Keepin' It Sweet

 Your regularly scheduled programing will resume shortly. Instead, I decided to give you some pictures! Have I mentioned that I like to bake? I realize this is incredibly random, but I thought I'd take a break from my usual posts, especially since the series I'm working on, as I mentioned, is still in progress in my life.. So I might not finish that up quite yet, we'll see! Plus, I thought some of you might be interested in learning a little more about what I enjoy, so here you go!

Anyway, these are just a selection of pictures of some of the things I've baked (the ones I actually thought to take pictures of). I make a pretty mean chocolate chip cookie, but I guess I've never taken any pictures of those. These are cell phone pics, so they're not the best quality, but if you want a recipe or anything then just ask!

This was the first time I ever made crepes. The first one turned out pretty disastrous (I'll spare you the picture), but I think the second one turned out pretty well! It totally reminded me of the crepes I had in France.. yum!

 

Banana-Nutella Crepe

Okay, this cake did not turn out so well... and it doesn't really count since my sister and I used a boxed cake mix. As you can see, a giant crack formed in the middle of the top layer after we stacked them. We made our own frosting, though and it didn't taste too bad! And if you're wondering about the red and blue blobs, my sister thought she'd decorate the cake with some fireworks since our mom's birthday was on the fourth of July. She also did the writing on top (trust me, if I had done it the writing would have been illegible!)

Devil's Food Cake with White Buttercream

These are the easiest cookies to make, ever. They're flourless, so they're good for Passover and people who can't tolerate gluten. But, more importantly, they taste delicious! They look a lot more appetizing in person, I promise!

Peanut Butter cookies with chocolate chips

 This was my first attempt at making cakeballs, and they were a huge hit a family gathering I brought them to. I got the idea off of Bakerella, and she lists the steps out and makes it super easy!

Red Velvet cake balls in cream cheese frosting with white and milk chocolate coatings.

 I got a Whoopie Pie recipe book for Hanukkah, but hadn't gotten the chance to make any until recently when a friend and I decided to do it for fun. They were big globs of deliciousness!

Classic Whoopie Pie

 For Father's Day, my sister and I made cake balls. This was try two, and they actually didn't turn out as well as the first try (above). My dad is a big coconut fan, so we dyed some coconut and sprinkled it on top!

Yellow cake with cream cheese frosting, dipped in white chocolate and coconut.

Do you like to bake? If so, then share your favorite recipes- I love making new things!

The Difference

Occasionally, people with little experience with hearing loss will make a hearing-related comment or ask a question that sounds absolutely ridiculous and stupid to someone who has dealt with hearing loss his or her entire life. It's easy to jump on these people, and write them off as ignorant of hearing loss and possibly even people with disabilities as a whole. What I've learned is that rather, it's how these people react after you try to educate them that demonstrates that they're either willing to learn and open-minded, or indeed ignorant. I've been putting off sharing these stories on my blog for a little while now, but they truly demonstrate the polar opposite reactions I've faced when trying to educate people about hearing loss. I'll split this up into a few posts- one story has a happy ending, the other with an unresolved and leaves-a-bad-taste-in-your-mouth feeling.

A while back I shared that I had gotten into a program at my school that's medically oriented with lots of hands on and observational experiences in medicine. It was a big deal to me because the program requires applying, getting recommendation letters, and an interview with the teachers of the class.

The interview required getting dressed up in formal business attire. Before the interview, I weighed the pros and cons of disclosing my hearing loss. While it seemed like it would be easier to be honest and upfront, I also didn't want deafness to be the topic of the entire interview, which would be short anyway. In addition, when people hear the word "deaf", it's easy for them to jump to conclusions based on their minimal experiences with other deaf people. Rather than focusing on my qualifications, I was afraid that their minds would instead start racing about the possibilities of things I *couldn't* do.

It was for those reasons I decided it would be best to wait until *after* I was accepted into the program to tell them about my CI's and hearing loss. My only concern was that one of the (two) teachers had visited with some students taking the class to tell us more about it a few months prior to the interview. She had been given the FM to wear, so I wasn't sure if she would remember that I was the one that gave it to her. I figured I'd take my chances, and if she said mentioned anything about it I would simply say that I used my FM to deal with noisier situations, but that I hear pretty well most of the time. It was true, and it seemed to be a good way to avoid talking about hearing too much.

So the interview came, and I got all dressed up and was so nervous. My sister (who took the class) told me not to shake their hands since one of them is a slight germaphobe, but someone else said it would be rude not to. Should I extend my hand, or just see if they extend theirs? What if I misheard their questions? What if I said something stupid?!  In the end, they only asked me one question, and then spent a couple of minutes talking about my sister. At the end of the interview, the teachers told me "Your grades are great, you have outstanding recommendations and a flawless attendance record. I think we know everything we need to know!" and asked if I had any questions. I took that as a good sign (since those were the assets they listed as the most important to get into the program).

So I was relieved that I was done interviewing on the first day, since the teachers were there over a course of two days and some people wouldn't get interviewed until day 2. That night I had tons of homework and tests to study for. I barely got 4 hours of sleep, and I don't even think I had time to shower (that's not a regular occurrence, just fyi, haha!). That morning I was running late, so I pulled my frizzy hair into a messy bun, threw on an oversized T-shirt and jeans, and ran out the door without a touch of makeup on. I usually wear very little  make up regularly, so it wasn't a really a huge deal except for the sunken in dark circles around my eyes. It was just one of those days where I looked (and felt) like hell!

With this mental image in your head, you can no doubt imagine the shock that came over my body when I arrived to medical science and the teachers came out and called my name and stated they "needed to talk to me." My heart and mind began racing. What could they possibly want?

To be continued...

