his CI on.  He came home and he immediately noticed that his sister had a high-pitched voice and that his father was a loud talker and it caused discomfort to him.  I suggested to him that he took the device off and he refused, preferring to leave it on.  OK.

The next day, we went back to the hospital, again, for the 2nd day of mapping, now that he had spent a full day wearing the CI device, giving his brain a chance to process the sound waves.  When his CI was activated, his brain interpreted the sound waves as sensations… the feelings/vibrations, so to speak.  His brain quickly interpreted the sensations into the levels of loudness, which became consonants.  The audiologists said that he quickly distinguished “s”, “sh”, “b”, and “m” so far, due to his being born with normal hearing.  So it’s more like for him to learn to ride a bike all over again after not riding it for years.  He had to sit through the 2nd mapping which was very much like the initial mapping… responding to “beep”s, etc.  The goal of mapping is to get him used to the increasing range of loudness (high and soft sounds) of each electrodes (pitches.)  He still hears people’s speech as car honking though.  He quickly came to appreciate music more with CI now, but he winces at the singing because it sounds like… car honking, and he’d rather listen to music without songs.

He will start the auditory therapy next Monday at school for 3 x a week, to train his brain to interpret that honk is short “i”, that honk is long “a”, so forth.  But so far, it has been a very good, positive start for him.  He told me that he wanted to get another CI next year.  Good, just wait until we get everything settled before he could proceed to another CI )

Obviously, CI benefits hard of hearing people, late deafened people (like David), and the babies who’d have to receive therapy (AVT) upon receiving the cochlear implantation.  David has shown no pain, no discomfort, no headache, no nausea so far, since the activation and the mappings.  The whole experience has been positive and I really appreciate it.

Stem Cell Treatment For Hearing Loss Has Begun.

UPDATE: There is a captioned video, so check it out:

http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2009/11/video-interview-caption-with-first.html

Thanks to neuro!

 

First of all, I want to state that I am NOT an expert in this subject I am about to blog about.

A friend emailed to me, with the links about a stem cell treatment for hearing loss for a late-deafened young adult.  The article, http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/rnl-bio-rescues-a-college-student-from-autoimmune-hearing-loss,1027683.shtml, states that the lady was losing her hearing to an autoimmune disease since she was 15 years old and that the doctors tried this “radical” stem cell treatment (harvesting the fat cells from the surrounding of the lady’s belly button and isolated the cells and had them sent to South Korea.  Then the family went to South Korea (due to FDA’s not approval of the adult stem cell treatment for hearing loss where the lady received the treatment via IV.)  It was an interesting article to read and I realized that it was just starting… stem cell treatment has succeeded in getting most of the hearing back to the young lady and so, what’s next?  I want to make it clear that the article discusses ADULT stem cell treatments, but we all know that sooner or later, stem cell research will venture into infants/children who lose their hearing due to autoimmune diseases or born deaf and stem cell treatments prove their ability to grow cilia (hairlike cells) in their cochlea.  It’s less invasive than cochlear implants, all right.  The majority of hearing parents WILL take this stem cell treatment for their deaf babies over subjecting them to CI surgeries, believe me.  I don’t know if the treatment will restore all, most, or some hearing to the infants/children… it all depends on the factors.

There is a YouTube vlog about it, but it’s not captioned.  You could check it out and ask someone to interpret it for you.

http://www.youtube.com/user/rnlbio#p…-A7LaM]YouTube

That’s about it.

Have a good day.

David’s CI Journey–Part 3

OK, David and I agreed that I did not post photos of his surgery.  I will post only one, first day at home from hospital.  I will do my best in explaining in details of how his stay at the hospital went.

On October 22nd, on the first day of David’s fall break from school, I drove him to Riley Hospital for Children for his scheduled day surgery.   After checking in, we met with a young interpreter who looked like Ashton Kutcher.  David was dressed in the hospital gown and was led to a waiting room where we sat and chatted and watched TV (Cartoon Network’s “Scooby Doo” show.)  We waited for an hour and half for David’s staff to show up.  His surgeon’s resident doctor showed up… a man of Japanese descent asked a few questions and wrote “Yes” on his right ear.   Then an anesthesiologist showed up and asked a few questions and then asked what scent David would like… strawberry, bubble gum, grape, watermelon or Dr. Pepper?  David perked up at hearing “Dr. Pepper” (eww, in my mind ;o) )

Then the surgeon nurse came to walk  him to the OR (operating room.)  David suddenly grabbed my arm and tried pulling me with him.  I gently pried his hand off of my arm and hugged him and told him that I’d see him in the recovery room in a few hours.  I stood outside the doors, watching through the window a sight of him walking with the nurse and his interpreter who was dressed in bunny outfit who’d be with him in the OR until he fell asleep.  Then I left.

