Thursday, March 3, 2011

Double Trouble

Tuesday was another audiology appointment. This was Natalie's first booth testing since her activation which was very exciting to see what she could hear and thus getting the appropriate mapping on her processors.

Our audiologist Holly felt like we could go ahead and activate the 2nd ear that day, which was a very fun surprise! I wasn't expecting that at all. Normally they wait about 3 months, but Natalie has been handling it so well, no problems with the newer programs and more sounds, so hey, why not?

Nat showing off the bilateral CI's

We first started out with a tympanometry to measure the air pressure by the ear drums. Natalie had tubes put in her ears in December and Holly felt like the left ear had either a blockage of the tube or the tube had fallen out. (I did take Natalie in to see our Charlotte ENT today, and it is blocked, so we are going to do ear drops for a week and see if that clears the problem, otherwise he will have to unblock the tube.. non-sedating thankfully.)

Next up was her first booth testing in the sound booth. Here is her audiogram from the day. The areas marked on the chart are different frequencies/decibels that she is hearing. She is in the speech banana for the most part which is good and we can focus on lots of good sounds in her AVT. She is already giving us great feedback on a few sounds, and hopefully by mapping her properly, she can progress quickly. Keep in mind, before CI's, she wasn't even on this chart. She was profoundly deaf, so this is just awesome for us to see!

MAPPING: 

Left Ear: We re-mapped the left ear (1st one activated) and she has 4 programs total. The first program is the one she has been on already for a week or so, and I will turn her up to program 2 this weekend. After that, we will not adjust that ear for about 2 weeks so we can focus on the right ear which is the new ear and getting that kind of caught up.

Right ear:  We have 4 programs, the 2nd one I will turn her up to tomorrow and then about every 3-4 days change her to a new program. Instead of having me come back up there 2 weeks later, Holly mapped her back-up with the 4 subsequent new programs, so we will start her on those in conjunction with turning up the left ear as well. 

Both Ears: We need to be on the last programs for several days before her next audiology appointment at the end of the month.

What does all that mean? In a nutshell... more sound! She may be more tired than normal as well with all the new stimulation, but we have some long car trips coming up anyway, and who doesn't love sleeping kids in the car. I am just saying....



The title of this post is DOUBLE TROUBLE... because Miss Natalie has taken a liking to pulling off her processors quite frequently throughout the day. Good think I have 2 other munchkins that alert me throughout the day when Nat decides to pull one off and taste it. 

Also, Dylan was SO excited to see Natalie with her 2nd processor on when I came home. Natalie has been in our prayers every night long before she had surgery that one day she might hear. Dylan never lets us forget and since her first side got activated, every prayer is always, "bless Natalie's 2nd ear to get turned on in May." I wish I could have recorded his reaction, it was priceless. He was jumping up and down, smiling, super excited for her. He just has such a bond with Natalie.

pre-implants

And didn't Dr. Buchman do an amazing job getting these perfectly symmetrical? That is one tough thing to do, during a bilateral surgery. It is a cosmetic thing and eventually her hair will cover the magnets, but it looks really good! 


4 comments:

I am Laura said...

It does look really good. She is beautiful. I love Dylan's reaction. I am so happy for your whole family that this is all working out and Natalie is hearing. It is truly amazing. You are blessed. Hope you are handling the stress well. It is hard enough for me right now with all of Ben's interviews. Hope this next month goes well for you with Tim interviewing and all this as well.

Denise said...

I'm so happy about all of this. i really loved hearing about sweet Dylan and his prayers and reaction to getting the 2nd implant activated!

lisa h. said...

wonderful

Anonymous said...

Hooray! So exciting she has them both activated! She is such a doll!

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