It has its perks

After getting 3 hours of sleep the night before...

I went to bed especially early

 

and slept especially soundly.

 So imagine my surprise when I found out that

these fell

 

and these lit up the sky

  

as these blasted.

All while I got to catch up on my beauty sleep.

Jealous?

I know my family was!

What I've been up to...

Since I rarely post pictures, and almost always post novels very long stories, , I thought I would switch things up a bit. Wondering what I've been doing?

World Series

Sea of red and blue

Funny sign

Home run..the only game the Rangers won :(

Driving

Sweet 16's

Homework. Lots and lots of homework.
 

 PS: Check out the latest contest over at CI Online for a chance to win a fancy medical bracelet! 

Hearing Loss, Confidence, and my Second Week of School

Week 2 was also successful! The homework load has increased, and there has been an annoying amount of "busy-work" but it has certainly been bearable. It was pretty uneventful (except for a bunch of other sophomores unofficially declared on Tuesday "Scrub Day" which I find to be terrifying and cruel. If you don't know what it is, I'll leave it up to your imagination. Hint: It has absolutely nothing to do with wearing scrubs or cleaning). Since there's not much to say about that, I thought I would talk about confidence and how it has impacted me.

Over the summer I volunteered at a nearby pediatric hospital. While I had done it the summer before, this year they placed me at the front desk as opposed to being in the back filing papers. I was really excited about this, as it's obviously more a lot more interesting to get some interaction with patients and parents. I was in charge of giving directions and walking people to their destinations in the hard-to-navigate hospital. I certainly feel like it taught me quite a bit about speaking up for myself, as you can't exactly bluff when you mishear the location you're supposed to be bringing someone! As time went on, I also built up the confidence to go up and ask people who seemed to be wandering and lost if they needed help. People view you  completely differently when you act like you know what you're talking about.

This brings me to the school year. The (semi-)confidence to talk to complete strangers has proved essential for yearbook, since we have to ask people permission before taking their pictures. This also means getting shot down over and over (and over!) again, but I guess that's just another life lesson! It has also transferred over to my other classes, such as when I asked my teacher to change my seat since I was facing the wall instead of the front of the room. She was more than happy to move me, but I don't think the girl I traded with was too crazy about having to strain her neck for 50 minutes every day. Not sure why they position the desks like that anyway...

I also  built up the confidence to run for an officer position of my school's French Honor Society. To back up a bit, I had never been in the officer position of a club before until I decided to run for my school's Red Cross Club. My friends and I were pretty much the only freshmen in it last year, so this year all 5 of us are officers since there wasn't really anyone to run against.  We're hoping to get more students involved! Anyway, running for FHS officer was the first thing where I'd actually have to compete against other people for the position. Luckily for me, the winner is chosen by having an interview with my French teacher instead of having to give a speech and have members vote (baby steps!) To be completely honest, I wavered back and forth about whether I wanted to interview, and wasn't going to do it until the tutorial session I was going to attend before school was canceled, and I was already at the school so I had nothing better to do but to go and interview for the position. I hadn't prepared at all, but I managed to win the position I wanted, so that was pretty exciting!

Never a Dull Moment

This post was written about a week ago...
 
If you've been reading this blog for a while, you've probably noticed that whenever I get myself in a sticky situation, my dog is there. I'm sure there are some people out there who, from reading these posts, think I spend too much time with him. Trust me, I have plenty of friends...but whenever something happens, they're not there, but Zach is :)

So last night around 8, I was getting restless from studying and thought I could use some fresh air. I grabbed Zach's leash and he raced towards the door for to go for a short walk up and down the block. It was getting dark outside, but everything was still visible. The street and sidewalks were empty.

Whenever we get to the end of a block, Zach likes to cross the street and walk back on the other side of the street. Problem is, he darts into the street at his own whim and without warning. So, when he did this, I noticed a car coming. It was a good distance away, so I just ran across the street with Zach before it got near.

I didn't think much of it...until the car stopped, directly across the street from me. I couldn't see the inside of the car, but the person just sat with his headlights on.  I figured the person was waiting for a friend or something, even though the car looked unfamiliar. I kept walking, when suddenly the car honked loudly. I jumped, and walked faster, just in case. My dog started dragging the pace, and the car started creeping along behind me. I pulled out my phone and pretended to be having a conversation, since I figured it made me look slightly less vulnerable. Zach kept pausing to go to the bathroom, and I finally figured not getting kidnapped was more important than Zach peeing for the 18th time, and dragged Zach by the leash as we ran towards the house.

I stopped in front of my house, and the car stopped across the street. I raced inside and locked the door. The car remained sitting outside my house for a minute, and then sped away.

Zach barked, staring out the window for a solid hour afterward.

It freaked me out.

Spreading Awareness- That's Just the Way We Hear

Many of you guys have probably heard about Mel Paticoff. She's the creator of HearingExchange Teens on Facebook and the author of Sophie's Tales, a cute little book about Sophie, a dog who has a cochlear implant. She has several family members with hearing loss and is currently studying deaf education. For last year's Better Hearing and Speech Month competition, she created a music video with her family called That's Just the Way We Hear. It was to the tune of the Jonas Brothers' That's Just the Way We Roll, and won first place in the contest! It even has captions, so that all of its viewers can fully enjoy it. Here is the video:



DoSomething.org is holding a Battle of the Bands competition to fight to keep music in schools. For this competition, Mel and the rest of her crew decided to remake the video.  Here is some info about the video included on their Battle of the Bands site:
Why is music education important to you? 
Music education is so important to us because it can make a HUGE difference in the lives of kids with hearing loss. If no one takes the time to introduce them to music, kids with hearing loss might not develop the same appreciation for music as hearing kids do, even with amazing cochlear implant and hearing aid technology. Yet, if they do learn to love music, it could improve their lives in a lot of ways! It will improve their auditory listening skills and social skills in big ways. We feel that this is definitely where music education money should be spent first...
Anything else we should know about your Battle of the Bands video project? We want you to know that our dream is to re-record the video with the Jonas Brothers. They have done a phenomenal job of raising awareness about different causes including diabetes, Down Syndrome, and "going green." We really hope they will consider adding hearing loss awareness to this list! It would be a dream come true to hear "That's Just the Way We Hear" played at one of their concerts, on JONAS, or on the Disney Channel. We also want to remind you to turn on the captioning! Unlike many videos found on YouTube, we took the time to make our video accessible to EVERYONE by adding captioning. Now everyone can understand our message loud and clear! 


