It’s now been two weeks since Lori’s activation date and it’s been two of the most interesting weeks in my life. Trying to describe how I’ve felt has been hard. I can only imagine that it must be close to …
Today was like the best Christmas ever. Today was Lori’s activation day. After spending the last 19 days in total silence, the big day finally came and she got to see how the new implants worked. We got to Stanford …
I’ve now been sitting in the waiting room at Stanford for 5 hours. We arrived a little after 5:30am. On the wall in the waiting room is a TV screen similar to the arrival and departure screens at the airport …
Last night we had dinner with some friends, who, like us, have had their marriage tested by health problems. In their case, one of them has had several strokes and has a hard time speaking. So at dinner we had …
Lori’s hearing problem has caused many changes in our household, and we’ve figured out ways to work around most of the problems that it causes. Hanging wallpaper isn’t one of them. It’s very hard to do sign language when both …
We went down to the Bay Area to attend a cochlear implant picnic and help Mom move into her new condo. The picnic was very helpful in that the three implant companies were there and we could see their latest …
We first met with the surgeon and after examining Lori’s ears and looking at all the test results from the other doctors she’s seen, he concluded the same thing. Lori’s hearing loss is irreversible and unexplainable. He seemed to think …
At night, the pager gets plugged into this device which recharges it. There is also a vibrator plugged into it that sits under her pillow, so if any of the transmitters go off at night she is woken up by …
So far I’ve mentioned all of the transmitting devices. Here is the receiver, a pager that Lori can wear when she’s at home. It has four different colored lights for the different transmitters. Red for smoke alarm, green for telephone, …
The device sitting next the alarm clock is a sound monitor. It senses when there is a loud noise and sends a signal. So far this has been the flakiest part of the system. Some mornings the alarm clock sets …
This is a wireless doorbell. I need to make a sign for it to let people know that they need to buzz and knock. Lori won’t hear the knock, and I won’t get signalled if they use the doorbell. We …
Another device that needed to be upgraded was the smoke detector. Originally I was going to get the kind that have strobes in addition to the audible alarm. But that only works if you’re in the room where the alarm …
Our house has had a serious upgrade in the technology department to help provide Lori with more security and independence. First, the amplified phone got replaced with a CapTel phone. This allows her to talk on the phone as the …
As part of the process of getting cochlear implants, Lori needed to get hearing aids to try out. I guess the insurance companies insist on trying the $3000 solution before going for the $40-60k solution. So today we met with …
If you’ve been wondering why I haven’t been updating Knowlesville much lately, it’s because life decided to throw us a curve ball. For those of you who haven’t already heard, Lori has experienced almost total hearing loss in both ears …
