I guess I had gotten a bit over confident with Thomas' processors. Whenever I have had a problem..I would call Cochlear and they would send me whatever was needed (a new coil, magnet, controller unit,etc) within a few days.
For well over a month now we have been having a few problems with Thomas' right (1stCI) processor. When I would go to turn it on instead of blinking H3 it would give a slow blink and when I would place the coil on Thomas it wouldnt change from H3 to P3...it would stay on H3. So, I would take the battery out, put it back in or turn the unit off and back on. At our last Mapping we told Dr. M about it and she immediately called Cochlear and had them send us a new controller. That was on a Thursday and we didnt receive the new unit until the next week. I swapped out the controllers and we are still having the same problem. But now, it has gotten much worse. For no reason at all the entire until will just shut off. Thomas threw a HUGE fit in the car yesterday, he started yelling and pointing to his ear. From my baby mirror I could see the no red light was flashing and the coil was still in place. I pulled over and unclipped the unit and found that it was off. So I tried over and over again to turn it back on...NOTHING! I took the battery out...put it back in... try to turn it on...NOTHING! Of course, the left side was blinking and at H1 ...no battery! UGH...So Thomas rode home in silence ~and he was NOT happy about it.
When we got home I put new batteries in his left side. Whew..thank goodness he can hear pretty good from that side!! Now on to the right side. I took the battery out and went and got a new battery, put it in and it turned on! YEAH. I looked at the display to make sure that it was on P3 and there were a bunch of lines. I couldnt read anything. Than the screen went blank. I took his left side off and called his name and he looked over and smiled so his right side was on~ but no display was showing.
So far this morning we have had no problems (knock on wood). Thomas is napping now, I am hoping that we continue a trouble free afternoon and evening. I will be calling Cochlear first thing tomorrow morning!!!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Language Explosion
Thomas speech therapist had told us to expect a language explosion within a few months of Thomas' 2nd Ci activation. I smiled and waited....and waited...and waited. Our last few appointments she reminded me that it had not been that long since activation and to not feel bad about Thomas' progress. It seemed to both Dad and I that Thomas was doing alot of baby talk. Alot more than he did pre-2nd CI. He would do baby noises and sounds and not speak very clear.
I think today was the 1st day of his explosion. My Mom had mentioned something to me today about how much Thomas was talking. NO baby talk but trying complete sentences. One example:
My brother had his can of pop on the counter. Thomas kept pointing to it and doing the sign for drink. I took his sippy cup and put a little bit in and gave it to him. He took one sip and being surprised at the fizziness, dropped the cup on the ground. When he went to pick it up some of the fizzies started spraying up from the straw. He immediately started laughing and telling us that the pop had went on his nose, his hair and his shirt. I can't describe exactly how he spoke, and I wish I would have had my camera close by, but it was so cute. His little voice was so cute....." ah bub doo hair , tee noo fee nose " of course it wasnt exactly like that but you get the picture. He knew what he wanted to tell us but he didnt know the exact words to use. We would get a word or two that we knew...me, hair, nose, dirty....and fill in the rest of his sentence with cute little Thomas words. I LOVED it!!!!
A little while later Thomas and I were sitting in the backyard swinging. You could hear the cars driving down the street, you could hear the squeak of the swing and the rustling of the leaves from the wind. All of a sudden Thomas pointed to his ear and looked at me and said "Oooh, Oooh". I was wondering what he was trying to tell me. I sat back and than I heard it. It must have been some bird (maybe a pigeon) making the "whoo, whoo" sound...just like an owl (I highly doubt it was an owl) but since we already say "chirp, chirp" and "tweet tweet" for birds I didnt want to add "whooo, whooo" for another bird. So I told Thomas that it was an owl. We sat and swang for another few minutes and every time we heard the "owl" we would look at each other, smile, point to our ears and repeat the sound and I would remind Thomas that it was an owl.
When we finally got home Thomas was delighted to see the tree trimmers and their big truck were still on our street. We sat on the steps to watch it drive by. Thomas started pointing to the end of the street and was saying "hat" and pointing to his head. I looked over and saw a worker that was wearing a hard hat waiting for the truck to come back so they could start cleaning up all the tree limbs they had cut. The guy had to be about 10 houses down when he sneezed. I could barely hear him. Right after the sneeze Thomas pointed to his ear and I said "did you hear that? that man sneezed! Bless You, worker man" and Thomas said "bet oo, man"! I loved that he heard something so quiet as a sneeze from that far away. I also love that he repeated the bless you, we have been working on that and occasionally he will say it on his own.