And here's the new video (also captioned)...


In order for the people in the video to achieve their goal, we need to vote for their video! It's very simple, just go to http://www.dosomething.org/bands/entry/sophies-tales and scroll to the bottom where it says "Login to rate this video." and click on it. If you don't already have an account,  press "Create New Account" and come up with a user name and password. Once you do so, a confirmation email will be sent to you. After opening the link in the email, you will be able to rate the video at the bottom of the screen. Be sure to give it 10 guitars, and help Mel win the contest!

Perspectives

I can't help but occasionally wonder how big of a deal my hearing loss is for the people around me. Is it something that makes people act differently around me, or do most people not give it a second thought? This week I've gotten some insight on that, and thought I'd share.

A couple of days ago, we had (yet another) fire drill at school. The way they do fire drill at my school, is that regardless of what class the fire drill is in, you have to go and find your study hall class. Each class has a designated spot on the massive football field. However, I have absolutely no sense of direction, and when you're trying to find your way amongst 2,000 other teenagers, it can get pretty insane. So, with this last fire drill, I began wandering aimlessly around on the football field, hoping to see a familiar face. After doing this for a few minutes, I deemed the technique ineffective and decided to just stand in one spot, in hopes that I'd finally spot someone. No sooner had I stopped wandering than I saw one of my best friends (who is in my study hall) running up from behind me.  "Hey, we're over there (points to area across the football field). I tried screaming your name, but then I realized that probably wasn't such a good idea..." (implying I probably wouldn't hear it)

While I don't want my hearing loss to be the first thing people think of, I'm glad it entered my friend's mind in that situation. Occasionally, when walking down the hall (which, between the blaring music and the obnoxious kids can create a deafening noise level) a friend will start talking to me as I'm concentrating on not dropping the 30 pounds of books I'm carrying. I don't always hear them speaking initially, and will occasionally be given annoyed looks when the end of their oh-so-important story is met with a blank, confused stare. They're pretty good about getting my attention first, but I guess it can sometimes be forgotten.

This year in my AP Human Geography class, I've befriended the girl who sits in front of me. It's the only class I've ever had with her, but we've grown close since we take a lot of the same classes and have some of the same interests. When she walked into the classroom today, she looks at the board and groaned. "Look at the second bullet on the board..." she said in an annoyed voice. I looked up to see that we were going to have a pop open-note quiz over the video we watched yesterday.

I began to laugh.  She stared at me, confused, for a few seconds. Finally, it came to her and she screamed, "Ahh, no fair! I wish I had a hearing aid!" :P Someone else looked over, confused about why she would say such a thing.

"The video didn't have captions, so Mrs. B gave her a copy of her notes since she can't hear the video. She has all of the answers to the quiz!" Half the class then eyed me enviously, and I innocently shrugged. I was grateful that my teacher has finally gotten into the habit of giving me video notes.

Apparently no one took very good notes over the video. Our teacher loves giving quizzes over insanely specific (but pretty irrelevant) material. We got the quiz, and it only had ten questions, all of which were specific (some of the questions asked how much certain workers earned a day..what's the importance of that? The video was about China!) The sort of ironic thing was that a third of the answers weren't even in the teachers notes. (My teacher told me the answers to those.)

On a completely unrelated note, we had an orchestra competition today. All 3 levels of my school orchestra straight 1's (the best score) from all of the judges :)

The Scare- Part 1

Disclaimer: If you're looking for insights on hearing loss, this is not the post to read. However, if you're looking for insights of a freshman girl, who just happens to have hearing loss, and to hear about one really eventful day, you might be interested in reading this. This is completely true, and occurred this morning.

Along with the other 99% of the world, I hate Monday mornings. And this one was no exception. It wasn't a particularly bad morning, though. I'd just left orchestra after a pretty entertaining rehearsal, and was now in my 2nd period class.

We were working on group projects, so our class met in the library. Upon the ringing of the tardy bell, I noticed the absence of one of our group members, who I'll call Jill. I didn't think much of it, until she walked in late and whispered something to the teacher. She then dashed over to another member of our group, who I'll call Sara, and began whispering into her ear. I watched as the smile she was wearing collapsed, and the color quickly drained from her face. There was a look that couldn't be described as anything other than sheer panic. I watched her discreely pull out her phone and start frantically texting.

No sooner had the girl arrived to the library, then an administrator came and took Jill out of class. I wasn't particularly concerned. She probably caught someone cheating, or saw someone doing drugs. Sure, it's not something I'd ever do, but it's an everyday occurrence at my school, and probably most other public high schools. I then watched Sara walk over to our teacher, who was sitting just a few computers away from us. They talked for a good 5 minutes, and I tried my darndest to lipread. I couldn't get anything.
I noticed the other members of our group starting to float towards the teacher and eavesdropping on the conversation. They then began to say their own two cents, so I figured it wasn't a private conversation anymore. Jill became back, and was talking to them too. I inched my chair towards them.

