Like most children who have not learned to speak yet, Logan has taken to pointing and saying "mmm mmm mmm" toward the object of his desire. Up to this point, he usually uses this gesture when he wants some food, his sippy cup or when he wants a toy that is out of reach. Today, I was pleasantly surprised when I got him out of his crib when he woke up from his nap. Since he does not wear his cochlear equipment to sleep, we usually place it on his changing table while he naps. Well, as soon as I got him out of his crib and he saw his cochlear equipment he made his "I want" gesture. This made me so incredibly happy. It really shows that he understands the difference between when his is wearing his equipment and when he isn't, and that he prefers having it on!
Merry Christmas to me!
Monday, December 24, 2012
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Music To My Ears
Logan has had his ears turned on for 4 months as of today. During these months, we've seen Logan's receptive understanding grow so much. He will point to daddy when asked, he will look at our dog or point at him when we say dog or his name, he knows that he should walk to his booster seat when we tell him it's time to eat, he will turn the page of a book when we ask him to, he will turn the lights on and off and so many other things.
We've been patiently waiting for the words to start to come out, and he has tried to say our dog Blackjack's name a few times. But today was SO WONDERFUL!!!! He said Mama!!!!!! Not just once, but all day long. I think he wanted to make sure I heard it and that I knew he could say it. I am so proud of my little boy. I have been waiting for him to say it for what feels like forever. He used to say it every once in a while before his surgery but had to relearn it. It was music to my ears! I'm so excited to hear what words he starts to say next.
We've been patiently waiting for the words to start to come out, and he has tried to say our dog Blackjack's name a few times. But today was SO WONDERFUL!!!! He said Mama!!!!!! Not just once, but all day long. I think he wanted to make sure I heard it and that I knew he could say it. I am so proud of my little boy. I have been waiting for him to say it for what feels like forever. He used to say it every once in a while before his surgery but had to relearn it. It was music to my ears! I'm so excited to hear what words he starts to say next.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Thankful
On the eve of Thanksgiving, I've been thinking about how much we have to be thankful for in our family and in regards to our sweet Logan. We are truly blessed.
In honor of Thanksgiving day, here are some things I am truly thankful for:
In honor of Thanksgiving day, here are some things I am truly thankful for:
- My two beautiful children.
- Their laughter.
- Their hugs and kisses.
- My sweet husband and his unconditional love.
- That he has been able to support our family so that I can stay home with the kids.
- My mom and the support she gives me.
- My sister and best friend.
- Newborn hearing screenings.
- Hearing aid technology. Although they weren't powerful enough for Logan, they helped lay a solid hearing foundation for him in his first year of life.
- Cochlear implant technology. It is giving my sweet Logan a chance to be part of the hearing world.
- Early Childhood Intervention services. The women we work with are so invested in the success of our little boy that they are an extended part of our family.
- That we live in San Antonio and having my family nearby.
- That wonderful place called Sunshine Cottage.
- The strides Logan is making in learning to listen and trying to speak.
- Extended families in other cities and states.
- That we are able to send Jasmine to a preschool program a few times a week. Not only does it give me time to work with Logan and do all his appointments, but she is learning so much while she is there.
- That the virus that caused Logan's hearing loss didn't do more damage because it could have been so much worse.
- That Logan is practically running now.
- For good friends.
- For our home.
- For good food and conversation.
- For good coffee.
- For playtime with the kids.
- For being able to reach out to other families who have children with hearing loss and offer support and friendship.
- Conversations with my 2 1/2 year old Jasmine. She really says the funniest things.
- The kids' afternoon naps.
- Toddler messes all around the house.
- Naptime and bedtime stories with the kids.
- Quiet time with Andrew at the end of the day.
- This past year filled with learning and growing
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Walk for Hearing 2012
This weekend we drove out to Houston to participate in the Walk for Hearing 5k. I wanted to get some shirts made for us but I procrastinated and ended up just making simple signs for our wagon. I wound up being quite happy about this because we were the only team that had signs and there were many with shirts! We even had someone ask to take a picture of the kids in the wagon because she thought it was so cute.
We had a great time during the walk, got to see many other kids and adults with implants, met a very nice woman who is a Cochlear Americas representative, and even took pictures with Kaci the Koala.
After the walk, we headed down to the beach in Galveston to feed the Seagulls some bread. Jasmine had a blast throwing bread to them, although she kept throwing whole pieces to them. Logan, on the other hand, was only interested in eating the bread, once the excitement and giggles wore off.
After the beach, we headed to the Houston Aquarium and had a fun time. Logan really enjoyed watching and laughing at the big fish there. It was a long, tiring weekend but it was well worth the trip.
Friday, October 19, 2012
The Latest Happenings
It's been about a month since I last updated this blog. We have been very busy working on listening with Logan's deaf education teachers and his walking with his physical therapist. I am happy to say that he is now taking 5-7 unassisted steps at a time. He does this all day long but has not been able to go further than that yet. I attribute it to his impatience and wanting to get everywhere fast. He starts getting momentum and just goes faster with his upper body than with his lower body. He really doesn't want to mess around with walking and just wants to run!
As far as his language is concerned, he is really doing great. His receptive vocabulary is growing. He knows hi and bye and will wave when we say either, he points up when we say up, he claps when we say yay and has walked me to his booster seat when I ask him if he is hungry. Now that may not seem all that impressive for a 15 month old, but considering his hearing age is 2 months (we started at 0 when his implants were turned on), I would say he is doing quite well.
