Hello,

It's been awhile since my last post - back in February when we had the big snowstorm here in DC. We obviously survived that, then had a pretty uneventful spring. But I have been pretty busy since, as right near the end of the school year I was promoted to Interim Athletic Director at the Barrie School. I am grateful for this opportunity, and take this as a vote of confidence not only professionally, but personally as well. I hope my actions can help others to believe that they can do or become anything they want CI, or no CI!

Anyway, the main reason I am posting another blog is because today my wife and daughter and I participated in the Walk 4 Hearing 5k walk around the Tidal Basin and other famous landmarks in Washington, DC. I had been contacted by Dee Dee Wright about joining the Cochlear America team and I readily agreed, for two reasons: one, to give back in a small way to the people who meant so much to me from the beginning; and two, because it is right about the 2 year anniversary of my CI being activated, so it would be a nice way to celebrate. So on this sunny, cool and breazy Sunday we met up with Dee Dee, Megan, Ginger and others and had a wonderful time walking and interacting with a couple of hundred others from the hearing loss community.

As you can see from the picture, we also had a chance to meet Reed Doughty from the Washington Redskins. Mr. Doughty also has hearing loss and was serving as a spokesperson for the event. It was a thrill to talk to him, a great easy going guy who can be a tremendous role model for others.

At the conclusion of the walk, which was about 3 miles and took about an hour we were treated to pizza, and stuffed our pockets with candy. I also had the opportunity to spend some extra time talking to Dee Dee and Ginger. Dee Dee showed me her new Nucleus implant upgrade that she signed up to recieve and cool two way remote control device that she uses with her tele-coil for hearing in noise. Instead of taking her CI off to adjust the volume/sensitivity she just uses the remote. As for me personally, I don't know if I would have had the courage to try this new (clinically proven) updgrade. If something is working well for me I usually want to keep it as is. God bless you Dee Dee - it's because of people like you that pave the way for others to try new and better things.

After the event, Tammie, Danielle and I took the opportunity to walk to the Washington Monument and White House, taking more pictures and enjoying some good quality family time together. Although we arrived back home fairly exhausted from all the walking, it was a day well spent. We look forward to this becoming an annual event on our calendar.

Now that I have taken the time to post another blog, I hope to get back to doing this on a somewhat regular basis again, maybe monthly or something close to it.

Take care

Dan

Hello,
Monday night and still at home from the snow, so I thought I would post another note here. By Saturday evening I had finished shoveling out of the 36 inches of snow and literally right when I was done my wife came out to announce the power and electricity had come back on. Hallellujah! We had been without it since early that morning and the house was getting pretty cold. I was also grateful for the disposable batteries I had for my implant, since I couldn't charge the other ones! I have been using the rechargeables almost exclusively since the first week of activation more than a year ago
And now they are predicting another 12-15 inches of snow beginning tomorrow night. Amazing!
I also wanted to mention the conference I went to last week. Dee Dee Wright had emailed me about speaking at a cochlear conference for hearing professionals, in Fairfax, Va. I agreed because I have always been willing to tell my story and this was also a way to give back to Cochlear America as well. Megan Kessler, and Ginger Grant were there and I also met Laura Carr for the first time. After Megan had presented a powerpoint I got up before about 13-15 hearing professionals (and one set of parents) and presented my hearing history, from the time I was 4 years old and my mom first recognized a slight hearing deficiency to my cochlear implant surgery, to now. This was the first time I had done this and I hope I was beneficial in some way to those listening. Afterwards I thought of a couple of other things I could have done to make it a little more interesting in case I get another chance to do it. An audiologist from Silver Spring, Andreas Cossettini asked if I would be willing to speak to any of her clients about my CI, which I am more than happy to do. A worthwhile evening all around. I did not stay very long afterward since it was snowing outside. I have never looked forward to Spring so much!

1 Year Anniversary Surprise Party

Hello all,
Welcome to the one year anniversary of the activation of my implant! Wow, what a difference a year makes. One year ago today, after 5 weeks of being completely deaf after the surgery, I walked out of Jennifer Yeagle's office wondering what I had gotten myself into. All I heard was loud wooshing noises, and high pitched, Donald Duck sounding, barely recognizable voices. I had been prepared for things not sounding normal, but this was way beyond normal. If you read my blog from that day it started by saying that I was going to really need a lot of patience, and I did!But by God's grace, and my families help, things got better. If there are readers out there who are wondering what it will be like those first few days and weeks, I don't want to paint to bleak a picture, but I do want to be honest about how difficult it was. I did wonder on a few occasions if I had made the right decision, but I know now without a shadow of doubt that I did.
Things are so normal for me now I hardly think about it anymore, and when I do it is usually with a slight chuckle thinking about this amazing technology and how one second I can be deaf and the next be hearing at nearly twice the level I was at before the surgery!
So what's next? I will continue to see Jennifer every 6 months or a year to keep things humming along, but otherwise I am on my own now. I'm sure I will continue to monitor new advances as they might pertain to my right, still bad, ear. I'm not ready yet to go bilateral - adding another CI to my right ear. Quite honestly, I have tossed around the idea of writing a book!
I may not keep up this blog as often. But if anyone has any questions, or would like to contact me, please do, I am more than willing to talk, write or anything else that might help someone.
Thank you Tammie (my wife) for being my rock and pushing me to do this. Thank you Jennifer for all your help and patience. Thank you Dr. Santina for doing a great job on the surgery. Thank you Kevin, Jeff, and Tony, for being there when I was down and not sure about the whole thing. Thank you to my colleagues and students who were there for me here at school. Thank you Dee Dee and Megan and others from Cochlear America for helping ease my anxieties - I am trying to pay it forward by advocating for and to others. Thanks Mom! Thanks Danielle! (Nuff said).
I'll leave with this: "Don't count the days, make the day's count!

