What a Difference a Year Makes!

Last year on the 4th of July, Audrena had hearing aids and couldn't yet walk. The hearing aids weren't doing much good, but we thought she could hear the fireworks. She would react to the boom before the explosion of color. We will never know for sure if she was feeling the vibration, or if she was actually hearing it.

This year, Daddy threw a fun snap down on the ground behind Audrena. She was facing the other direction, and when it popped, she turned to look the ground behind her. She threw her own fun snaps down. If one didn't pop, she stomped on it to make sure it did. She ran and played with the big kids.

When it came time for the big fireworks, she heard the boom, and then she localized the direction of the echo. She yelled things like, "oh," "pretty," "more," and "look at that!"

About 11 months, 4 surgeries, and countless programming and speech therapy sessions later, Audrena is hearing fun snaps, localizing sound, listening to what we say, talking in response, and putting together phrases! What a difference a year makes! On Independence Day we couldn't help but reflect on the difference cochlear implants have already made in Audrena's life and what kind of independence they will continue to give Audrena throughout life.