I think today was the 1st day of his explosion. My Mom had mentioned something to me today about how much Thomas was talking. NO baby talk but trying complete sentences. One example:
My brother had his can of pop on the counter. Thomas kept pointing to it and doing the sign for drink. I took his sippy cup and put a little bit in and gave it to him. He took one sip and being surprised at the fizziness, dropped the cup on the ground. When he went to pick it up some of the fizzies started spraying up from the straw. He immediately started laughing and telling us that the pop had went on his nose, his hair and his shirt. I can't describe exactly how he spoke, and I wish I would have had my camera close by, but it was so cute. His little voice was so cute....." ah bub doo hair , tee noo fee nose " of course it wasnt exactly like that but you get the picture. He knew what he wanted to tell us but he didnt know the exact words to use. We would get a word or two that we knew...me, hair, nose, dirty....and fill in the rest of his sentence with cute little Thomas words. I LOVED it!!!!
A little while later Thomas and I were sitting in the backyard swinging. You could hear the cars driving down the street, you could hear the squeak of the swing and the rustling of the leaves from the wind. All of a sudden Thomas pointed to his ear and looked at me and said "Oooh, Oooh". I was wondering what he was trying to tell me. I sat back and than I heard it. It must have been some bird (maybe a pigeon) making the "whoo, whoo" sound...just like an owl (I highly doubt it was an owl) but since we already say "chirp, chirp" and "tweet tweet" for birds I didnt want to add "whooo, whooo" for another bird. So I told Thomas that it was an owl. We sat and swang for another few minutes and every time we heard the "owl" we would look at each other, smile, point to our ears and repeat the sound and I would remind Thomas that it was an owl.
When we finally got home Thomas was delighted to see the tree trimmers and their big truck were still on our street. We sat on the steps to watch it drive by. Thomas started pointing to the end of the street and was saying "hat" and pointing to his head. I looked over and saw a worker that was wearing a hard hat waiting for the truck to come back so they could start cleaning up all the tree limbs they had cut. The guy had to be about 10 houses down when he sneezed. I could barely hear him. Right after the sneeze Thomas pointed to his ear and I said "did you hear that? that man sneezed! Bless You, worker man" and Thomas said "bet oo, man"! I loved that he heard something so quiet as a sneeze from that far away. I also love that he repeated the bless you, we have been working on that and occasionally he will say it on his own.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Waterparks
My emotions have been up and down thinking about going back to the water parks. When Jonathan was younger (before he started Kind) my family and I would go to an indoor water park every few months. We all had a fantastic time and when I became pregnant with Thomas I was excited about bringing him with us on our trips.
As the years have gone by(since Jonathan has been born) more indoor water parks have been built (Kalahari, great wolf, castaway bay) along with Cedar Point having a very nice outdoor water park, soak city. So, within an hour drive of where we live we have some pretty great choices of what kind of water fun we want to have.
Our last trip to Kalahari was last summer...we did not go anywhere this past winter, which is very unusual. No one had said anything to me but I think they knew why I hadn't planned anything for us.
The time I had been silently dreading had come this past weekend. My Mom and hubby both mentioned going to wild water kingdom (geauga lake has closed but they kept their water park open). It was a great idea (it is VERY hot here) and we had nothing planned for this past Sunday. So I had agreed and I started packing our swim stuff Saturday night. I looked all over for our otter box and I couldn't find it. I knew it would be too small for 2ci's but I wanted to at least take 1 with us around to the different rides so I could pop it on and explain to Thomas why we were leaving 1 area and going to the next. The new otter box I had ordered last week hadn't come in yet so I was screwed. I would have to leave Thomas' CI's in their case by our seats.
When I was talking with my Mom Saturday night she said to me "it's ashame that Thomas won't be able to hear all the noise, music and water rushing around him"...I said "yep" and I changed the subject. I wanted to say "REALLY? it will be ashame? Don't you think that this what I have been thinking about for the past 2yrs? Do you realize that this is why we haven't done anything pertaining to water (besides baths, of course) for the past 2yrs?...But I didn't say it. I kept it inside and didn't want to start yelling at my Mom. She didn't deserve it...she didn't even realize what I was thinking. Of course, when I got off the phone I cried like a baby thinking of all the sounds he was going to miss. But, I got ahold of myself and finished packing all of the snacks and suits for the next day.
