Phutu...on the road again...

6/17/2005 I have been goofing off a lot since I quit my job. The days roll by and I wonder as I look back at them what I accomplished each day. Yesterday for example I started off by going to the building department to renew all my permits so that I can finalize the entire remodeling process. I should have done this a couple years ago but never got around to it. It cost me about $500 to renew them and about four hours worth of waiting in line. The DBI is worse than the DMV; both are classic beaurocracies. At DBI nothing is done on computers. All plans for building are still presented on large rolls of paper, sometimes 50 sheets of 20x30 inch paper. Some people even had multiple rolls of papers. They look them over and then rubber stamp each individual page with an approval before the work can begin.

Speaking of the DMV, Dory and Bryce and I spent the last week in Michigan visiting with Dory's family. We flew there and when we checked in I was told that my driver's license is expired. I found it amusing that when I have to send money to the DMV for my registration that they send me a bill; but when it's just a renewal of my license they don't send me a notice or anything. I got a special pat down and search at the security checkpoint; I'm going to stand in line on Saturday to get it renewed...it'll probably be much like the DBI.

Dory's parents, sister + boyfriend, aunt, uncle, grandmother, two dogs, and the three of us had a couple BBQ's and spent a lot of time visiting. I went to an estate garden, which was quite large, as well as a holocaust museum. I spent a lot of time catching up on my web-browsing, watched Dory's grandmother knit a blanket for Bryce, ate some rainbow sherbert and contemplated cutting branches off the trees in their yard to carve into spoons. I never did, but now that I am home I was thinking that I might find some branch that a tree in my yard doesn't need and carve it into a spoon for scooping coffee. The spoon that I have now is black plastic with a handle that is far too short to be useful. Nice wooden spoons are quite good looking too, unlike black plastic.

Before we left, I was working furiously to complete all the gear that I ordered in kit form from RayJardine.com. In the process of making my own sleeping bag, backpack, knife and tent-tarp I have taught myself how to sew and gotten a lot of satisfaction. The major benefits to this gear though are that it is far lighter and far cheaper than the stuff that I had been using the last few times that I went hiking. I was carrying a backpack that weighed in at about 6 1/2 pounds and cost $175, a tent that was about five pounds costing $200 and a sleeping bag that was about four pounds. The sleeping bag was one that my mother gave me when I was about eleven. It has been in a stuff sack ever since then. Originally it was rated to keep you warm down to about 20 degrees but the last time that I used it it got quite cold overnight and I was freezing my butt off. The problem with sleeping bags is that if you leave them in the stuff sack for long periods of time the insulation slowly breaks down...when you finally remove them for use the insulation will have given up and just remains flat. The insulating properties of the bag are dependent on the amount of air space that is captured inside the insulation so all that flat insulation doesn't help at all. New lightweight sleeping bags start around $200 and go up from there. I got the new bag for $55 weighing less than 2 lbs, the backpack for $45 weighing about 3/4 lb, and the tarp for $55 weighing about 2 lbs. That's a total cost savings of over $460 and a weight savings of over 11 lbs (or maybe more, I think the old tent was acutally heavier than five pounds.

Below find the text of a letter that we sent to many of our friends concerning Bryce:

Hello everyone,

We want to start this letter by explaining that we haven't yet told many people about this, because we wanted to wait until we had more facts. We are not uncomfortable discussing any of this in person/over the phone, but we thought it would be easier to provide everyone with the basic information in writing, instead of having the same conversation multiple times. Please feel free to forward this on to other people I may have forgotten.

As you know, Bryce was born on Tuesday March 22 at 10:19pm. The next afternoon, he was given a hearing screening test, a test which is required of every newborn by California state law. He failed this screening, and was re-tested on Thursday March 24 in the morning. Again, he failed. The hospital (California Pacific Medical Center) helped us to immediately schedule another, more detailed hearing test with the San Francisco Hearing and Speech Center on April 26. We had been told that of the approximately 20 newborns sent to the Hearing and Speech Center every month by CPMC, only 2 babies actually have any hearing loss.

For babies who don't actually have any hearing loss (the results of the newborn screening test was a false positive), follow-up testing with the San Francisco Hearing and Speech Center takes less than 30 minutes. During our 2+ hour appointment on April 26, Bryce was given four different types of hearing tests, to determine the extent of his hearing loss. We learned that, for the 1000 to 4000Hz region of hearing, Bryce has a severe hearing loss in his right ear and a profound hearing loss in his left ear. At least a significant portion of that hearing loss is sensorineural in nature, which means that it is permanent and will not improve over time or with surgery. Our audiologist explained that even with this type, and severity, of hearing loss, there are still opportunities for Bryce to develop speech and language via hearing aids, and possibly cochlear implants (if hearing aids don't work.)

After this appointment, we scheduled another, even more detailed test for May 31, to test Bryce's hearing at lower frequencies, and to get a better picture of his overall hearing loss. We spent 4+ hours at the SF Hearing and Speech Center this afternoon, and finished testing Bryce's right ear, but only got 1/2 through his left ear (to test him, he needs to be asleep, or as still as possible, and he started fussing before the audiologist was able to complete the test in his left ear). We learned that his right ear should be "aidable" (hearing aids should help him to hear and develop speech), and that his left ear might actually be better than originally thought. But we won't know for sure about his left ear until July 1, when we go back to the Hearing and Speech Center to finish his testing and for his hearing aids consultation.

Incredibly, Bryce will be fitted with hearing aids before he is 6 months old. As soon as he has hearing aids, therapists and teachers for the hearing impaired will begin visiting him at our home, for individual therapy. Around 16-18 months, Bryce will begin attending day care at the San Francisco Hearing and Speech Center. During this time, therapists will learn if Bryce will be able to develop speech using hearing aids- if the aids don't prove beneficial, we will consider cochlear implants. The prospects are very good- we think it is a wonderful stroke of fortune, that hearing loss can be detected, and treated, at such a young age.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us. We are completely focused on the positive steps we can take to help Bryce develop hearing and speech, and we only ask that people not dwell on negatives. If you are spending time with Bryce, please treat him like you would any 10 week old. He is already smiling and laughing, and he loves to play.

Sincerely,
Dory & Eric

5/27/2005
5/1/2005
4/15/2005
4/5/2005
3/24/2005
3/13/2005
2/5/2005
12/28/2004
11/29/2004
11/3/2004
10/2/2004
9/10/2004
8/23/2004
8/8/2004
7/21/2004
7/2/2004
6/8/2004
5/4/2004
4/20/2004
3/28/2004
3/10/2004
2/10/2004
1/15/2004

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