It was around 1:30 PM so I grabbed lunch at McDonald’s which was located on the first floor of the hospital and went upstairs to the surgery waiting room to eat there and to chat with the interpreter who himself was a CODA.  The surgeon came to us, about an hour and half later, to tell me that the surgery went very well; the procedure itself took 45 minutes and that David would be in the recovery room soon.  Several minutes later, a volunteer came and walked us to the recovery room where I saw him lying on the wheeler, naked chest with pads hooked up to the heart monitor and IV attached to his hand, breathing softly and looking peaceful.  He had a rubber turban around his head, with pressure gauze against his incision.  The incision was 1 1/2  inch long, on the back of his earlobe (exactly on where his ear is attached to his head.)  Not on his head.  That way, he’d have no scar on his head… only on the back of his ear.

He slowly woke up and asked if the CI was in and I said yes.  The nurse asked if he was feeling any pain and he said no.  She offered a Popsicle when he said he was thirsty.  Then he said he started feeling a throbbing on his incision area and the nurse said that he needed to take pain medication, since his body just started the process of healing and that the pain would soon hit him.  So he obliged and took the oral  medication (Tylenol with Codeine.)  The surgeon came and talked with David and David sincerely thanked him.  Then the nurse wheeled David out of the recovery room to the semi-private room to stay overnight.

The nurse handed him a menu and I was taken back by what the menu said… cheeseburger, pizzas, sandwiches, etc.  Right after the surgery?  I said nothing when he ordered a cheeseburger, french fries with cheese sauce on the side, and a chocolate milkshake.  When food came, he could not eat everything… ate some french fries with cheese sauce and drank milkshake.  Did not touch the cheeseburger.  He started complaining of tinnitus (the ringing in his right ear) and pain.  Then we settled to watch the DVD “City of Ember” which was good.  It was close to 10 PM and he was given another dosage of pain medication and settled to go to sleep.  I made myself comfortable in the lazyboy chair.

Around 2 AM, David woke me up and he said he wanted to go to bathroom, so I paged the nurse.  She took him out of bed and walked him to the bathroom in the hallway; he did not want me to go inside the bathroom but the nurse.  I stood outside of the bathroom,  surveying the nurses’ desk, the walls, the medical equipments, etc.  And smiling at the nurses who lounged around the desk who looked at me with a sort of pitying look on their faces.  Little did I knew that David was puking his dinner out in the bathroom and I could not hear it, huh.  He and the nurse came out and David said he threw up.  I quickly smelled chocolate milkshake from the bathroom.

He was led back to his bed, and was hooked up to the IV and the nurse gave him morphine and anti-nausea medication and he went back to sleep, holding my hand.  Then the resident doctor showed up at 6:30 AM to take off David’s rubber turban and I was impressed by the incision… I thought it would be worse but actually, it was not.  However, the medical schools should offer a beauty class, in cutting or/and shaving hair / .  David said that nausea was gone but had nonstop ringing in his ear.   He ordered breakfast  from the menu, but that time, he chose wisely.  Two slices of bacon, a small blueberry muffin, and cranberry juice and he kept everything down.  Then his surgeon and his resident doctor showed up and announced David’s incision was healing very nicely and started the procedure of discharging him… less than 24 hours stay at the hospital.

We came home by noon and he went to his computer to play computer games (as you’d notice the pix of him sitting before his PC.)  I went to Walgreen’s to buy antibiotics and Tylenol with Codeine for him.  The next day, we all went over to a friend’s house where my kids had fun and David did dancing there.  He was quickly back to his normal routine, handling his pain and tinnitus better.  Today this AM, armed with the doctor’s excuse slip from his gym class for two weeks, he left for school.

