Halloween- CI Style!

Lera's Mom strikes again!

...Hi. For Lera's Halloween party at school, we turned her CI headpieces into spiders. Very silly, I know. : ) I took 4 black pipecleaners and cut them in half. I put wig tape on each of her headpieces and attached 4 pipecleaners in the middle to make 8 legs (on each one). I then put more wig tape on top of that and added a black felt circle to cover each headpiece. I think she actually looks cute with giant spiders in her hair! Next year maybe we'll do orange felt pumpkins on her CIs. : )

Enjoy,

Julie

Update: Extreme Makeover and Cochlear Implants

Click here to view entire article!

"The episode of Extreme Makeover that features Marshall and his family airs at 7 p.m. Sunday..." check your local listings...

"Marshall, a Dallas police lieutenant, spent almost nine months in the hospital after he was shot during an October 2007 drug raid in Oak Cliff. A bullet pierced his neck and damaged his spinal cord. He had a severe stroke and contracted meningitis. He was 44 at the time.

He's still in a wheelchair, and needed cochlear implants to preserve his hearing..."

quoted from The Dallas Morning News (link provided above)

Cochlear Implant Story on ABC's Extreme Makeover Home Edition...Check it Out!

Message sent to Pediatric Cochlear Implant Circle:

Hi Everyone,

This coming Sunday (10-18 8/7c) ABC's Extreme Makeover Home Edition will air the story of a recent simultaneous Nucleus Freedom (two cochlear implants) recipient. The story includes how this recipient, lost and then regained his hearing with two cochlear implants. This is quite a story and one you will not want to miss. Please share this information with your family, friends, neighbors, and social network sites (facebook, forums, etc).

In addition, this show is a must see for those that have significant hearing loss. Join the estimated 12 million+ people who watch this show weekly to see this amazing story that will air this Sunday evening on your local ABC station.

Marshall Family The Texas home of a former SWAT team leader and his wife, a homicide detective, is rebuilt to solve rampant structural and accessibility issues.

Trick out your CI processor

Look what we found!

A parent on the CI Circle listserve posted about a company called SkinIt, which makes custom skins for phones, laptops, cameras, just about any electronic device including -- you guessed it -- CI processors! There are thousands of designs available including (but not limited to) Disney, video games, religious, pretty girly stuff, scary skull stuff, and (mostly USA) sports team logos (though this Red Sox fan wants to know why SkinIt thinks that I might like the New York Yankees logo in their "recommended for you" section" NOT!!) You can even create your own design.

The SkinIt website is a little confusing at first, but what you need to do is both 1) choose a device and 2) choose a design. CI processors are in the 'Medical Device' category.

Now for the bad news (for some of you): SkinIt only makes skins for Advanced Bionics brand CI processors. However, perhaps with enough emails from us, they'll realize they can make even more money if they make skins for Cochlear and MedEl as well. (Skins for AB will not fit the other brands -- somebody asked.) Another small bit of bad news: not all designs are compatible with every device. For example, NFL logos do not work on the AB processor. However, you can get the Yankees logo (and hopefully other baseball teams) for US $14.95. Same price for something like a UK flag. An animal or botanical print is $12.45.

(Click on image to go to SkinIt website)