Season 2, Episode 1 Amplified Podcast

Maria share her struggles with accepting Eduardo’s diagnosis and his journey to his first cochlear implant. Guest Dr. Beth Tournis discusses her career as a pediatric cochlear implant audiologist.


Episode Transcript
Katie Colella [00:00:00] You're listening to Amplified presented by Lurie Children's. Transcripts of this and all episodes can be found at LurieChildrens.org/amplified. Welcome back to Amplified presented by Lurie Children's. The podcast about growing up with hearing loss. My name is Katie Colella, a pediatric audiologist at the Anne and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. Last season we followed fellow pediatric audiologist Dr. Katie Farnsworth journey from her hearing loss diagnosis at two and a half years old to present day. Katie was such a natural storyteller during season one that it only made sense to make her a permanent part of the show as a co-host. Now the podcast about growing up with hearing loss will have a host that actually grew up with hearing loss. 
Katie Farnsworth [00:00:48] That's right. I will be joining Katie Co as co-host this season. Together, we search for a new family to interview with our Lurie Children's ParentWISE program. ParentWISE pairs caregivers whose children have received new diagnoses or recommended interventions to volunteer families with similar experiences. It's an opportunity for parents and caregivers to get answers from others who have walked the walk. That's how we found the Venalonzo family. Maria Venalonzo has been an active and passionate member of ParentWISE for years. She has a unique perspective of raising not one but two children with hearing loss, both with different communication styles. We first met Maria in person after weeks of corresponding via email and phone. It wasn't until we started talking that Maria realized I was the same Katie from season one. 
Maria Venalonzo [00:01:30] I never made the connection. Wow. That's. That's all. 
Katie Farnsworth [00:01:35] And so thank you so much for taking the time to share your story, because I think so many listeners want to hear about another perspective. The first season of Amplified was about a particular family back from the early nineties, and so it's nice to hear a couple decades later what it was like. And also, you know, all of the navigation that you guys had to do, you know, for both boys.  
Maria Venalonzo [00:02:05] Boy, its a lot of work. It is. First of all, I got once or when like I wasn't ready for that. So I didn't know in the beginning, I didn't know was that mainly when they didn't pass that the hearing. When the doctors told me, "Oh, he didn't pass the hearing test." and I was like, "Oh, okay, so what does that mean?" So they they told me, "Oh, you had to come back like two weeks later to do that again." And then we did go back and then so they didn't pass it and they were like, "Oh." So for me it was like nothing, because I didn't hear him. I didn't see him cry. I didn't feel like the he was like, in pain. So for me, we're like, okay. So when, I was working at the time, so I had to enroll him in a daycare. That the daycare teacher had a hard time to to get the attention from him. So I like, "Oh, it's okay, he's just a baby." And then I didn't realize how bad he was. So like he was, I think like 11 months when we start to worry about it, because that teacher from the daycare, she was refusing to take care of him. And I was like, "Why?" He say, "It's because he's not getting attention from me. Everything, when I tried to talk to him, he was like not responding. So it's getting harder and harder for me to, you know, to give directions." And I was like, "Oh, but he's not doing that like that with me. He's okay." And the reason is because I always carry him. I was like, hugging him. I was like, giving attention to him. And he was the only baby. And I was like, oh. We got two older kids with hearing that normal. So it was everything was like playing around with them. So b