His activation date is in the middle of November.

David's first day at home with CI

David’s CI Journey–Part 2

Finally… in a few days, David will enter a hospital to undergo the cochlear implant surgery after going through the bureaucracy of health insurance, emails, videophone calls, etc.  David is relieved that the day is approaching closer but at the same time he’s feeling more nervous… mostly about the surgery alone.  I only hope that he’d have very few or no side effects of CI surgery and that the incision will heal quickly.  He will not miss any school; he’d be on the fall break this week, so it’s a perfect timing.  He’d stay at the hospital for 24  hours.  What’s more important is the commitment to making the CI work after the surgery.  The surgery alone is a minor surgical procedure, nothing more.

Also, David’s Teacher of the Deaf in his mainstream middle school and I agreed, along with the school’s counselors, that she gave a short presentation about cochlear implant to his 7th grade team to make the students more aware of CI and to lessen the chances of teasing when David starts wearing the device next month.

He will receive Cochlear’s Nucleus 5, the newest product from Cochear.  You could check out the link:

http://www.cochlearamericas.com/nucleus5/

I will keep you updated on his surgery and his post-surgery adventure.

My Preteen Son’s Journey to CI–Part 1

I want to blog  about my preteen son’s decision to pursue the Cochlear Implant avenue, over this year and next year.  He is 12 years old.  He was born with normal hearing, and started losing hearing during the toddler years, was diagnosed having a mild-to-moderate hearing loss at the age of 3 years old (45 to 50 dB.)  His hearing loss kept nosediving over the  years and was tested last week showing the range of 110 to 115 dB hearing loss, putting him in the category of profoundly deaf people.  He has been wearing hearing aids since he was first diagnosed and they helped him GREAT.  Until now.

His first language is English, of course.  His communication preference is talking.  He does sign at home, but he rarely signs outside of home.  I do NOT have a problem with his choice of communication because he ALREADY has a language… he is very fluent in English and is in Honors English class at middle school (he’s full-time mainstreamed.)  He reads at high school level.  He does not have a signing interpreter; he goes by FM system and CART.  He gets A’s and B’s and NEVER receives any resource help… just speech therapy once a week, 20 minutes (during lunch.)  Also, he’s on a swim team.  His favorite downtimes are reading the novels and listening to music via Ipod.  A very typical 12-year-old boy.

Over the last few months, he had been complaining about his hearing aids… that they did not work very well, that the sounds sounded funny or/and softer or/and quieter (either way, depending on his mood), etc.  So the audiologist sent the aids to the shop and there were no problems with the aids.  Then we had David tested… the results showed an obvious drop in both low and high frequencies.  That is when he decided to go for CI, two months ago.

We set up an appointment with Riley Hospital, under IUPU (Indiana University/Purdue University.)  Last week we went there for an all-afternoon tests to determine his eligibility for CI.  I do recall two hearing tests… speech recognition test done in quiet background… he scored very low… 16%, a big change from his easily acing speech recognition tests when he was younger, above 50% oftentimes.  Another test… speech recognition in noisy background, he “flunked” the test.  I sat in the audiologist’s office, observing all the tests and pondering over my memories when he was normal hearing, then hard of hearing, then severely deaf, and now profoundly deaf.  After the battery of hearing tests, we went to radiology department to have David C-scanned (to make sure that his cochlea were normally formed.) Scoring less than 30% on the speech recognition tests is just one of prerequisites for the candidacy for CI.

The audiologist went inside the sound booth and informed David that he was a candidate for CI and he looked relieved to be informed of it… it’s what he wants.  The next day we had to come back to Riley Hospital, this time for an orientation.  Brian (my husband and David’s dad), David and I sat in the audiologist’s office, with an interpreter.  David ASKED a LOT of questions… hard questions.  Hmmm… he is aware that it is HIS ear, HIS body, etc., so he’s making sure that CI would benefit him in the long run.  The audiologist was very patient in answering the questions.  She also outlined the pros and the cons.  She did NOT try to “sell” the product CI to us.  She explained two different brands of CI… Nucleus Freedom and AB (Advanced Bionics) and really both are pretty much same.  I inquired about Med El and she said that it was experiencing device failures so it was off of the market for a time being.  She stated that FDA (Food and Drug Administration) required that any devices must show LESS than 2% failure to be on market.  If failure,  require to replace or to be removed at NO charge, less than 10 years.

