Hearing and Magic

All kinds of things seem to be happening with Maria. We went to the head audiologist last week (they got us in quickly after I dramatically accused "the audiology community of abandoning us"). He said Maria's hearing aids don't fit well, which we all knew because they fall out if you look at her too hard. The audiology chick I don't like made her initial molds, so of course I casually mentioned who it was that made them. He made new molds and told me he'd make them pink/purple striped (her current ones are clear; I wanted sparkles but they say they're too small for sparkles??!!) We should get them in a couple weeks.

He tried a mini hearing test in the office and got the huge cochlear response spike again. He kept saying "wow" and "we got a lot of valuable information today". He wants her to get another ABR test (the one where they put her out and test the brainstem response) and MRI. The last one was in August and it was significantly different than the one in January. He was especially intrigued when I said that Maria calms down to music. He thinks it's possible that we're at the beginning of her hearing starting to work, the pathways being made, the brain beginning to interpret the sound. So he'll talk to the neurologist and see what she wants to do. It was a pretty exciting appointment.

That was the hearing part, what about the magic? The woman who does the make-up for our TV productions at work told me about a chiropractor who does miraculous things and she said I HAVE to take Maria to him. So I made an appointment, we've been twice so far. He's very interesting! He says his technique has no name, but the Chinese would call it Qigong. It's pretty hard to describe and you'd think I was nuts if I did describe it, but let's put it this way, it's non-invasive, somewhat bizarre, and magical. After the first visit, her vision seemed to be quite a bit better; after the second visit (which was just yesterday) she seems to have better control over some movements. She seems to have a connection with him and even Uncle Andy seemed somewhat intrigued. I think most people out there professing to be healers are quacks, but I also think there are some who have a gift and he may be one of them. The way I look at it -- the cost is not prohibitive, she seems to like him and he seems to like her, it doesn't hurt her in any way, we've given the traditional medical community 16 months, so why not?! Both times we went I felt almost giddy when we left... so we'll see.

He said Maria's being quite specific about where she wants him to work, some frontal lobe and some in the back where the worst damage was, and where the vision and hearing are. He also said her brain is retaining memories from when it was damaged by the fluid build-up before she was born, so he's trying to get rid of those memories to make room for the new growth and memories. Sounds crazy, I know, but please keep your mocking to a dull roar, because I think something magical is happening. Don't forget last November when I put Maria's name on the distance healing network and several Reiki masters focused their healing on her, then in December the MRI showed that the mysterious mass in her brain was gone. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.

My buddies at work threw us a wedding reception-type party; they even had wedding cake and champagne. We had a great time, Maria was a big hit (of course), and we succeeded in getting a few donations for Phoenix Children's Hospital and the Foundation for Blind Children.