Yesterday I was talking to a person who had met Alley only twice. Both meetings between Alley and this person (a friend of a friend) were brief encounters, but they did include a conversation about school and other pleasant exchanges. I just actually met this new friend a few days ago, and during my conversation with her yesterday, I mentioned Alley’s cochlear implant (and the fact that Alley is completely deaf without it).
My new friend was amazed. Whe she met Alley, Alley had her hair down (as she often does). There was no way for anyone to know that Alley had the cochlear implant. Alley can hear amazingly well, and her speech is great. So, there are no cochlear implant clues. Our new friend had no idea that Alley had a cochlear implant, or that Alley was completely deaf without it. This is great for Alley, because it allows her to control details about her personal medical information (to some exent).
But then I got to thinking — what if people needed to know Alley is deaf and has a cochlear implant and she could not tell them? Is there an need for her to wear a medical alert bracelet? I googled around, and sure enough, there are cochlear implant medical alert bracelets out there. (In fact, it had turned up when I was messing around creating the Cochlear Implant Auctions page the other day - but I did not think about it at the time.)
Here is one example from eBay:
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PERSONAL *CUSTOM* Medical Alert Bracelet 6/ $20.00 US $20.00 End Date: Thursday Jul-09-2009 10:33:52 PDT Buy it now | Add to watch list |
Obviously, if “No items matching your keywords were found,” there are none for sale on ebay at the moment. Come back to this post in a few hours…they always come back.
I bought one from eBay for Alley.
So, my question to you is — do you or your children wear these? I guess this would be very important in the case where an MRI might be needed in an emergercy (as one example). What are your thoughts?
I personally wear a medic alert ankle bracelet. I have a tendency towards severe vertigo attacks and am afraid of being in a car accident and nobody knowing about my CIs. I was in a teeny fender bender once (just me and a lamppost, *sigh*) and the processor flew off my head and landed UNDER the seat of the car. If that happened in a serious accident they’d never know!
I also carry a AB medical card, and my emergency contacts know that I can’t have MRIs…so I think I have most of my bases covered.
People are different…but I feel better wearing mine. I bought it from Lauren’s Hope…they have a lot of adorable things, and not too pricey
I’ve been thinking of the same thing (along w/ vibrating alarm clocks, and how to fix our smoke detectors for the kids). My 2 girls have longish hair that hides their CIs as well, and the MRI thing would be good to know. Especially in the case of a car accident where the implants might get lost, etc. Let me know if you find a good site for them. Great post
-Melissa
@Melissa: Thanks for the nice comments. There are still some for sale on eBay in an eBay store (my program mentioned in this post does not search eBay stores — only auctions. Anyway, you can find the one I bought Alley here.
@Jennifer — that sounds totally scary. Glad you were OK. Mark
I also have two children with bilateral CI’s. I have never thought to have them wear a medic bracelet, despite the fact that I have a son with epilepsy (who is hearing). I had bought him one a few years back when he started having seizures. School knows and friends, family, pediatricians but I have never considered the fact that something (like a car accident) could happen and people may not know. Great post…I will be looking into them now! Thank you!