"I wouldn't worry about it. It's probably just a rumor. People say things they don't mean all of the time." I heard my teacher say.

"Wait... What's a rumor?!" I asked, desperate to hear the latest gossip.

My group and teacher looked at me, but no one spoke.

"Would anyone like to share this information with me?" I said, half kidding.

Jill finally spoke up. "Someone told me that there's going to be a shooting today."

A shooting. That certainly didn't happen everyday. My mind was suddenly inundated with a million thoughts., and I began to notice the frightened looks on many of my classmates' faces.

To be continued..

White Fluff

My yard is filled with inches of white, fluffy snow. For those of you that don't know, I live in Texas.

The place where it's flat. and hot. And it's weird if you don't say "y'all" in everyday conversations.

I woke up, and the grass was covered in a thin layer of snow. It hasn't stopped, and the past record of 1" of snow has been shattered. It's at least 4" and is predicted to get up to 7". How crazy is that!?

We still had to go to school. Every single other school district in the area closed. However, ours is infamous for having really bad judgement when it comes to bad weather days. It's supposed to completely freeze over tonight. Thankfully, not long after getting home, it was announced that school would be cancelled for tomorrow (Friday) giving us a 4 day weekend, since we already have Monday off. Awesome! My friends and I have been planning for this all week, and if the roads aren't too bad to drive on, we'll be seeing Valentine's Day tomorrow. I need this long weekend!

Pictures to come :)

Oh, and on the CI front..
I picked the brown processors. I sent in my backup brown Freedoms (I was very happy that we only had to send in the processors, not the controllers) and they should be shipping the N5s to my audiologist for mapping shortly. We were able to get some insurance coverage, with help from my center's insurance department. However, we're yet to be given an actual number on how much we'll have to pay out of pocket. Hopefully it will be a pleasant surprise, and not a shock!

Has anyone used the Bilateral Personal Audio Cable?

I ordered one, and received it a week or so ago. The weird thing was, one side (that you plug into your processor) was a good 3 inches longer than the other. I'm yet to understand the logic in that, and it's not like the length is adjustable. We called Cochlear, and they sent us another one to make sure the one we got wasn't defective. Nope, apparently they are intentionally making one side longer than the other...

So, if anyone has any idea why this is the case, feel free to share. And don't worry, I'll be posting more about the CART/School situation soon!

just the usual

Bad blogger! Yes, I know. My sincerest apologies, sometimes life gets in the way! :P
So, what's been going on here?

• Saturday night- We got back in town, and I was off balance and dizzy. Deja vu? Yes.. only this time we drove, which made the whole thing pretty weird to me.
• Tuesday- Early in the morning, my left implant started aching a little bit, bu only if I pressed on it, so  I didn't think much of it. As the day went on, the pain became more and more pronounced. By 5th period, it was excruciating. Whenever I raised my eyebrows or smiled (which, I discovered, I do practically every five minutes) it only got worse, and my face expression turned would turn to a grimace. By 7th (last period), I hade to take my processor off. By the time I got home, my surgeon was closed.
• Wednesday- I got in the car, and my mom told me that she thought it was snowing. It pretty much NEVER snows here, especially not this early, so I rolled my eyes (what can I say, I'm a teenager!) and laughed. We pulled out of the garage, and shrieks of excitement could be heard from our car, as well as the constant buzz of my phone, filled with "IT'S SNOWING!!!" text messages. It, indeed, was snowing on December 2nd in Texas. It lasted for an hour, but it only stuck to the grass. No snowday off of school for us :( I took some Tylenol, and the implant pain was a lot less.

This is a picture of the snowfall in my town.
Credit: nbcdfw.com-taken by Todd Young
• Thursday- Finally, able to get in to see my surgeon. (Wednesdays are surgery days). It was barely hurting then, but I was still freaked out by the whole episode, plus the dizziness still hadn't gone away.  The verdict?
• He saw nothing concerning upon examining my head/implant, which is good. Upon looking at where my pain was, at the lower area (my surgeon called it the receiver) of the implant, he determined that it was from the processor rubbing against it and irritating it. My implant is pretty high up, so I found that surprising, but I think he knows a thing or two more than I do! He said that we just need to watch it over the next couple of months, see if it still bothers me, and that the only way to real way to fix it is to get the Nucleus  processor since it would be smaller and wouldn't rub on the site as much. (Potential insurance coverage argument? I think so!)
• He said he didn't really have an explanation for why the dizziness was occurring, and thought it was just a coincidence that it happened right after the trip. Dizziness is pretty common in all hearing loss patients, especially those who have had some type of ear surgery, so it's not exactly surprising to him. My surgeon gave me a 3 page long list of balance exercises to do which should help my balance improve. I haven't done any yet, but they're awfully interesting- how does standing on one leg with a cardboard box over your head sound?!

Yup, that's my ear. This was taken at a camp I went to this summer for kids with hearing loss.

We got a little excited about using the bling ;)

You can see where my implant/coil sits  in relation to my processor.(It's similar for both ears)

*I also got a mapping right before we left town. Now, both ears are at a processing rate of 1800. Battery life isn't great, but hearing is!

And, if you feel like watching an inspirational video that will surely make you teary-eyed, click here!

Countdowns and Ramblings

These are some things that I'm looking forward to for the next month or so...

Thanksgiving Break- 3 days
We're driving up to New Orleans to visit family over Thanksgiving. I'm ready for a much-need break! I'm thankful for a lot too, but that's another post. No, we won't be staying in the same hotel as last time!

Exams- 3 Weeks
err... no comment on this one. Hope I can catch at least a few hours of sleep a night! I am excited by the fact that we only have to go to school for half a day for all of exam week.

