Adventure on the Mountain

Steve, Debbie and Jacob left Friday afternoon to head to McCall for the weekend. On the way up, it started to rain and it was fun listening to the raindrops hitting the windshield. As we were heading up to the mountains, I was amazed of how much snow they had and felt I was being backward. Steve and Jacob asked what I had mean by that. I told them I felt I went from Spring to Winter. It was unbelievable to see how much snow McCall has.

Saturday morning, Steve had to go downtown to take care of business and Jacob and I stayed in the cabin. Jacob and I played Boggle game together. I mentioned to Jacob how much hearing people hear and Jacob said I've always wondered what people with CI hears. While we were talking, we looked out the window towards the lake and there was a yellow fox.

Steve called me to let me know he was on his way to the cabin and be ready to head to Brundage Mountains. What a gorgeous day to ski. After lunch, Steve and Jacob decided to do some couple more runs and I decided to stay in the Lounge. About half hour later, Steve came back to the Lounge and told me the bad news. Jacob had a skiing accident. I was talking to a worker in the Lounge and we had something in common. She said that she has two sons with hearing loss and loved their hearing aids. I told her about my CI and she asked me all about it. Later, I told her that Steve has a CI. I shared with her about our first weekend with a friend we had stayed with in LA area. When I told her about our new sound on a Friday night, this worker said it must have been a cricket and you and your brother heard for the first time. I was speechless that she knew about it because she said that when both of her sons got their first hearing aids (they were living in LA at the time), they were delighted to hear the crickets. Steve and I had to run on and ladies at the Lounge hope that Jacob would be alright when they heard the bad news.

I got my ski equipment to take it down to the First Aid clinic so Steve could put it on the ski rack of the SUV. I went in to check on Jacob and was shocked to see him being on oxygen and on the board. The Doctor felt that he was going to be OK but wanted to get him to the hospital for

x-ray just to be sure there were no broken bones, fracture, or head injury. We were amazed how well we could communicate immensely with the staff at the First Aid clinic. The ambulance came and loaded Jacob into it. One the EMS staff wanted me to ride in it instead of riding with Steve. I was glad I was encouraged to ride along in the ambulance and could hear the CB radio.

As Steve was following the ambulance, he thought he couldn't hear the siren. After arriving at the hospital, we talked about it. I had explained to him to Steve that the driver would adjust the volume and it got louder as we were approaching town. Steve thought that his brain was playing the trick and he was happy that I shared my experience with him.

This was our first experience with our CI at the ER and we were amzed to hear the intercom with our names being called. The conversation with the ER Doctor (she was awesome), RN and the staff were extremely nice and friendly. We were able to communicate and understand and we are so blessed for this amazing technology.

Jacob was such a great trooper throughout this ordeal and he was ready to head out. Of course, he was not happy when the ER Doctor told him he would have to wear the neck brace till he's being re-evaluated at his primary physician here in town this week. We are grateful that his injury was not serious and he was a lucky teenager. We are very proud that he's our nephew and he has been very supportive since the day one with our CI.