My cover article in Hearing Loss magazine

I'm excited to announce that my story is the cover article on the November/December 2010 issue of Hearing Loss magazine. I was asked to write about my own hearing loss, and how I've coped with the resulting issues and solutions. I was impressed that no editing was done to remove my faith testimony, and lots of pictures of my family and my work in Mali were showcased. What a fun way to share my story of hope, and my success with cochlear implants.

I hope that anyone interested in overseas missions might consider researching the opportunities to serve with WorldVenture, or donating to help our work through the WorldVenture website: http://www.worldventure.com/Missionaries/Missionary-Directory/Missionary/Seward_Tom_Lisa.html

For regular updates on our work and family, go to http://www.tomseward.com/ .

Thanks to Cindy Dyer for pulling the story together and taking the cover shots. Thanks, also, to Jim Adams, for some of the family shots on the collage. Thanks to my family, particularly my good hubby, Tom, for his patience and love throughout this journey. And thanks most of all, to my Lord for His help, strength, wisdom and hope for each day.

Two Weeks of Meetings at HQ

After two weeks of meetings in Denver, Tom and I are back home and settled into our routine again. The meetings were a kind of real-life test of hearing effectiveness for me. Some of the meetings were held in a mid-size conference room with about 20 people around a U-shaped table arrangement. Generally only one person was speaking at a time and I could see them and follow well. Just like in noisy restaurants, when lots of people are talking at the same time, it's harder to "zero in" on the conversation in which I'm taking part. But overall, I was encouraged that I could participate in the discussions and even catch most of the jokes. There was one participant who had a ready, loud, distinctive laugh who drowned out some of the jokes when she sat beside me, but I just laughed along anyway!

The second week, we were moved to a big hotel where the conference room held 100-150 people around 10-chair tables. When we were listening to a speaker or musician, I caught most of that as well, because the sound came out of speakers aimed at the audience and my T-mic microphones picked it up well. When we had big-group prayer times where various people around the room prayed, I could hear very little of that because of the distance and lack of amplification, and because people often pray quieter and with their heads bowed. I took comfort in the fact that other people struggled to hear as well.

The worst listening scenario was during the Recognition Luncheon when we were in a big ballroom where the program was piped out of speakers in the ceiling. There was no direction to the sound; it just got lost all over the room. With the clanking of silverware and glasses and the squirmy children and servers doing their thing, I could understand next to nothing from the podium. I was near the back of the room as well, so my visual cues were limited. I did catch when they called our name to go forward for recognition for our years of service with the mission. I felt that many people who knew of my situation this past year were cheering a little extra, glad to see me back in the game.

By the time we left to come back home, I felt reinvigorated by the fun relationship time we had and the spiritual renewal times. I was charged up with ideas for follow-up on areas of ministry both here while we're Stateside and for our work back in Mali. But most of all, I felt like I functioned nearly normally and that my gifts and availability for service are still needed and useful. Tom and I need to gear-up now for our return to Africa at the end of the school year.

We need to start looking at buying our plane tickets, sorting and packing our things stored here at my mom's house, continue our speaking engagements and efforts to discover the rest of our needed monthly financial support, and work on all the other details of finishing the school year, and getting my speech processors ready for a year overseas. I need to set up a meeting with my surgeon, my main audiologist and me to strategize how to best arrange my programs for maximum effect while keeping third world challenges in consideration.

2nd Ear Activation

Here's the video that my husband took of me and the audiologist getting my 2nd cochlear implant activated on Wednesday, the 17th. These are the first minutes that my left ear had any sound stimulation in 8 months. It helped me to realize how far my 1st implant has come, even though I'm still working on it to feel like sounds and music are how I remember; they aren't yet, but it's only been 2 months on that side. When the 2nd ear was turned on here, sounds went back to being "tinny" and "chirpy".

I returned the next day and had my levels adjusted again on that ear and left the office feeling more balanced in both ears, like they weren't competing for my best attention. Now, I can enjoy Christmas vacation in Florida with family and participate in all of the activities, except swimming in the ocean...I have to take the speech processors off to swim, or shower or sleep.

The audiologist asked me if the sounds felt weird; some new CI users FEEL the sound more than HEAR it at first. I said that this whole thing was weird; here I am plugged into a computer, listening to digital beeps and trying to make them even in volume. YES, this is weird; I just want my normal hearing back! But I realize that that is no longer an option for me, so I am very grateful for this technology that gave me my life back and my joy, and I'll work and make the best of it for the rest of my life.

I'm also grateful to my employer/mission organization, WorldVenture, for funding all of this expensive rehabilitation for me. With many people having little or no health insurance, I realize how blessed I am to be "covered" by this great group. I'm also grateful to my Lord for giving me little personal and spiritual encouragements along the way, during this difficult time of deafness. He has brought people across my path bringing gifts of smiles and hugs, or prayer support, or even monetary gifts to help with our side of the expenses. He has also encouraged my heart with verses of Scripture at just the right moment to prove that He is a living and active God and cares about me, personally.

Thanks, too, to my ever-patient family and friends, my surgeon and audiologists, and HearingJourney.com who have supported my progress in many different ways. I feel like a success story in progress, and it's certainly not my own doing.