Sunday morning we woke up, fed Thomas breakfast and left for WWK. We stopped at Mc'D's so Jonathan and my Mom could eat and we were at the park by 1045am. We kept asking Thomas if he wanted to go swimming and he would say "yeah" and nod his head up and down. We would ask him if he wanted to jump in the water and he gave us a BIG "YEAH". I knew he would love the water because he loves to take baths...he tries to jump and swim and go under the water and he hates to get out. When we walked in and got to our space under the canopy Thomas sat in his stroller very wide eyed trying to take it all in. He climbed out, got his swim diaper, sun block and swim trunks on and he was ready to go in. He was sitting on my lap and I told him "Thomas, if you want to go in the water you have to take your ears off. Like when we go for bike rides. You can't wear your ears". He looked up at me and flicked off his right CI (the other one is pinned to his shirt) and gave me a big smile. I knew he was ready...was I?
We spent some time in the kiddie area. They have a few slides and Thomas LOVED them. I can't tell you how many times Dad and I went up and down the steps with Thomas. We than headed over to the wave pool. Thomas did not care too much for this because he had to wear a life jacket (which at first the lifeguard said we could put over his body glove float suit). After we took his suit off and put his swim trunks back on (don't worry...the swim diaper stayed on the entire time...lol) he was a bit happier with the life jacket. He especially loved when the waves came crashing against the back of his legs. Every time a wave would roll in he would yell "WHOA"..."WHOA"..."WHOA" and would try to keep standing straight (the water was rolling in fast). It was pretty cute. I can't tell you how many people came up to us and commented on how cute he was and how cute he was talking. Most of them would crouch down and say something to Thomas and he would look up and wave and say "HI". Not one of them knew he was deaf. That he couldn't hear an ounce of what they were saying.
By the time we hit the lazy river Thomas was pretty restless. I was losing patience because I couldn't communicate with him to tell him that we were NOT going home...we were going to another ride (I am very limited in my signing abilities). By the time we got to the basketball pool he was ticked off because the kids were playing basketball and they wouldn't share the ball with him. He kept whining and screaming...I handed him to my Mom and I swam away. I looked back and my Mom was taking Thomas out of the pool and walking with him. He kept looking back and crying for me. I felt like a horrible Mother...but I knew we both needed a time out!!!
A few minutes later Jonathan, myself and Dad went back to our lounge chairs to find Thomas sleeping!!!! He had completely wore himself out. I wanted to climb right next to him and fall asleep too! We let him sleep while the rest of us took turns going to change and when we woke him up we were ready to leave.
Halfway through our afternoon we stopped to eat. While Thomas was sitting waiting for his food Dad slipped his right CI on. For the next 30 seconds or so Thomas just sat there, he didn't say anything. He sat on his lounge chair looking around. I sat across from him thinking to myself "I wonder what he is thinking? Is he wondering why he can't hear this without this thing attached to his head? Is he wondering why we don't have this stuff? Or is he thinking "wow, i am thankful I CAN hear this...because without the CI, I could never hear ANY of this!"
I am hoping his thoughts will be closer to last thought. I want to raise Thomas to be a confident, strong, intellectual person who is thankful for what he has...and not upset about what he doesn't have.
On another note...our otter box came in today. A day too late but it will definitely be used (alot) this summer. Now that I have jumped over the hurdle that I had been dreading for so long the journey ahead doesn't seem as hard as I thought it would be.
Thomas sitting assessing the situation. Thinking about what he wants to conquer first!
If you look at the orange baby slides (not the big tubular slide) that is where Thomas spent ALOT of time!!!
Thomas has had it! Time for a nap!!!
As the years have gone by(since Jonathan has been born) more indoor water parks have been built (Kalahari, great wolf, castaway bay) along with Cedar Point having a very nice outdoor water park, soak city. So, within an hour drive of where we live we have some pretty great choices of what kind of water fun we want to have.
Our last trip to Kalahari was last summer...we did not go anywhere this past winter, which is very unusual. No one had said anything to me but I think they knew why I hadn't planned anything for us.
The time I had been silently dreading had come this past weekend. My Mom and hubby both mentioned going to wild water kingdom (geauga lake has closed but they kept their water park open). It was a great idea (it is VERY hot here) and we had nothing planned for this past Sunday. So I had agreed and I started packing our swim stuff Saturday night. I looked all over for our otter box and I couldn't find it. I knew it would be too small for 2ci's but I wanted to at least take 1 with us around to the different rides so I could pop it on and explain to Thomas why we were leaving 1 area and going to the next. The new otter box I had ordered last week hadn't come in yet so I was screwed. I would have to leave Thomas' CI's in their case by our seats.