She outlined the MINIMUM benefits: awareness to sounds in the environment; detection of sounds in the speech range (NOT speech understanding); improved speech reading ability; awareness of one’s own voice; and potential for improvement in speech intelligibility.  She made it VERY clear that it was the BRAIN that must interpret the sound and provide an individual with speech understanding, so it means David or anyone MUST receive therapy and that they wear CI all day/everyday in order to help retrain the brain.  To our surprise, she added that 1/2 of the CI recipients develop a DISLIKE of music.  Huh oh, because David LOVES music and he was on the choir when he was in elementary school.  The audiologist said that usually people developed love for music after learning to listen to music, etc. and that if people liked music before getting CI, they usually ended up liking music because of the brain’s memory.  She stressed that CI centered on speech.

AND… she explained the surgery which sounded simple.  A 2- to 3-inch incision behind the ear.  A small hole/pathway will be drilled into the inner ear.  No shaving/scraping on the skull, etc.  A tiny electrode array will be inserted.  Then the incision site will be closed and stitched together with dissolvable  stitches.  An overnight at the hospital. Come back to Riley Hospital in a month for activation.  Simple and forward.  She said that we’d need to meet with the CI surgeon (at the end of August) and he’d explain more about it.

AND she showed us the paperwork outlining the rare complications of the surgery and the common side effects.  The complications are listed as anesthesia complications; weakness of the face; hematoma; cerebrospinal fluid lead; infection, and meningitis (he already got the vaccination for meningitis last year.)  The side effects: skin numbness; taste disturbance; sore neck and back; dizziness; and tinnitus (especially for some people with residual hearing, so David might likely experience it until the activation day.)

The audiologist gave us a bunch of paperwork to go through and her email address for us to contact with any questions.  Overall, it was a very POSITIVE experience… testings and orientation.  We have a few months to sleep on this before meeting the CI surgeon.  We need to decide which CI brand, which ear he’d want to be implanted (the audiologist said that it was up to us to decide, since both ears showed the same degree of hearing loss), and of course, what color of CI ;o) .  Once we make the decision, we’d need to contact the audiologist of our decision and she’d send the paperwork to our insurance company for approval.

David will be attending an Youth Leadership Camp in two weeks and I told him to be sure to talk to the kids with CI, to ask for their experiences, etc.  This camp will be his third time and it is usually consisted of mainstreamed deaf kids who choose speaking and listening over signing and the majority of the campers have CI.  Recently one of his classmates got a CI and the classmate loved it, and the parents stated that the recent audiogram showed the speech recognition at 15 dB… impressive.

That’s about it.  I know this blog is a bit long one, but at least it’s pretty forward, no bashing around the bushes, no conspiracy like some pro-Deaf people claim, etc.

We will make the decision in a few weeks.

Stay tuned for part 2, in a few months likely.

Twilight Stirrings and Male Characters

Finally I finished the book “Twilight” and wow, I can easily understand why younger people love it.  It rouses up the stirrings for endless love.  It had me revisiting the memory lane of my late teen’s stirrings, especially for a science teacher.  A few years ago out of curiosity, I Googled for him and to my surprise, I cam across the mug shot of him, arrested for sexual assault… huh oh.  He no longer worked in education field, so we all have a good guess of what happened.

Anyway, vampires… very mysterious and very exciting.  Even women swooned over Bram Stroker’s novel.  Movies after movies.  But one thing that hits me strongly… vampires appear to be fixed and trapped in their characters… not changing.   I read “New Moon” all day this past Saturday and I really liked Jacob because of his changing character.  So his character is fluid, hot,  and organic.  Compared to Jacob, Edward is inorganic (diamond-like glistening in the sun, hard as marble, etc.) icy, and fixed.

I’d like to say one thing about New Moon’s werewolves.  They, in my opinion, highlight the problem of steriods and teenage boys and young men in early 20’s, especially in sports.  Wrestling and bodybuilders keep getting bigger and their tempers more short… like those werewolves.  Yes, I know that there were no steriods involved in the werewolves, but it shows a similarity, nothing more.  Jacob shows inner struggles, bound to his tribe and to the ancient covenant, yet in love with a girl whose heart belonged to someone else who happened to be a vampire, which his DNA decreed that Jacob had to destroy the vampires.