Hello and happy Friday evening,
I sat down tonight with the intention of writing something regarding the 1 year anniversary of my activation until I realized that I am a week early - my activation was on November 12, 2008! So look for something next Thursday....
In the meantime, I sit here trying to stay healthy. My wife and daughter have had the swine flu the past week and just last night I started to feel a little under the weather. I stayed home from work and have been resting, taking meds, hoping to ward it off. We'll see.
I recieved a very humbling email the other day, from a semi-retired pastor in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. He mentioned that he had worn hearing aids for 30 some years but was having a more difficult time hearing. After talking to a doctor there he is proceeding with the cochlear implant with surgery scheduled for November 19. He said he had read my entire blog and that it had helped him. Praise God, I am so happy and humbled. Good luck Pastor Earl Hagar, I will be praying for you!

Hello,

A rainy, lazy Friday afternoon brings me back to my blog. All afternoon athletic activities have been cancelled. Things have actually been otherwise quite busy, so much so that I have missed a very important date as I continue to chronicle my CI journey.
October 6 - the one year anniversary of my CI surgery! That truly was a momentous day for me and my family. The surgery itself was an easy outpatient operation (see my first few posts), but I remember that day clearly, taking off my hearing aid for the last time, being completely deaf after the surgery, wearing that funny looking cap over my ear, my wife pampering me at home, the awful and loud noise ringing in my ear/head. I remember sitting on the basement couch thinking, well I have a computer chip in my head now, but I don't feel any different! I also remember thanking God for getting me throught the surgery and asking Him to help me through the next several weeks until I was activated.
I remember all these things and more, but it seems like so much longer that just one year ago. Just this morning I was searching for an old email address and came across some email correspondence from some of the many people who communicated with me prior to the surgery, encouraging me, helping me by answering my many questions, etc. People like Dee Dee, Jamie Kinsella, my audiologisst Jennifer, Cathy Plotkin. I started to get a little emotional thinking about it all, and how grateful I am for where I am now.
In just a few weeks, it will be the anniversary of the activation. I think we will be having some kind of "activation" party combined with my birthday. That is sure to be emotional for me too. (I blame my mom for this side of me). I'll be sure to update this afterwards.
In the meantime, things will continue to be busy for me at work I'm sure. In addition to my regular job here at school, I have been doing a little driving of the large charter bus the church owns. I drove it for the church camp, and then just a couple of weeks ago for a high school group that was visiting from Nebraska. That was interesting for me on one day in particular: I drove them to Gettysburg National Battlefied. The park tour guide then got on the bus and we did a 2 hour tour with the guide talking and telling me where to go. Before the CI, I don't think I would have been able to do this as well, but I was at ease driving and listening to his directions without having to swivel my head to hear him. The group leader also talked to me several times as I was driving during the the several different trips we took, again quite comfortably being able to hear her even with the noise of the students talking in the background.
I also go back for my one year check up with Jennifer next week. I don't think I have high expectations for any more improvement than where I already am, but I have been surprised before!
Take care,
Dan

Hello all who might still be checking this blog!
I know it had been a while since I last posted, but things have been pretty quiet on the CI front this summer. No major CI moments (although I heard the cicada's earlier this summer and the racket they make - and it's not even their seven year cycle or whatever it is when they all come out. Not looking forward to that now, never bothered me before). I have been working some relatively easy part time jobs this summer, staying away from the school. But school is starting up again soon and I wanted to put something in here before then.
I have had the pleasure of talking to several people about my implant on different occasions. The first time was at my nephew's baseball game. I had stopped to talk to a friends mom and noticed a gentleman waiting patiently to talk to me. So when I was done I turned to him and he immediately asked me about my implant. He explained that his mother was losing her hearing and he was intrigued by my device and how normal I seemed with it. I told him as much as I could about it and encouraged him to talk to his mother about it. It's because of conversations like this that I am not as inclined to wear my baseball hat as much, except to protect my bald head from the sun. If someone is intrigued by my very noticeable CI on my very noticeable head, then I am happy to talk to them.
Another time was after we had a family birthday celebration for my daughter by having lunch at Macaroni Grill in Silver Spring, on a Saturday afternoon, at the beginning of this month. Walking back to the car, my wife noticed a woman ahead of us who had a CI. I introduced myself and we, along with her husband, had a nice conversation. Turns out she recieved hers about seven years ago but just recently upgraded to the Nucleas Freedom. She also had her CI done at Johns Hopkins (Dr. Niparko, I believe). It's always nice to talk to people with common interests, like the stranger I saw and approached in Arizona because he had on a Redskins shirt on!
And finally, just a week ago, I was headed to downtown DC with the family to visit the Newseum (see attached video) when someone approached me just before we got on the metro. He was a Vietnam veteran who was suffering from hearing loss and tinnitus. I explained that I did too, but that the CI covered it up for the most part. I gave him my card with the link to this blog, so if you are reading this - Hi!
Well, as far as anniversaries go, which I have been trying to keep track of leading up to the one year mark of the surgery, it was about this time that I made my final decision to go ahead with the surgery. I had talked to Dr. della Santina and my audiologist Jennifer and needed to let them know so they could schedule the surgery and all post-op appointments. I was still hesitant however and was willing to put it off, but my wonderful wife pushed me to go ahead with it. It pays to listen to women sometimes you know?! So I finally took a deep breath, said okay, and began signing the paperwork. October 6 was chosen as the surgery date. Of course, I could still change my mind all the way up to this date, but I was now commited to it, I was not going to turn back. Am I ever glad I didn't!