Landri's Right Ear Activation and Summer Fun!

Landri's Cochlear Implant in her right ear was activated last week and she now has bilateral hearing!  It was a long day of appointments (scheduled for 6 hours) but we made it thru it!  Landri had little reaction to the sound in her right ear.  Just like the left side they start out with a very soft program to let her brain adjust to the new sound gradually.  Also just like we did with her left side the sound that Landri received will be random noise at first until her  brain starts to interpret what it is hearing so gradually turning up the program will allow the right ear time to catch up without completely distorting the sound she is hearing from the left side.  Clear as mud? :-)  When Landri first got her equipment for the right side she was pulling it off every second.....I was so freaking that we were going to have to go thru the same process we did on the left side of putting the processor back on every second that she took it off. BUT...thankfully that only lasted about 3 hours and she now loves her new processor and is leaving it on alllll the time!  I am thrilled!  Her Audiologist sent us home with 8 programs to work thru (each one gradually louder) and we are on the 4th one.  We go back in 2 weeks to get another set of 8 to work thru.  We also have really gotten into a fabulous groove with her speech services.  Landri's TOD has really helped advocate for Landri and always comes with fun new games.  And we found a fabulous AVT about an hour and a half away that is the best fit for our family ever! Couldn't be more thrilled with the team (family) that we are building around Landri.  Of course, I always leave every speech session feeling like we are not doing enough. Since we chose an AVT communication method for Landri the whole program is parent focused......teaching and educating us to carry out the methods and lessons daily in our home.  Having weekly speech visits is similar to having a personal trainer to workout.....they keep you focused and honest. :-)  Landri is understanding many more words...she has learned "hands", is localizing sound much better, and has added the word "up" to her vocabulary.  Her babbling has increased so much.....she talks to herself, reads herself stories....and my all time fave.....tells the dogs "mo, mo, mo"! :-)  Lovin it!  She also understands some simple commands like.....take the ball to Mommy.....where are your shoes?.....etc.  It is IFSP goal time for Landri. We will have those set next week when we meet with her team to hammer them out. I will post them once we have them finalized and then track her progress towards the goals on the blog.

And.....a little update on what else we have been up to!  We put a pool in the backyard so now our yard is trampoline and pool.  Already we have gotten so much use out of it.  Halle has a "No more school.....see ya at Halle's pool" party planned for the last day of school.......which gets me a bit teary eyed....4th grade already????? No way!  We also went to South Dakota over Memorial weekend to celebrate Greg's parent's 40th wedding anniversary and had a great time!  Here's pics of the kids enjoying the 6 hour car ride! 

Halle has been busy with softball (first game tonight!), dance (recital in 2 weeks), and cheer (3 days a week).  She is ready for summer to start, but already starting to miss her 3rd grade teacher.  We love her.  Greg also stained our deck!  Here's a pic of Landri eating chips and dip while watching Daddy work hard thru the window. 

What a good assistant she is!  And.....some more pictures....enjoy!

HELLOOOOO SUMMER!

A hearing pocket!?

Landri's right ear will be "activated" one week from today!  This is where the audiologists program and hook up the external pieces that Landri will wear on her right ear.....same set up as on the left.   I am so excited to see if Landri has a reaction.  She didn't do much when she heard sound in her left ear for the first time, but now that sound has meaning to her I am anxious to see how she receives her new surround sound.  I am for sure that Landri is wondering what her right ear is for.  She has decided to use it as a pocket. :-)  Ya know how most kids Landri's age put everything in their mouths......Landri tries to put everything in her right ear.....never her left.  When she walks around outside she is always trying to put rocks in her right ear....she sat on the deck for about 20 minutes today trying out different rocks that Halle had found in her ear.  We have had to pull the car over because she got a cheerio wedged in there and thankfully we were able to get it out.  She tries to put straws in her ears, wood chips, food.......all her most favorite treasures.  I think she wonders what that thing is for.  I can't wait for her to realize that we will now use that ear to hear!  A hearing pocket......what a good use! 

Activation Day!