Winter Break- 4 weeks
I cannot believe that in a month I will have made it halfway through my first year of high school. (never mind the fact that the second semester is a lot longer..) I really want to do an update on what's going on at school, but so far nothing has really happened. There's been some "evaluations" (it would be a joke to actually call it that) to try to get some technology (any sort of real-time captioning for just a few of my classes) which ended with the verdict that I'm doing just fine. Then there was a meeting, and the verdict somehow changed to "maybe, but you'd have to change schools." This is the LAST thing I want to do, so for now we're planning on trying out something that I'm pretty sure has never been done in the classroom before. Look for an update once it's actually been tried out... whenever that may be.

Visit up North- 4 1/2 weeks
I'm super-excited to say that I'll be flying to IL to visit a friend who I haven't seen in nearly a year and a half. We first met at a convention and have continued to stay in touch starting the second I got to the airport! I'm pretty sure a day doesn't go by that we don't talk to each other. I've mentioned her once or twice, and she sometimes comments on here under "She Loves to Act." We have a lot in common and finally convinced our parents to let us visit each other. I get impatient every time I think about it! I'm also excited to see REAL snow (hopefully!) and see how people celebrate Christmas (I'm pretty sure this will be the first Christmas I don't spend in a movie theater and eat in a Chinese restaurant... If you're Jewish  you know what I'm talking about ;)) I still need to find a coat...

Nucleus System 5- Releases for Freedom recipients in a week and a 1/2
Freedom users and parents of users- will you be upgrading? If so, when? I more than likely will, but just want some other people's input on why they are or aren't planning to upgrade. There is no software (hearing)difference, so there's pretty much no chance of getting insurance coverage. There's a good chance that there will be software upgrades (for the N5) in two or so years, so insurance coverage may eventually be available, but who knows. I really like the fact that it's so much lighter, and I actually prefer the remote- if I'm having trouble changing to FM mode or something with my processor, I'd actually be able to see what I was doing! My second ear was implanted after March 2009, so we'll be getting an extra $1,000 back for that side with the Freedom trade-in if/when I choose to upgrade.

Thoughts?

What my mom has done for me (This is for the parents...)

I received the following very sweet comment on my blog on Thursday.

"I've been reading your blog for a couple of months now. I must say that you are both a very good and a very entertaining writer. So if that medical career doesn't work out for you(which I'm sure it will), I think writing might be a good, albeit not very well paying, backup.


Anyway, I just want to thank you for your blog. It has really helped me cope during the past couple of months. While I am a long way from 15 (41 to be exact), I read your blog because one of my daughters (she's five) was just diagnosed with a mild unilateral hearing loss. Currently, she still has tons of usable hearing - her loss is at 35 db on the 2000 and 4000 Hz frequencies in her right ear, with the two lower speech frequencies still testing at 10 db. Her left ear tested at 10 db across all speech frequencies. So I feel fortunate that she still has so much hearing, and I hope and pray that her hearing remains stable.

But as you know, that's pretty hard to predict even with all of the anxiety-inducing testing that accompanies a SNHL diagnosis. So your blog has shown me that no matter what happens - even if she loses most of her hearing and will require CIs, she will still be able to succeed at school, have lots of friends, and have great aspirations like becoming a doctor! So thank you for that - it means a lot to a scared mom. I would also appreciate any advice you can give me on how your mom has helped you over the years cope with your hearing loss aside from just being a great mom and advocate for you. I'm new to this, and I appreciate any advice I can get.

I'm going to keep reading your blog - I learn a lot about hearing loss issues, and it's just wonderful to get a peak into the psyche of a 15-year-old girl who loves her life and looks forward to a great future while dealing with hearing loss, CIs, and the trials of being a teenager in general.


All the best.
Rebecca"

First of all, thanks Rebecca!
It's these kind of comments that I really appreciate, and they make me want to keep writing. So, Rebecca, (and all you other parents) this is what my parents have done for me that  believed has helped me immensely.
 
Teach by example
 A huge part of having a hearing loss is learning to be an advocate for yourself. When I was younger (toddler age to early elementary) I was painfully shy. I never felt comfortable explaining my hearing loss or my needs to people. My mom, on the other hand, was always fiercely determined to make sure I was given equal access to everything we did in school and elsewhere. She would always explain my needs and equipment to all of my teachers, from the very day I started wearing hearing aids. While I wouldn't say a word, my mom would always make sure I was there when she had this conversation. She'd tell me that she wouldn't always be there to advocate for me, and that if I didn't make my need important, no one else would either. I listened closely to what she would say and how she would explain things, and now, when I am explaining my hearing loss to people I use a very similar dialogue that I'd heard my mom give my teachers year after year.
 
Don't lower your expectations or place restrictions
My parents have always told me that as long as I did my best, they would be happy with me. However, they did not have any lower expectations for me than my older (hearing) sister, and never really let me use my hearing loss as a crutch or excuse to not do well on something. (Unless, of course, it was due to me not hearing the information, which would bring me back to #1.)  They also never told me I couldn't do anything because I couldn't hear. For example, when I started middle school, we had to choose whether to do band, choir, or orchestra. I changed my mind three times (I can't imagine how different things would be if I had chosen choir!), but my hearing loss played a minimal factor in this decision. I was never once told by my mom, "Maybe you shouldn't take the violin-what if you can't hear it?" The same was true when I had to decide when to take a foreign language (starting in 7th grade or 9th grade) and what language to take. I chose to take French, purely because I liked the way it sounded. I was never told it might be better if I waited two years so I could take ASL instead.
 
