Friday, February 19, 2010
New Surgery Date--March 10
I took Ellie to see Dr. Daniels this morning. I was really thinking that her ears were looking a TON better! But he looked inside, and said that they are still looking goopy inside. Therefore, he has decided that it would be best to push her cochlear implants date back 2 more weeks to March 10. :( He put her on antibiotics and more ear drops. Part of me wanted to scream, "Why didn't you do this 3 weeks ago when I first started calling about this issue?????" But the more restrained part of me just smiled and nodded. I'm still learning to be my child's advocate...I definitely need to learn to be more assertive and push for things I really want for Ellie. Yes, I know that this is only a 2 week delay, but it feels like forever when we are just wanting Ellie to be able to hear our voices. We have an appointment March 8 with Dr. Daniels to make sure that all the fluid is cleared up.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Drainage
Ellie has been having some major drainage issues with her ears lately. A couple of weeks ago, her right ear was draining like crazy, so we used the ear drops for 5 days. It is just now starting to dry up. But last week, her left ear started draining. We used the drops in that ear for 5 days, but it is continuing to drain. I'm starting to get a little worried with her surgery date coming up quickly. This is normal for her ears to be draining....afterall, that's what the tubes were put in for. However, I don't know if Dr. Daniels will be able to do the implants if her left ear continues to be draining. He has been on vacation, but gets back tomorrow...I'm sure he won't be able to miss the MANY notes about the times I have called while he was out. :) I'll be sure to post as soon as I hear back from him!
On a lighter note, Ellie said her first word yesterday! It was "boo." She is obsessed with peek-a-boo, and lately she has started to lip-read the word "boo." Whenever we say it to her, she covers her eyes and plays peek-a-boo. (No, we are not teaching her to read lips...that is not in line with the Auditory-Oral approach that we have chosen to go with. She picked this up on her own--after she would put her hands over her eyes, she would uncover them and see me say "Boo.") We just noticed this past weekend that she understood the word "boo," but last night she actually formed the word with her mouth and said "boo" twice in a row. I never actually saw it because I was teaching piano lessons, but Joe described it to me in detail...he was quite the proud daddy. :)
On a lighter note, Ellie said her first word yesterday! It was "boo." She is obsessed with peek-a-boo, and lately she has started to lip-read the word "boo." Whenever we say it to her, she covers her eyes and plays peek-a-boo. (No, we are not teaching her to read lips...that is not in line with the Auditory-Oral approach that we have chosen to go with. She picked this up on her own--after she would put her hands over her eyes, she would uncover them and see me say "Boo.") We just noticed this past weekend that she understood the word "boo," but last night she actually formed the word with her mouth and said "boo" twice in a row. I never actually saw it because I was teaching piano lessons, but Joe described it to me in detail...he was quite the proud daddy. :)
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The Process....
We haven't had many appointments lately, so I haven't updated the blog in awhile...it's been nice and quiet around here! (Finally) :)
So I thought I would make a post explaining what the process/recovery will be like for Ellie's cochlear implants in a couple of weeks. Her surgery will be at DeVos Children's Hospital in the morning on Wednesday, Feb. 24. She should be in surgery for about 5 hours. They want her to spend 1 night in the hospital in order to monitor her pain and nausea. She will have a bandage going around her head that will look like a football helmet, which we will have to keep on for 2 days.
We will wait 3-4 weeks before going to Spectrum to activate (turn on) her implants. We don't have a specific date yet, but I think they'll call us soon after Ellie's surgery (I'm guessing it will be mid-March). The reason we have to wait before activating her implants is to allow time for the incisions to heal. At activation, they will adjust the sound so that it will be very quiet for Ellie...it will be a whole new world for her, so we don't want to overwhelm her with too much sound at first. We'll have MANY appointments thereafter at which we will very gradually turn up the sound. The day of her activation will be like her "hearing birthday." She will be like an infant hearing for the first time, so it will still be several months before she will even start to say her first words. (Actually, they say around 12-14 months post activation is when they start to say words.)
So that's the plan as it stands for now...it might not go exactly like that, but hopefully something like that! I've learned to not trust in my own plans lately, because my plans are not always God's plans. But we will continue to pray for Ellie and the doctors--that everything will go smoothly and according to God's will. Thanks for all of your support and prayers!
So I thought I would make a post explaining what the process/recovery will be like for Ellie's cochlear implants in a couple of weeks. Her surgery will be at DeVos Children's Hospital in the morning on Wednesday, Feb. 24. She should be in surgery for about 5 hours. They want her to spend 1 night in the hospital in order to monitor her pain and nausea. She will have a bandage going around her head that will look like a football helmet, which we will have to keep on for 2 days.
We will wait 3-4 weeks before going to Spectrum to activate (turn on) her implants. We don't have a specific date yet, but I think they'll call us soon after Ellie's surgery (I'm guessing it will be mid-March). The reason we have to wait before activating her implants is to allow time for the incisions to heal. At activation, they will adjust the sound so that it will be very quiet for Ellie...it will be a whole new world for her, so we don't want to overwhelm her with too much sound at first. We'll have MANY appointments thereafter at which we will very gradually turn up the sound. The day of her activation will be like her "hearing birthday." She will be like an infant hearing for the first time, so it will still be several months before she will even start to say her first words. (Actually, they say around 12-14 months post activation is when they start to say words.)
So that's the plan as it stands for now...it might not go exactly like that, but hopefully something like that! I've learned to not trust in my own plans lately, because my plans are not always God's plans. But we will continue to pray for Ellie and the doctors--that everything will go smoothly and according to God's will. Thanks for all of your support and prayers!
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