Kate's Hearing Experience

Hi Everybody!

I finally have a chance to post and fill you all in on everything. There's so much that has gone on that I'm not sure what all to share so I apologize if this gets long. As Patti mentioned Kate could hear by Wednesday afternoon. It was a very, very good appointment at Mayo! Here's a clip of her first experience hearing sounds. (Hopefully it works.) It's not the best clip as it is pretty quick, but in Cody's defense it was hard to take a video when we were both intently watching. Actually he did better than I would have. He was recording the video both with the camcorder and our digital camera, as well as trying to watch himself.

The audiologists had told us that each child can have a different reaction to their first time hearing sounds - some cry, others remain totally silent with their eyes open wide, etc. Kate didn't cry, although her mom and dad did. She just tucked herself into me and then shortly after sat up and starting playing with toys again. What Lee the audiologist and I were pointing at in the video was a dark box on the wall that lit up with an animal inside when she heard the sound. That teaches her that there is a reason for the sound she hears...that it is worth paying attention to. The processor was only activated on her right side on Wednesday as her left side was still healing. The incision is still scabbed over on her left side. We ended up making an emergency trip to Mayo the previous week as we had been in the emergency room in Bismarck that Monday night because Kate had pulled her stitches open. Come to find out she had a hematoma or a blood clot that was keeping that side from healing. Needless to say, we went to Mayo on Tuesday for a Wednesday appointment per her surgeon's request to make sure she didn't need stitches again. Thankfully she didn't. It was a lot of driving in two days but well worth it for the good news.
Here's after the Wednesday activation appointment . We have started a routine of going for ice cream after our appointments at Mayo.

Happy kids. Kate is wearing the processor on her right side in this picture and it is hard to see from the front.

Here's the side shot of the processor. The magnetic piece that fits to the magnet in her head is under her cap. It's a pretty big device for a little ear so we're working on how to make it more comfortable.

These are pictures from Thursday's appointment. We saw the surgeon that morning and then were back at the audiologists' office to get the left side activated. Kate's surgeon had said we could activate the left side and then only start having her wear it in a couple weeks; however, we decided to wear it right away but make sure to keep the processor off of her incision spot.

Her reaction on the left side was similar to what it was on the right; however, she did not stay tucked into mom as long. Each day we had three ladies in the room with us, two of whom were audiologists and one was observing as she normally helps out with the surgery. They do a wonderful job and walk us through everything they are doing. They make it as pleasant an experience as they can for the kids.

After our appointments on Thursday. Enjoying water before heading out to make the trek back home.

Here's the processors from the back. We cannot have the left processor behind Kate's ear yet because of the scabbed over incision so we improvised and used her baseball cap to hang it on. This works great as she won't go anywhere without her cap anyway. The other option when at church or eating, etc. is to clip the processor piece to her shirt. It will give her little ears a break from the big processors when we can clip them to her shirt. The hard part about that is that there are long wires hanging that can get caught on things. I'm sure we'll figure out the ways to make this work as time goes on. Right now, Cody and I are just working on learning what goes with what. Oh and the sound that Kate is hearing is pretty soft just yet. They don't want to overwhelm her with too much sound so Cody and I are in charge of turning the processor volume and other settings up every couple days as Kate will tolerate until we get back to Mayo in mid May.

Whew, I think I covered everything. Hope it makes sense. Thanks again to all of you for the prayers and well wishes. I have been so touched by all of them! I'll try to keep you updated on how things are going. I can definitely say that she keeps her processors on much longer than she ever did her hearing aids. This is a good sign. Hope you all are doing well and take care!

Love,

Christy