Open the lines of communication
One thing my mom always told me was not to be afraid to tell her anything. Whether it be a broken FM, a teacher who wasn't quite doing what she was supposed to, or a kid who just didn't "get it", I knew I could talk to my mom about it. Not only that, I knew she would help the situation. One important, I must say, is that if your child comes to you and says that her FM has been broken for the past two weeks, don't yell at her for waiting so long to tell someone. I had teachers who did this, and I would always think they'd be mad at me, so I just wouldn't tell them at all. Instead, thank your child for telling you, while nicely encouraging her to tell you sooner the next time it happens.
 
Follow your child's lead
When I was about five, my mom asked me if I wanted to go to some program and meet other kids who were "like me" and also had a hearing loss. I cried and cried, saying that I wasn't different than anyone else and did not want to go. My mom never pushed the issue, and I was perfectly content with not being with other who had hearing loss for years. As I got older and into my teen years, I became more aware frustrated with certain issues that I felt like my hearing peers couldn't relate to. I began asking to go to conventions, camps, and programs for other teens with hearing loss. While these weren't always the most fun or interesting things for my mom to attend, she understood that I needed to interact with others who could relate to me hearing- wise- but only when the time was right for me.
 
I hope this helps some of y'all out there. I will also ask my mom if she has any advice that she'd like to share.
 
Thanks Mom, for all you've done over the years!

Not-So-Quick Update

Things are better!

I feel like this whole "this is great," then followed shortly by "this is terrible!" thing is getting old.. and it is. To use one of the most over-used and annoying metaphors, life is a roller coaster. And in high school that roller coaster seems to have a lot more dips and loops...

Here's the deal:

• I had a conference with my mom and some important people from the school/special ed on Thursday. I went in skeptical, and came out optimistic. By the end of the meeting, I felt that everyone understood exactly what my frustrations were, in addition to having plenty of ideas to remedy the situation. If everyone follows up on their words (and in a timely manner), my days in school will be much less stressful.
• The meeting must have really gotten the ball rolling. Today, for the first time EVER this year, we watched a movie that WAS CAPTIONED!  (I can hear the masses cheering and applauding at their computer screens...Yes, I was pretty darn excited too!)
• You may or may not have noticed that some of my posts have gone missing, more specifially ones that were related to school and went into great detail. I know these were some of the most interest-generating posts, and I have saved them as drafts, and may re-post them someday. These posts were not removed with the intent of hiding what I have struggled with, but because of something completely different. I have this really cool thing that allows me to see where my visitors are coming from (cities), in addition to what search words lead them to my page. I only got this because I was starting to get curious about my audience. However, upon looking at my "stats" from these past few days, I saw some things that made me feel very uncomfortable. Basically, this is a public blog, and anyone, (whether I want them to or not) can read it. I think I've said more than enough about this for you to  understand what I'm hinting at, but if you would like to be further updated or have further questions on the school situation, feel free to leave a comment (and an email) and I would be more than happy to discuss it...privately. (for now, anyway)
• Remember how I wrote about my stomach bothering me waaay back? Well it never went away, and was especially bad this past couple of days. I went to the doctor and he was suspicious of gallstones. This pain has definitely added to my stress-level, and I wanted to find out NOW if I was going to have to have (yet another) surgery. So, the next day I fasted and drank more water than I thought my poor bladder could ever hold for this test.

The Goods News: It's not gallstones, and everything on the ultrasound appeared normal.
The Bad News: I'm back to square one, with no idea of what the problem is. The doctor said further testing can be done, and it's possible it could be related to stress. We'll see...

• Here's my happy moment of the day: We had a French test yesterday. It was part written, part multiple choice, and part listening. I was absent the day before the test, but decided to take it anyway. Today, we got the grades back and got to look at the questions on the test that we missed. As we were nearing the end of going over it, someone raised their hand and asked "Did anyone make a 100 on this test?" The teacher proceeded to say that someone did, indeed, make a 100, but it's up to that person, and not to the teacher to share. At which point, someone who must have seen my test on my desk shouted out my name. Yeah, that person was me! I smiled and the whole class started cheering and clapping. I felt like a complete nerd, which I am, so I felt like a completely proud nerd.. C'mon.. how cool is it that the deaf girl makes the only hundred in the class on a French test?! 
• It's Rosh Hashanah, which is the Jewish New Year. L'shana Tova to all of my fellow Jews :)

It's Not Easy

More to come, eventually.

Fortune

You could say I'm a superstitious skeptic. I like to find logical reasons for everything, but I also believe everything happens of a reason, even if that reason remains to be unseen for quite sometime. While some things are a mere coincidence, sometimes little things pop up, and you can't help but wonder...

This is what was in my fortune cookie after eating Chinese food for dinner tonight. For those of you that don't know, I'm kind of a medical freak (as in, obsessed with anything medical...) I think I've probably wanted to be a doctor since I could talk. I have a lot of random unconnected medical issues, and I could probably give you a good reference for just about any kind of doctor in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. My parents sometimes joke that I will someday discover some sort of disease or syndrome that I have, and name it after myself. Being around so many doctors has definitely fueled my passion for medicine (there we go with that everything happens for a reason thing...) and anyone that has known me for more than a week is well aware of my future job.

I am so saving this fortune.

Birthday Girl

You may have noticed a small very significant change in my profile.

No?

I am now officially the big one-five. Yes, I am fifteen! That means that in a couple of days, I will be taking the test to get my learner's permit. It also means a sharp increase in my mom's panic attacks,

Kidding! Well, sort of :)

To celebrate, I went out to dinner with six of my closest friends and had a great time. We did plenty of reminiscing and some gossiping, and I still can't believe how fast we're all growing up. The restaurant was pretty loud and noisy, but my friends are even louder, so it wasn't too big of a problem! I am due for a MAPping, so I will be going in on Tuesday. I did just get a new one a couple of weeks ago, but it soon became apparent that it needs some tweaking. Whenever I need a new MAP there are number of signs that make it quite obvious to me and my family, but I will write another post on that later. Anyhow, I get to sneak a peek at the new Nucleus 5, so who am I to complain!

