Our adventure is about to start

I can't believe that February came and went almost already away from us, and a very exciting March is approaching. Yes! My parents will be here in just 4 days and we will be ready to start our journey with Luca's cochlear implant. The final surgery date, still without the insurance approval, is March 14th, it's a Friday. Luca will be in early in the morning and out that same afternoon if everything is going as planned. Then hopefully the recovery won't be too hard on him. Parents of children that have gone through this say that it is harder on the parents than on the children. Let's hope that's true and that soon he is ready to play and be his cheerful self again.

No me puedo creer que Febrero haya pasado casi ya, y que el emocionante mes de Marzo este llegando ya. Si! Mis padres estaran aqui en tan solo 4 dias y estaremos listos para empezar nuestra aventura con el implante coclear de Luca. La fecha final para la operacion, aun sin tener la aprovacion del seguro, es el 14 de Marzo, es un Viernes. Luca entrara temprano y saldra esa misma tarde si todo sale como esta planeado. Entonces esperemos que la recuperacion no sea muy dura para el. Los padres de niños que han pasado por esto dicen que es mas dificil para los padres que para los niños. Esperemos que asi sea y que pronto este preparado para jugar y ser el niño feliz que suele ser de nuevo.

Today it is also the 1 and a half year anniversary of Luca's papi departure. He would have been a great support during all this process, he was very conscientious, responsible and such a caring a loving father that he would had made sure that Luca would get the best of the best in our hands. I am just trying to do what we would have done together and the important thing is that Luca is a happy boy with every important need met. He has plenty of love coming from all over the planet, that's for sure.

Hoy es ademas un anho y medio desde la partida del papi de Luca. El habria sido de gran apoyo durante este proceso, era muy consciente, responsable y un padre tan preocupado de su ninho y que tanto le queria que se hubiera asegurado de que Luca tuviera todo lo mejor de lo mejor en nuestras manos. Solo estoy intentando hacer lo que hubieramos hecho juntos y lo importante es que Luca es un niño feliz con todas sus necesidades importantes cubiertas. Le llega mucho amor procedente de todas las partes del planeta, eso esta claro.

I have been reading a lot lately about cochlear implants (CI), the surgery, what's right after, what's next, what to expect, how others went through the journey, how to raise a deaf child that actually can hear but that he is actually and will always be deaf...these things have been going around my head a lot lately. I accept the fact that he is deaf, in fact I think this is just one more characteristic of his very complex and rich and funny personality. I wouldn't change who he is, but at the same time, it is painful seeing how he is getting behind communicating with his little friends. We communicate well, we use sign language and I also seem to be able to read his mind, like moms do, but what about the rest of the world? That's why when I knew that his degree of hearing loss was so big, I hoped he wasn't in the border line to understand some but not all so that he is still a candidate and that way he can still have access to all sounds, even though with a cochlear implant is not exactly the same as having normal hearing. I know that he won't hear much right away, the stimulation of the nerves starts slowly and is progressively turned up and also adjusted to his responses in the following weeks. I will have to test him and pay a lot of attention to make sure his CI is programmed properly, otherwise he could be hearing poorly for months and his progress would be restricted.

He estado leyendo mucho sobre implantes cocleares (IC), la operacion, que ocurre justo despues, que es lo que sigue, que esperar, como lo han pasado otros que tuvieron la misma experiencia, como criar a un niño sordo que de hecho pude escuchar pero que es de hecho y siempre sera sordo…estas cosas me han pasado por la cabeza un monton ultimamente. Acepto el hecho de que sea sordo, de hecho creo que no es mas que una de las caracteristicas de su muy compleja y rica y divertida personalidad. No cambiaria quien es, pero a su vez, es doloroso ver como se queda atras comunicandose con sus amiguitos. Nosotros nos comunicamos bien, usamos el language de las señas y tambien parece que puedo leer su mente, como hacen las mamas, pero y el resto del mundo? Por eso cuando supe que su grado de sordera era tan grande, esperaba que no estuviera en el borde de entender algunas cosas y otras no para que aun asi fuera un candidate a implante y asi el podra tener acceso a todos los sonidos, aunque con un implante coclear no se oye igual que con el oido natural. Ya se que no va a oir mucho al momento, la estimulacion de los nervios empieza de manera lenta y va subiendo progresivamente y tambien se va ajustando dependiendo de sus respuestas en las siguientes semanas. Le tendre que estar examinando y prestando mucha atencion para asegurarme de que su IC este programado adecuadamente, sino podria escuchar poco durante meses y su progreso estaria restringido.

But all of that will be later, for now, I still have my little boy who signs all the animals even though half of them he is not getting them right, he is still very cute. Check it out...

Pero eso sera despues, por ahora, todavia tengo a mi chiquitin que hace todas las señas de los animales aunque la mitad esta apuntando animales que no son lo que dice, pero aun asi es muy gracioso. Mirad...