Friday, January 19, 2007

PBS Show Premiere

On Wednesday night PBS aired a show called 22nd Century, which is about brain implants and the World Wide Mind. This particular episode was written by Michael Chorost, who wrote the book Rebuilt about his cochlear implant. Michael was one of the subjects interviewed in the show and talked about his implant and how it works. If you missed the show, you can see it here. He did an excellent job and described the struggles of losing one's hearing and having it restored so perfectly. It is his hope that his interview about cochlear implant technology will pave the way for future innovations for all types of brain implants.

Michael had sent me an email earlier and reminded me to watch it. I would not have missed it for anything. I follow his blog and write to him every now and then. I emailed him after the show and got a nice response back yesterday. He is hoping that his PBS show will be approved for a series. I also asked him if he had heard from AETNA yet about his second implant. He said that he is still waiting to be approved for it.

Today I start Day 4 without my hearing aid. I'm doing okay so far and have resisted the urge to put it back on. I hear fine with just my CI. But, if sounds or people are on my right side, I don't hear them very well or not at all. I do not miss the ear mold, though!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for visiting Drew's Blog. Please feel free to put the link on your site.

I am very interested in the Ohio State oral program you were in as a child. This is the first I have heard of the progrm.

Good Luck with your upcoming surgery. God Bless and Keep in Touch.

Laurie said...

Hello Drew's mom,

Thank you for letting me put Drew's link here. I don't remember much about the Ohio State Oral program except that it was very new at the time my hearing loss was discovered. I was the first one in the program and they worked with me five days a week until I went to kindergarten. I was mainstreamed into the public school system and never learned sign. It was hard work but I am glad my parents persisted and didn't take no for an answer. I do know that my motehr was in a correspondence course with the John Tracy Clinic as well. You might want to check them out.

Laurie in TN