I give Bella a credit for rolling her eyes at the tension between them at her house… it is so much like a dog and a cat.  Or rather in this case, a cougar and a wolf snarling, hissing, growling at each other over the human girl.

Moving on…

OK.

Before leaving the subject audism behind (just hearing it being taken apart and taken together again,  being debated over and over… makes my eyes glaze over), I want to say one last thing about it.   The way I see it, people choose to be survivors or victims.   In choosing to be victims, people just channel their anger and pain into activism, choosing not to see the whole picture, right or wrong.  In choosing to be survivors, they are able to move past their anger and pain to make the best of their lives.  We all have choices; it is how we make them.  For the last time, I don’t support DBC and AFA because I draw a line at how they recruit people and I feel that they allow emotions influence their strategic decision making.

Anyway,  to update on my gardening, the seedlings are growing, as you see the photo of muslin lettuce seedlings )  I just planted curly parsley seeds in the cardbox lunch box from which I ate salad from the Whole Foods Market today.  A few weeks ago, as an afterthought, I tossed the moldy Idaho potatoes into the storage container of compose soil and bingo… the eyes apparently sprouted, and now growing the leaves, as you see the photo.  I promised my daughter that she’d plant sunflower seeds so next month, May will do it.

My husband and I agreed to make a few changes in our lifestyle… to eat less meats and to eat more ORGANIC foods, especially vegetables and fruits.  We consume most most foods lacking in enzymes, which our bodies badly need.  Lack of enzymes (destroyed by preservations, chemicals, and irradiation/pasturation) lead to the rising number of cancer cases.  We are aware that organic  foods are expensive, but hey!  Once committed, stay committed.  We are reading the book called “Healthy Habits: 20 Simple Ways to Improve Your Health” written by David and Anne Frahm.  It is a simple, easy to read book.  However, I draw a line at enemas… nah… I won’t do it, UNLESS I have to do it.  Might be a good idea for my husband…something to check into…hmmm… he’d need to see a colonics professional, I won’t  do it for him, no thanks.

That’s about it.

Public Apology from AGBell = Closure?

One DVTV vlogger, by the name of DeafMom3ASL, brought up one idea that got me thinking… approaching AGBell about its issuing a public apology to the Deaf community for its harmful actions on the Deaf community since Milan Conference 1880, whether the actions were intentional or not, due to lack of knowledge or due to the desire to “fix’ at the cost of physical and emotional pain against Deaf people.  Check out her vlog:

http://www.deafvideo.tv/video/watch/43909/

I like the idea of the public apology.  Now, if AGBell issued the apology, it would likely bring a closure to MANY people who had and have suffered under AGBell’s influence.  It would enable us to move forward with our goals for the Deaf community, for the Deaf babies, for ensuring ASL in its rightful place in America for both hearing and deaf people.

Right now, the communication is slowly and carefully being forged between two leaders, Barry Sewall and Ella Mae Lentz.  They are setting an example for us, that communication is ALWAYS a key for bringing many things on the table and being able to deal with things, listening to each other’s different perspective and VALIDATING each other’s feelings and perspective.  And the healing usually starts.  It can be slow or fast, depending on the time and willingness they have.  I am impressed.  It made me realize how much we ALL have lost time just by taking sides.  Even the leaders are guilty of taking sides and encouraging the rifts… we are not not much any different from others.

Now, the Vatican issued a formal apology to the Jews for its lack of involvement in the Holocaust in Europe  a few years ago… many years after the World War II ended.  I am sure it helped  many Jews and their organizations to be able to move on.  So, if AGBell issed the apology, do you think it would enable us to move forward?  Do you think it would open up communication lines between the Deaf organizations such as DBC/AFA and AGBell?  Success usually occurs with an active listening and a willingness to make negotations and a willingness to be committed to make things work.

ASLFREEDOM vlogged about it: http://www.deafvideo.tv/video/watch/43937/

Audism or Ethnocentrism?