November 23rd was a very important day for our family.  Landri heard sound for the very first time!  We went to the University of Iowa and the audiologists first tested all the electrodes in Landri's implant - 22 in total!  They got great neural responses from her with each one!  This was comforting.  They then turned on her processor so that she could hear the sounds around her for the first time.  It was sort of anticlimatic.  We were all talking to her and waiting for that big moment - but Landri just took the new sound in stride and just kept playing.  I have to admit there were a few moments of panic when I needed confirmation from the audis that she REALLY....REALLY....can hear things...right?  They said that her response was completely normal and that they were very comfortable with the responses they received during testing.  There are so many leaps of faith in this process.  They turn her processors on very very slowly to not scare or overstimulate Landri.  It could be very overwhelming for her to hear all sounds at once.  We will introduce her to new sounds thru her processors little by little.  I think it takes a few months to fully activate her implant.  Landri's processors (the external portion that looks like a hearing aid) have different programs or maps on them that have been created just for her. They are sort of like her hearing fingerprints.  Everyone's map is unique.  The audis sent us home with 8 programs and 4 volume and sensitivity settings on each program to work thru over the next 2 weeks.  We have been told that it may take almost a month before we see Landri actually turning her head to sound.  When it comes to sound Landri is like a newborn.  Her brain is working so hard to make sense of it all.

What now?  Our job now is to help Landri learn to listen and not ignore the sounds she hears and also help her associate the sound with meaning.  We talk about everything we do and point out sound to her.  When the dogs bark we say "listen Landri are those the dogs barking?".  When we run water out of the faucet we listen to that, we listen for the vacuum, we listen for microwave beeps, we listen to her spoon tapping in her high chair.  So far I think her favorite thing to listen to is her own voice - typical girl!  We notice her humming and blowing bubbles more with her implant on.  AND of course without a doubt she is even more fascinated with her sister and wants her every second! 

Really the only struggle is keeping the processors on her head.  Seriously - I am thinking about starting a "Keep the BTE on a one year olds head Support Group" and serving stiff margaritas at each meeting.  All my other CI mommies  - who's with me?  It really does take a ton of patience - like a ton - ton, ton, ton.  Landri does not associate her CI with sound yet so all she wants to do is take that thing off her head.....every second....and then chew on it....or whip it across the room.  BUT.....everyday it has got to get better! 

This post would just not be complete without a picture of Landri and her cool new CI!  We are having computer issues - thanks to Gma for letting me borrow hers to do this post - and all my pictures are trapped on the other computer.  I promise a picture soon!  Check back! 

I also have 1001 other things to update on like Thanksgiving and Landri turning1!!  I'll get there!  Need time!  Thanks to everyone for all of your support during this exciting - but stressful - time for our family.  Aren't family and friends the best?

Countdown to Sound!

Since Landri's surgery last month many people have asked us...."so can she hear?".  Not yet!  The University of Iowa Hospital waits one month from surgery to turn on the implant to allow for healing of the incision sight and the swelling to go down.  We have been counting down the days!  Landri's implant will be activated on November 23rd - 3 days before her first birthday!  We are very excited!  At this appointment they will give us the external pieces that Landri will wear to make her implant work.  They turn the implant on slowly over a series of appointments called mappings.  Landri's brain has never heard sound so the audiologists will slowly increase the sounds she hears over a series of appointments.  We have been told that at the first appointment she will likely not respond to much until her brain starts to make sense of the new sound. It is similar to how a newborn tunes most everything out because nothing makes sense at first.  We are so excited for this journey to begin!

Please click on this link for a super short and simple video explaining how the implant works.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmNpP2fr57A

Landri's implant will look like this.  It is the new Cochlear Nucleus 5 sound processor.  She will be the first child at the University of Iowa with this new technology.  We ordered one white and one chocolate brown with fashionable pink covers of course!  Cochlear Implants are not a cure for deafness.  When Landri has this on she will have access to sound.  When it is off - when she is swimming, bathing, sleeping  - she will still be completely deaf and hear nothing. 

Through this journey we have had the honor of meeting some wonderful and brilliant families.  We have been able to share with them their "activation victories" and watch videos of the children saying their first words.  I want to share some of these videos on my blog to give us all inspiration.   Since I am still a newbie blogger I first need to figure out how to upload the video files.  Give me a few days!  Seriously.....there are days when the whole thing seems surreal that we have a deaf child.  Then in the same thought it seems completely insane that with the wonders of technology our completely deaf child will have access to sound.  I can hardly wrap my mind around it at times.  We sort of start to lose touch of what it is like to have a hearing one year old around.  We are so used to getting right in front of Landri to get her attention, using our hands and gesturing, and working so hard to get her attention so that she is part of everything that is going on.  I am excited for her to share in the laughter of our family, hear her sister sing the songs that she has made up just for her (Halle made her a song about a cat and porkchop - need I say more - it's a must hear!), and even to get woke up by the barking dogs.  It all makes my heart smile.  Sooo....start the countdown and we will keep you posted!