When I was talking with my Mom Saturday night she said to me "it's ashame that Thomas won't be able to hear all the noise, music and water rushing around him"...I said "yep" and I changed the subject. I wanted to say "REALLY? it will be ashame? Don't you think that this what I have been thinking about for the past 2yrs? Do you realize that this is why we haven't done anything pertaining to water (besides baths, of course) for the past 2yrs?...But I didn't say it. I kept it inside and didn't want to start yelling at my Mom. She didn't deserve it...she didn't even realize what I was thinking. Of course, when I got off the phone I cried like a baby thinking of all the sounds he was going to miss. But, I got ahold of myself and finished packing all of the snacks and suits for the next day.
Sunday morning we woke up, fed Thomas breakfast and left for WWK. We stopped at Mc'D's so Jonathan and my Mom could eat and we were at the park by 1045am. We kept asking Thomas if he wanted to go swimming and he would say "yeah" and nod his head up and down. We would ask him if he wanted to jump in the water and he gave us a BIG "YEAH". I knew he would love the water because he loves to take baths...he tries to jump and swim and go under the water and he hates to get out. When we walked in and got to our space under the canopy Thomas sat in his stroller very wide eyed trying to take it all in. He climbed out, got his swim diaper, sun block and swim trunks on and he was ready to go in. He was sitting on my lap and I told him "Thomas, if you want to go in the water you have to take your ears off. Like when we go for bike rides. You can't wear your ears". He looked up at me and flicked off his right CI (the other one is pinned to his shirt) and gave me a big smile. I knew he was ready...was I?
We spent some time in the kiddie area. They have a few slides and Thomas LOVED them. I can't tell you how many times Dad and I went up and down the steps with Thomas. We than headed over to the wave pool. Thomas did not care too much for this because he had to wear a life jacket (which at first the lifeguard said we could put over his body glove float suit). After we took his suit off and put his swim trunks back on (don't worry...the swim diaper stayed on the entire time...lol) he was a bit happier with the life jacket. He especially loved when the waves came crashing against the back of his legs. Every time a wave would roll in he would yell "WHOA"..."WHOA"..."WHOA" and would try to keep standing straight (the water was rolling in fast). It was pretty cute. I can't tell you how many people came up to us and commented on how cute he was and how cute he was talking. Most of them would crouch down and say something to Thomas and he would look up and wave and say "HI". Not one of them knew he was deaf. That he couldn't hear an ounce of what they were saying.
By the time we hit the lazy river Thomas was pretty restless. I was losing patience because I couldn't communicate with him to tell him that we were NOT going home...we were going to another ride (I am very limited in my signing abilities). By the time we got to the basketball pool he was ticked off because the kids were playing basketball and they wouldn't share the ball with him. He kept whining and screaming...I handed him to my Mom and I swam away. I looked back and my Mom was taking Thomas out of the pool and walking with him. He kept looking back and crying for me. I felt like a horrible Mother...but I knew we both needed a time out!!!
A few minutes later Jonathan, myself and Dad went back to our lounge chairs to find Thomas sleeping!!!! He had completely wore himself out. I wanted to climb right next to him and fall asleep too! We let him sleep while the rest of us took turns going to change and when we woke him up we were ready to leave.
Halfway through our afternoon we stopped to eat. While Thomas was sitting waiting for his food Dad slipped his right CI on. For the next 30 seconds or so Thomas just sat there, he didn't say anything. He sat on his lounge chair looking around. I sat across from him thinking to myself "I wonder what he is thinking? Is he wondering why he can't hear this without this thing attached to his head? Is he wondering why we don't have this stuff? Or is he thinking "wow, i am thankful I CAN hear this...because without the CI, I could never hear ANY of this!"
I am hoping his thoughts will be closer to last thought. I want to raise Thomas to be a confident, strong, intellectual person who is thankful for what he has...and not upset about what he doesn't have.
On another note...our otter box came in today. A day too late but it will definitely be used (alot) this summer. Now that I have jumped over the hurdle that I had been dreading for so long the journey ahead doesn't seem as hard as I thought it would be.
Thomas sitting assessing the situation. Thinking about what he wants to conquer first!
If you look at the orange baby slides (not the big tubular slide) that is where Thomas spent ALOT of time!!!
Thomas has had it! Time for a nap!!!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
No Problems....
Thomas had his mapping appointment today at 1pm. When Dr. M called us back she asked how everything was going and I explained to her about the episode this past Sunday and how Thomas has been pointing at his ear/cheek (for lack of better description). She checked both ears and they looked perfect. So no ear infection. From the way he was acting in the office and the fact that he is 2yrs old we summed it up to "maybe he was having a bad day". But, if it continues than we should contact her and let her know.