I was watching the videocomments under Ella’s latest vlog about AFA and one commenter, by the DVTV name Ecnarb, brought up one very important thing… ethnocentric behavior, or ethnocentrism.  Ah ha, that explains the infighting within our Deaf community, fingerpointing, labeling as a weapon, rationalizing the labels, etc.  I believe it is something that we need to pause and ponder about it… that our ethnocentric behavior is what keeps us divided.  Now, audism?  Okay, let’s explore ethnocentrism…

So I Googled for it… here is what I found:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ethnocentrism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnocentrism

So it is more or less defined as “belief in the superiority of one’s own ethnic group” and as “the tendency to evaluate other groups according to the values and standards of one’s own ethnic group, especially with the conviction that one’s own ethnic group is superior to the other groups”, as noted in www.dictionary.com.

One thing that comes to my mind… ethnocentrism must have been practiced back in thousands or millennium years ago. Like in human evolution, one can easily imagine Cro- Magnons and Neanderthals coming to clashes because of their physical and cultural differences… which must have led to bloodsheds (or extinction of Neanderthals, as a theory goes.)  Even Native Americans practiced it, raiding other tribes and assimilating the slaves into the invader’s tribal cultures.  Now, I am seeing the practice in Deaf Community, especially on DeafRead and DVTV.  One does not want to “mess” with DBC which I don’t care… I am tired of personal vendettas—either you give power to anyone and he/she’d  destroy you or don’t give power to them and they’d have no power to destroy you,  but that is not the point here.

You could Google for ethnocentrism/ethnocentric behavior.  What strikes me is one definition of it as “in-group favoritism” and “out-group hostility”.  Okay.  We all forget something.  The Deaf Community has MANY groups—CI, oral, Cued Speech, SEE, ASL, etc.

That’s the real issue here, feeling one’s cultural mores are more superior to others’, including hearing, oral deaf, and moderate Deaf people, and labeling the some of the cultural differences erroneously as ’audism’. Labeling culturally Deaf people audists, colonialists, deficit thinkers, and audists’ deaf proteges are some examples of the groups’ ethnocentric mentality. Labeling the parents and hearing professionals audists for the desire to see their children speaking and listening is also another sign of ethnocentrism, failing to recognizing that in the hearing society, speaking and hearing are valued.

There are no rights or wrongs when it comes down to cultural norms. See, Hindus don’t eat their cows due to their religious beliefs.  We Americans cannot pass judgment against those. We would like not to be judged by them for having our hamburgers as our favorite fast food item.  One’s cultural values are not superior to another’s; they are just different and we respect that.

I don’t judge the parents for wanting their children to hear and speak, since it’s their main communication mode. However, we need to educate them that speaking and hearing may  NOT be sufficient to provide full communication access, even with cochlear implants.  But to condemn them?  That is ethnocentric.

We would like not to be condemned for exposing our Deaf children to ASL and deciding not to use cochlear implants for the majority of the Deaf children. If we condemn them, we are no better than those who look down on us. What does it say regarding some Deaf people who judge us for our cultural differences?

Mutual respect MUST happen in order to have a constructive, effective dialogue with the hearing professionals and hearing parents. Why would they listen to us if some of us don’t respect their values?

There, I have said it.

Planting cool crops…

Now, a boring subject… planting cool crops.  Cool crops usually mean plants that are planted during the cool seasons, such as spring or fall usually withstand a frost or two.  So in the last few days I planted cilantro (my favorite herb), chives (my son’s favorite herb), and sweet muslin lettuces.  Later on, after any dangers of frost have passed, my daughter, Elizabeth will get to planting sunflowers, green beans, basil, to name several.

Sunflowers are cool… because, they get to be taller than me and they attract small yellow thieves!!  Actually, these thieves are yellow finches and they pick out the sunflower seeds and my cats get to growl out of frustration just watching the birds behind the closed sliding screen door, as you see my photo which was taken two years ago.

It is a bit hard to do gardening when you live upstairs in the apartment, so I use a lot of pots and a few flats.  I see more and more neighborhoods with HOA (Home Owners’ Associations) forbiding vegetable gardening and if wanna have one, one would have to ask for permission.  Permission???   Nah, when we move, we’d have to make sure that we buy a house in a neighborhood where HOA is nonexistent or very flexible… either way.