Note to self: Never think it's okay to eat a cheese sandwich for lunch the day of your birthday party. Lactose intolerance doesn't take a day off, even for birthdays! (yes, I learned the hard way...)

So, I'm posting this video although it seems to be about naivety (and naive is definitely not an adjective I'd use to describe myself), and there are other Taylor Swift songs that I like even more. So why am I posting it? Well, because it has to do with the two main reasons I'm writing this post:

1. Being fifteen
2. Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift? How could she possibly have anything to do with this post?

I know, I know- you're just dying from the suspense! ;)

Wellll, I got quite a few very nice birthday gifts. One of them I begged for hinted about months in advance...




TICKETS TO THE TAYLOR SWIFT CONCERT IN THREE WEEKS! *insert loud girl shriek here*

I love music. But if it's sung by Taylor Swift, that makes it about a thousand times better.

Can you tell I'm excited?

Teens With Hearing Loss?

Are you a teen with hearing loss? Or the parent of one? Please read this and pass it on! Kristi is a 15 year old girl with cochlear implants, and is out to start an awesome project. I promised I'd help spread the word, and if you have any questions feel free to contact her. While I don't know Kristi personally, she seems like a really cool girl. To read more about her go to the website she gives in her post.

Here is what Kristi has written,
"I have an idea. I want to start a project, a giant one and I can't do it without your help. I want to start a traveling notebook for deaf teenagers all across the world.It will be a place for your heartaches, your fears, your pain, your hopes, dreams, memories and secrets that will be shipped all across America and possibly across seas if anyone afar is interested.And the best part? Everything you write will be completely anonymous. So don’t be afraid to spill your insides out all over the blank pages, because you don’t have to sign it.This will be your outlet.Write it, type it, draw it, glue and paste it on any page, in any order so it is all safe against guessing, and then send it off to the next city, the next state, the next country. Read the secrets of others, leave notes, underline, understand and feel it too.In the end I will receive the notebook and scan the pages for all to see.This is a project for everyone – I want you all to participate!This is still in it’s planning stages as in how the notebook will get to you: whether I send it to you and you send it back for me to send to the next person OR I send it to the first person to send to the next in line. And I’m considering starting a small fund for ‘in case’ emergencies.First I need to see just how many will be interested in joining this project. So please comment and shoot me a quick e-mail at deafteens@hotmail.com.Please help spread the word about this project! The more, the better!For more information: http://deafsecrecy.tumblr.com/ "

(It's formatted a lot differently, but when I copied and pasted it, it got all messed up. Go to her blog to see it for yourself!)

If you're interested, please contact Kristi. I know I will be doing this, and it seems really neat, so I thought I would share!

By the way- I edited my last post. Scroll down to the bottom of it to read my summary on being bilateral!

My New Cellphone (and why you shouldn't rely on pockets to hold your keys)

About a week ago I got a new phone. Prior to that, I had a really awesome Sidekick 2008. I was in LOVE with this phone. I'm a big texter, so it was perfect for me with its QWERTY keyboard, and it was my first "smartphone" which was pretty cool, and it had all these random nifty features. Some I didn't use, but the internet was pretty cool! Plus, it had removable covers and this website where you could make your own personalized cover for the same price! I made this really cute pink one with my name and some music notes, and an adorable picture of my dog.


Okay, after all this gushing I'm even starting to ask myself why I got a new phone! But, truth be told, hearing on that phone was a disaster. It was absolutely not T-coil (or hearing aid) compatible, and even without T-coil I got some interference. Sometimes I need/want to use the phone, so just being able to text was not optimal.


My phone contract was coming to an end and my Sidekick kept malfunctioning and not letting ,e text. Not good! So, I decided it was time to research ( a lot!) for a new phone. One thing I discovered is that every single major phone company I looked up has a list of all their hearing aid compatible phones. This was really helpful, and most of them also listed the ratings (M3, or M4 and/or T3 and T4)

Here are the links, if anyone is interested.

T-Mobile (scroll down towards the bottom)
Verizon
at&t
Sprint (For more info on their TTY compatible phones and Relay services, and data-only plans click here)

I looked at all of these websites and the features of each phone. I went to T-Mobile (my provider with my Sidekick), Verizon, and at&t and tried out all of their hearing aid compatible phones. Some interesting things I found out were that T-mobile has no M4 or T4 phone, only M3/T3, which is a lower rating. When we went by the at&t store, they claimed to have only one hearing aid compatible phone, which was a really basic phone. So, we scratched at&t off of the list. I tried the phones at T-Mobile, both with and without T-coil, and found that they were still somewhat hard to hear on. Plus all the cool phones (G1 and MyTouch, anyone?) were not hearing aid compatible. I realllly wanted one with a full keyboard, and that I could hear on, it didn't even have to be a "nice" phone. So off to Verizon we went.



I was surprised that they had quite a few phone that had T4 as well as M4 ratings. They had all kinds of cool phones- Blackberries, touch screens, full keyboards, - ALL with M4 T4 ratings! Sweet! I tried out quite a few, and finally settled on, drumroll....

The LG EnV Touch! It has a full QWERTY keyboard, as well as a touch screen (with keyboard) on the outside when you shut it. It has a rating of M4/T4 and I could hear well on it when I tried it out in the store. The guy even gave me these two pink covers that I can put on it! Yeahh!