His mapping went well. Very little changed in either CI. Thomas refused to sit on my lap, though. Every other appointment he has been very good at sitting on my lap and playing with the various toys in front of him, hitting the "button" when he hears a sound and cooperating with the audi. Today he stood in front of me and when he would hear a sound he would look into the "tunnel" and wait for his treat to slide down. He would not press the button or look at the dancing pig in the tiny box...he had to do it HIS way!
Oh, the joys of having a 2yr old!!!
We did get to talking about school districts, IEP's and the problems that we can run into. I was fairly surprised at certain school districts...especially one's that I thought were exceptionally well and it turns out that I was wrong. Oh well...a few more months to do our research and than it's the dreaded transitioning phase!!!
His mapping went well. Very little changed in either CI. Thomas refused to sit on my lap, though. Every other appointment he has been very good at sitting on my lap and playing with the various toys in front of him, hitting the "button" when he hears a sound and cooperating with the audi. Today he stood in front of me and when he would hear a sound he would look into the "tunnel" and wait for his treat to slide down. He would not press the button or look at the dancing pig in the tiny box...he had to do it HIS way!
Oh, the joys of having a 2yr old!!!
We did get to talking about school districts, IEP's and the problems that we can run into. I was fairly surprised at certain school districts...especially one's that I thought were exceptionally well and it turns out that I was wrong. Oh well...a few more months to do our research and than it's the dreaded transitioning phase!!!
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Problems???
I have been wondering the past few days if Thomas is having a problem with his right CI. This past Sunday we were at a party for my Aunt's birthday. There were about 30 people there and we were in a restaurant...I wouldnt consider it very noisy, though. About halfway through dinner Thomas looked at me and pointed to his right cheek..I tried to look around to see if anything (or anyone) had accidentally run into him or if he got hurt...but everything looked fine. His finger got a little closer to his ear as he kept pointing. He finally took off his coil and handed it to me. I looked it over, making sure all the settings were correct and they were. I tried to put it back on him and he pushed my hand away...he did NOT want it back on. I didn't want to cause a scene so I put it away in its case and tucked it in my bag.
The past few days Thomas lets me put his processor on but various times during the day he will again, point to his cheek/ear and yell to me. I am extremely happy that we have a mapping appointment tomorrow with the audiologist. It has been driving me crazy that something is hurting and/or bothering Thomas and I can't do anything to help him.
It's either something with his CI or maybe one of his last teeth are coming in? We'll see tomorrow!!!
The past few days Thomas lets me put his processor on but various times during the day he will again, point to his cheek/ear and yell to me. I am extremely happy that we have a mapping appointment tomorrow with the audiologist. It has been driving me crazy that something is hurting and/or bothering Thomas and I can't do anything to help him.
It's either something with his CI or maybe one of his last teeth are coming in? We'll see tomorrow!!!
Busy Morning
Monday was Jonathan's "birthday" at school ( he has a summer birthday so his teacher set aside June 2nd as "Jonathan's Birthday"). Our morning routine was as usual besides the fact that I was trying to get a huge box of cupcakes to fit into smaller boxes (Jonathan wanted to carry them in himself). As I was in the middle of getting everything together Jonathan told me that Thomas was up. Big brother went in to get Thomas and all of his gear (pacifier, blankets,etc). Jonathan was talking, I was talking, the cat's were meowing for Jonathan's milk in his cereal bowl and after a few minutes Thomas started yelling to me. I was rushing around saying "hold on Thomas, I will help you in a minute" and he gave me a big yell. I turned around and looked over at him and asked him what he needed. He was pointing to his ear. I went to go look to see if a program had changed or if a coil had fallen off.
OH NO......there were no CI's. In my rushing around and with Jonathan getting him out of his crib (usually I do it and put his CI's on right after diaper change) Thomas had no sound....and he did NOT like it. In fact, he was quite ticked off at me for forgetting to put his ears on. I rushed right over to the dry n store and got everything put together and clipped them on. Thomas gave me a big smile, grabbed his juice and walked into the living room.
There is NO doubt that Thomas was born deaf...but defintly LOVES to hear!!!!!
OH NO......there were no CI's. In my rushing around and with Jonathan getting him out of his crib (usually I do it and put his CI's on right after diaper change) Thomas had no sound....and he did NOT like it. In fact, he was quite ticked off at me for forgetting to put his ears on. I rushed right over to the dry n store and got everything put together and clipped them on. Thomas gave me a big smile, grabbed his juice and walked into the living room.
There is NO doubt that Thomas was born deaf...but defintly LOVES to hear!!!!!
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