Starting to think God works through Facebook, too.

We all know the Lord works in mysterious ways. But through Facebook? Why not! When we first posted this blog on our Facebook status updates, we had a flurry of good thoughts from friends and family. But a couple people actually put us in contact with cochlear implant families that they knew. Through Facebook messaging, this is what we have learned.

I have a relative whose granddaughter has a cochlear implant. She is 11, now in mainstream public school, on the honor roll, plays the violin in school, and won the school spelling bee. It has long been said that cochlear implant patients do not have the same ability to appreciate music as their normal hearing peers. Recent research is showing that music therapy is actually very good for people with cochlear implants. It seems that this little girl enjoys her music just fine!

Randy's friend put him in contact with her friend who has 4 daughters. The oldest is 13 and has bilateral cochlear implants. Her first implant was done at 4 years old, and her second was done at 8 years old. She went from being able to understand 12% of what was being said to her and an audiogram of 95 decibels to having 25 decibel hearing, which is in the normal range. Her mother says she is a straight A student, and people cannot tell she is deaf unless she shows them her implants. Her hair hides them completely. This couple's youngest daughter's hearing tests showed relatively the same hearing as the oldest child's. She is 16 months old and will be having bilateral cochlear implant surgery on May 7th. We are saying prayers for her, and we just know she will follow in her older sister's footsteps on the path to normal hearing with her implants.

For reference, here is some information about decibel levels from the California Ear Institute.

Whisper	30
Normal Conversation, Dishwasher	60
Vacuum Cleaner	70
Subway, Busy Street	80
Lawn Mower	90
Chain Saw, Snow Mobile	100
Rock Concert	120
Jackhammer	130
Gunfire, Jet Engine	140
Rock Music, Peak	150

Audrena's sedated ABR testing showed no response at 120 decibels. According to this chart, she could attend a rock concert, and she would not hear anything.

I got sidetracked a bit. The point of this post is that God does have a way of putting people in our path at the right moments. Apparently He is also keeping up with modern technology, working through Facebook as well! We love hearing about people who have done so well with their cochlear implants, and it's nice to talk to parents who have been through the process.