Growing up in the 1980s, the message that I could achieve as much as my typical-hearing peers just did not exist. I can distinctly remember a school administrator telling my mother that I was going to struggle in my classes, as if I wasn’t even there in the room (and I heard him loud and clear).
A Lesson in Resilience
One of my earliest memories is answering the telephone for my mother. She taught me to do this when I was only 2 1/2 years old. I’d say to the caller, “Take a message for Mommy?” Then I repeated what the caller said, my mother responded, and we handed the phone back and forth as the conversation went along.
Cochlear Implants: The Miracle Ears
In the hospital, our daughter, Saghar, passed the otoacoustic emissions (OAE) test, while our son, Sina, needed a follow up after failing his. The doctors indicated there might have been amniotic fluid left behind his eardrums. Always an optimist, I didn’t give Sina’s test results a second thought. However, Keyvan has always been a realist. He was worried. He was right to be.
The Day It Happened
My hearing had been gradually declining. I knew that because I would hear ringing in my ears, and I knew what that meant. (Scary organ chord here.) It meant hearing loss. But how bad could it be, I figured. I’m still hearing. I’m still on the phone. I’m still talking to people. I can manage, right? This had been going on for several years and it was my new normal. Sure, I have to say “What?” a few times, but so what.