It works well, and I really like it. It has most of the features that my Sidekick had. The one thing I don't like is that Verizon apparently had a 160 character text limit to non-Verizon users...who knew?! I was kind of annoyed, especially since they didn't tell us. My friends thought it was pretty funny "No more of your infamous 5 page long texts!" Oh well! I can still send and then finish the message in a new text message, so I can live with that.

It seems I need a new mapping, though. I tried out the phone a few weeks before I bought it, and I could hear great! But my friend called me the day after I got it, and I could barely hear her. I'm not going to go into all the details (because I can't without making myself sound like a complete idiot) but I'm just going to say that I didn't hear the time we were going to the movies, and had to beg one of my other friends to find out. She refused, but it all worked out in the end.

I have since tried using the phone on my left (new) ear with much more success! I was delighted with that! And the thing is, you never know when you'll need to call someone. I'm saying this 10 minutes after getting into my house after being locked out for 25 minutes. That definitely required me to make a few phone calls! My poor dog has a hurt paw, but he was feeling kind of anxious so I decided to take him on a short walk. My dad was out of town, and my mom decided to take my sister shopping, so I was home alone. So, being the very responsible teenager that I am, I took a key and locked our front door after leaving. We just went down the block, but I could tell Zach (my dog) was getting tired and it was hard for him to hop on three legs. So we walked back to the house. Right as I was about to get the key out, a thought popped in my head, "Wouldn't it suck if I lost my key?" I then reached into my pocket where I had oh-so-safely put the key, and it was nowhere to be found. Panic set in and I turned each of my pockets inside out in desperation. Nothing but a tube of chapstick and my cellphone!

I called my mom, who was pretty angry that I left the house in the first place. After doing her usual, "I'm going to kill you!" she instructed me to retrace my path to see if I could find the key. By then, Zach was completely exhausted, and whenever I tried to get him along with me to come look, he would just go in the street and drink the drain water. So, I tied his leash loosely to a tree branch and went on my way to look for the stupid key. I looked carefully, using my phone as a light since it was now getting dark out. I could not find it! My mom called me again three times, saying she was on the way. The only thing is, she was a good half hour away. Finally, by some miracle, one of our neighbors answered her phone and drove over and brought me a key-- after I'd been sweating out side for 45 minutes! The walk (20 minutes) was shorter than the time I waited!

Don't you hate it when you try to be independent and make a complete fool of yourself?

**UPDATE** I made an even bigger fool of myself... Apparently my jean shorts have a little tiny pocket inside of the normal pocket- perfect for fitting a key! My mom decided to search my shorts and thought it was HILARIOUS when she found it! Me-not so much. At least I didn't lose the key?!

France and Ireland

I had a really great time in Paris. It was nice to get away from the Texas heat and I got to see things like the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Pompidou, Orsay, walk down the Champs Elysees and more! It was awesome, and pretty uneventful, besides me getting separated from the rest of my family a few times in the airports, which was kind of frightening (we went on a total of 6 flights).

Arc de Triomphe

After spending 5 nights in Paris, we flew to Dublin, Ireland to spend two nights there. It was quite a change of scenery from Paris, but nice nonetheless. When we got in, we found a taxi to drive us the 45 minute drive from the airport to the hotel. We could not believe how friendly the driver was, chatting with us and giving all sorts of tips about thins to do while we were there. He was quite funny, and was constantly making jokes. None of the cab drivers in Paris were nearly as friendly! My family wondered if all Irish people were so nice, and it seemed that they were!

One thing that I noticed in Dublin, was that in nearly every public building (airports, hotels, etc.), there was this handy little sign.

I guess Ireland is much more "hearing-accessible" than the US. Unfortunately, I tried multiple times and activated my T-coil whenever I saw the sign, to no avail. I couldn't hear any better, and I was only hearing through the mic part of the MT, nothing was coming through the telecoil. When we were talking to the lady at the front desk of our hotel, she showed me a little microphone that was sitting on the desk that is supposed to be what I hear when I turn on the T-coil. I tapped the microphone to see if the sound was coming through, and it wasn't. Oh, well. Maybe there is some sort of trick to it...

We were pretty exhausted from all of the sightseeing we did in Paris, so we settled on going on a bus that brought us around to all the sights, recommended by our oh-so-awesome taxi driver. When looking at the brochure, we saw that some of the buses had "text for the hearing-impaired." Might as well try it out!

We had to wait for a certain bus that had a screen with a transcript of what was said. The screen was on the indoor part of the bus (it also had an upstairs part without a roof), and you had to sit in a certain spot in order to see the screen. I was pretty grateful for it, since everyone else had to listen to it using earbuds that plugged into the bus. Half of them didn't work, and I'm pretty sure I would have trouble understanding a recorded voice with an Irish accent using earbuds.

The thing is, the bus was realllllly hot, and I'm one of those people who tends to get motion sickness while reading in a moving vehicle. Plus, it's really hard to look out the window and see something when you're also trying to read about it. So, after about 10 or so stops, I gave up, and went upstairs for some fresh air. The information was getting kind of boring anyway, so I didn't really mind!

We had to catch a flight the next morning to spend another night in Paris (it was some sort of special deal, that we had to go to Dublin and back to Paris and it made the whole thing cheaper, supposedly) and went in another taxi. This time the driver was in his own little world, and didn't really say much. We noticed how we didn't go on a highway this time, or pass nearly as much scenery. We got to the airport and he charged us 20 euros. That was when we realized the super-friendly taxi driver was not what he seemed to be at all. We had paid him 70 euros. We could not believe it! We had been ripped off! That incident made me lose some trust in people..

Overall, it was a great trip and I am so glad we went! There were a few times that I was frustrated that my French vocabulary wasn't bigger, and my entire family pretty much relied on my sister to be our interpreter. It was fun though!