What an incredible day...to be honest I don't really know what to say or how to explain what this day was like. This is my 2nd attempt to share with you what happened today as Cole began hearing for the first time. We're working on putting the video we took of him being activated up on this blog...until then here are some pictures of our day and our boy with the microphones on his head and the harness he will wear now holding the processors for each ear. My first draft of this entry was very detailed and felt emotionless as I recounted every detail of the activation process for a cochlear implant. Though interesting, I've never been primarily driven by information. Information brings knowledge while the story of the silent but powerful move of God through it all brings meaning and stirs the spirit to connect with the story in a more personal way...this is what I love. I feel blessed to have experienced "rescue" from God in tangible ways these past few months because of the example these beautiful times of being saved have given you and I to recognize who God is. These Hebrew names of God have especially spoken to me lately of the facets of God's character that we've seen through this process...Elohim (God, Mighty Creator), Yahweh Yireh (The Lord will Provide), Yahweh Rophe (The Lord Who Heals). We cannot be more thankful for God leading us up to this moment...
So to answer the question you're all dying to know, how did Cole react to sound and what did we say to him??? Because the process of activating a cochlear implant involves certain necessary steps, we watched as our audiologist "mapped" Cole's implants by giving him another hearing test one ear at a time with the implants on. She set volume levels based on his response to the beeps he heard and checked to make sure the implants were fully functional which we're so thankful they were! When he heard a beep, he would stop playing in the high chair he was sitting in, look up at the audiologist playing with him and then point to the "Tweety Bird" in the black box to his right who would dance around with flashing lights every time he responded to the sound. He did a great job giving Jean (audiologist) the information she needed to set the implants at appropriate levels for this first week of hearing until we go back for more "mapping" next Friday. You can see in these pictures that we have placed a red cap on the right ear's microphone and a blue on on the left. We were advised to do this so we didn't confuse the sides. They are programmed differently and won't work on the opposite ears.
After Jean used "beeps" to determine the volume setting on certain pitches and frequencies, she then turned the microphones one one at a time so he could hear the noises and voices around him. By this time he was getting very tired since we'd been "working" for 2 hours and it was right in the middle of his nap time! When his implants were turned on, Cole could hear the sound of his brother playing, Daddy saying, "Cole, are you hearing?" and I sat quiet just taking it all in. I didn't want to add to the confusion he may be feeling of the sounds around him and I, in a sense, wanted to experience what he was. As Cole began hearing the sounds around him, he looked around trying to figure out what was going on and clapped as he heard clapping. He smiled and we smiled, celebrating this momentous step in our boy's life. After arriving home, Ryder began playing his drums, and Cole for the first time, ran down the hall toward Ry's room looking for the sound the heard. He stopped at the end, looked up at me and lifted up his hands as if to ask..."Now where?" I pointed to Ryder's room and he went in right away, to see Ryder drumming to his heart's content! Ryder gave Cole a drum stick and they played together. This was the first time Cole understood the contribution he made to the sounds around us.
One of the things he'll be working on is localizing sound, or recognizing where it is coming from. He hears our voices, but doesn't know to look at our faces, he just realizes he is hearing something, but he doesn't know where it is coming from. The more that Cole hears and the longer he experiences sound, the easier it will be for him to know where that sound is coming from and attach meaning to each sound. We've begun another stage of our journey. We've ended one leg and begun another. Cole now has access to sound, and we'll now begin the lifelong journey of teaching him what each sound means and how it has value. Starting next week, we begin speech therapy with the Carle Auditory Oral School 3 hours a week. One hour is in group therapy with other kids at his stage of listening and hearing, another hour will be individual therapy with the same therapist who leads the group he's in and then the third hour is a home visit with the same therapist who works with him in "our" environment, teaching us as parents how to be his "primary teachers" for the rest of his life. This is a wonderful hour since she'll be using our toys in our environment to help him learn to listen and produce speech...very practical for us all to learn how to best help our Coley when we're home together!
So, what does it mean to learn to listen...this is one of the things I will be writing about in the coming days as we begin the listening and speaking journey with Cole. Before he can speak, he must learn to listen. This is a profound yet applicable truth for us as well. Even if we have "heard" our whole life, we may have not learned the value of listening. We can "hear" and still ignore what we've heard. Sometimes this is helpful when the sounds we've heard do not have value but I've been convicted lately about what valuable things I've taught myself to ignore out of my own selfishness or pride. The definition of "listen" includes these meanings...to attend, to mind, to give attention to, to anticipate, expect and obey.
Our role now as parents, grandparents, brothers, aunts, uncles and friends of Cole will be to help him learn to listen to sounds around him and show him that there is meaning and value in sound. Sound gives us information, helps us communicate with one another and can bring us pleasure. I told you at the beginning of this post, that I believe information in of itself leaves us feeling empty. If Cole stopped his journey at merely "hearing" he would have gained nothing at all. Merely acquiring information without understanding its value and using that information to grow and change makes the process of hearing purposeless. The next leg of our journey with Cole will provide the greatest challenges and reap the most beautiful and fulfilling rewards. It may take months for Cole to speak his first word, but everyday, we will be providing him opportunities to listen to varied sounds that will help him learn that there is value in sound. He will be journeying from hearing to listening and then eventually enter the land of speech!
I leave you with this final thought out of Isaiah 50:4-5
The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.
The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears,
and I have not been rebellious;
I have not drawn back.
At this stage of the journey I am reminded that God has called us all to listen to his voice, calling us all toward a life of greater wholeness. Before this day, a friend reminded me that Cole has been hearing the voice of his Creator this whole time. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of our God. In the world of silence he once lived, he may have had a greater capacity to listen with the spiritual ears of his heart than any of us who hear will ever know...free of outside worldly distraction. In order to listen to the call God has for all of us to draw near to him, we must "waken our ear to listen as one being taught." We must act on what we hear to give the experience of listening meaning! Action may take place in complete silence in our hearts as in the act of accepting truth and relinquishing pride, or it may be a physical action God is calling us to of loving those around us in tangible ways. Whatever it is, the Holy Spirit is speaking to us all...may we all learn alongside Cole, what it means to truly listen..
Lord teach us what it means to hear, listen and answer the call you have on all of our lives to draw near to You...the One who gives freedom and life!
Praise God! "Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name;let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.Look to the Lord and his strength;seek his face always.Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgements he pronounced." I Chronicles 16:8-12 Still praying for the journey ahead of you. Love, The Eagles
What an exciting and momentous occasion! Thank you for bringing it to life for us.
And to our dear Cole:
We love you and look forward to communicating with much more than a smile or a hug. We will pray for you as you begin to learn to listen. Thank you for reminding us to really hear the voice of our Lord and Savior.
SO amazing!!
Wow, this is so exciting! Thanks for sharing your heart and pointing us to the Lord through it all.
I cried as I read this out loud to Ivan and San. How amazing and how wonderful! Praising the Lord for His blessings for Cole, Danice and John. Now we wait for precious Cora!!
I just told Mackenzie that Cole can hear now and I showed her the pictures. Her mouth dropped in amazement. We have a good friend that is deaf so I think she truly gets it. So amazing!
Loved, loved, loved reading this blog! I was filled with tears of joy for Cole and all of you! Thank you, thank you Lord!
We are rejoicing with you all, as Cole starts to hear and learn to listen!
It's a great reminder to me too, of how we are to listen to God in our lives, rather than just hearing, without making any meaning of what we may be hearing.
Looking forward to Cora's arrival too! =)
how amazing!! tears couldn't help but come to my eyes as i read this! God is so good!!