As far as speaking, he is definitely trying! He has been saying "Hhhhhh" for hi when someone says hi to him. But really the cutest thing is that he know his dog's name. He and Blackjack are great buddies. They both get so excited when they see each other. Well for the last few weeks we thought that he might be saying "ja-ja" when he sees the dog, but we weren't sure about it. Yesterday I was able to confirm it. Logan, Jasmine and I were out in the front yard and went to the side of the house where Blackjack was because he heard us. Logan saw him and walked a few steps to the fence and clearly said "Ja-ja" and bent down to try and reach him. Now I am just asking him when he is going to start calling me Mama again!
As far as his language is concerned, he is really doing great. His receptive vocabulary is growing. He knows hi and bye and will wave when we say either, he points up when we say up, he claps when we say yay and has walked me to his booster seat when I ask him if he is hungry. Now that may not seem all that impressive for a 15 month old, but considering his hearing age is 2 months (we started at 0 when his implants were turned on), I would say he is doing quite well.
As far as speaking, he is definitely trying! He has been saying "Hhhhhh" for hi when someone says hi to him. But really the cutest thing is that he know his dog's name. He and Blackjack are great buddies. They both get so excited when they see each other. Well for the last few weeks we thought that he might be saying "ja-ja" when he sees the dog, but we weren't sure about it. Yesterday I was able to confirm it. Logan, Jasmine and I were out in the front yard and went to the side of the house where Blackjack was because he heard us. Logan saw him and walked a few steps to the fence and clearly said "Ja-ja" and bent down to try and reach him. Now I am just asking him when he is going to start calling me Mama again!
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Cochlear Implant Love!!!
I literally have happy tears today! This morning Logan and I went to Sunshine Cottage for testing. It was the first time "in the booth" with his cochlear implants and I was anxious to get an idea of what he is hearing with his new ears.
His last hearing test results was with hearing aids and it showed that he responded to sounds in the 50 - 85 decibel range, depending on the frequency. You can compare 50 db to a nearby conversation, although many of the consonants in the English language fall in the 40db range. And 85 db could be compared to a loud piano or a loud phone ringing.
Well, during today's testing, Logan was responding at around 20-25 db! That means he now has great access to language and is now falling in the mild hearing loss range for children. Not only that, his testing today was based on behavioral responses from Logan and was not a test of his threshold for hearing, or the minimum level that he can hear a specific frequency. What really has me ecstatic about this is that he may possibly be able to hear a whisper now, which is around 15 db!
I am looking forward to having more testing done in the coming months and to continue getting his cochlear programs mapped and tweeked so that he can get the most out of his devices.
Finally, in other news, Logan has officially taken his first steps!
His last hearing test results was with hearing aids and it showed that he responded to sounds in the 50 - 85 decibel range, depending on the frequency. You can compare 50 db to a nearby conversation, although many of the consonants in the English language fall in the 40db range. And 85 db could be compared to a loud piano or a loud phone ringing.
Well, during today's testing, Logan was responding at around 20-25 db! That means he now has great access to language and is now falling in the mild hearing loss range for children. Not only that, his testing today was based on behavioral responses from Logan and was not a test of his threshold for hearing, or the minimum level that he can hear a specific frequency. What really has me ecstatic about this is that he may possibly be able to hear a whisper now, which is around 15 db!
I am looking forward to having more testing done in the coming months and to continue getting his cochlear programs mapped and tweeked so that he can get the most out of his devices.
Finally, in other news, Logan has officially taken his first steps!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Six Weeks Post Activation
It has been six weeks since Logan's ears were turned on and, I have to say, he is doing fantastic. He is now doing the ma, da, ah sounds, and has also made the g and b sounds, which is great for him. What is even better is that he is doing so well with conversational turns. Those of us with naturally working ears do not ever really think about this, but children who are born with hearing loss have to actually learn to listen and learn that communicating through vocalization is important. We have been working on getting him to request what he wants by vocalizing lately. For example, Logan and I were playing with one of his toy cars. He would hand it to me and he wanted me to give it back to him. But I would hold it until he used his voice and I immediately gave it back to him and said "yay, Logan" or something similar. This goes on until he loses interest in the game. We also apply this to mealtime and anything else we can think of.
Also, we had a session with one of Logan's teachers this afternoon and I am so happy about what she had to say about his progress. Although she prefaced that his progress may not always be at this pace, she said he has been "a rock star of a cochlear implant recipient." This is because he is so interested in social interaction and wants to be a part of conversations, he wants to use his voice and see you respond back to him. As she said, this is something that you just can't teach a child and we are fortunate that he has the personality that he does. She has been teaching deaf children for a very long time and she said that a lot of times kids will not really care to interact or respond to sounds even though they can hear it.
As for his other therapies, we are just waiting for him to officially walk. He is almost there. He is cruising and crawling so fast and he is letting go for longer and longer periods of time. We are just waiting for him to get up the courage to take a step. I am hoping he does it in the next few weeks (before he turns 15 months) because then he will be labeled delayed. Of course, that isn't the end of the world, but I guess I am just being impatient! You would think that he would be running by now with the way he is climbing up on everything. I can't wait to report that we have another walker in the house!
Also, we had a session with one of Logan's teachers this afternoon and I am so happy about what she had to say about his progress. Although she prefaced that his progress may not always be at this pace, she said he has been "a rock star of a cochlear implant recipient." This is because he is so interested in social interaction and wants to be a part of conversations, he wants to use his voice and see you respond back to him. As she said, this is something that you just can't teach a child and we are fortunate that he has the personality that he does. She has been teaching deaf children for a very long time and she said that a lot of times kids will not really care to interact or respond to sounds even though they can hear it.
As for his other therapies, we are just waiting for him to officially walk. He is almost there. He is cruising and crawling so fast and he is letting go for longer and longer periods of time. We are just waiting for him to get up the courage to take a step. I am hoping he does it in the next few weeks (before he turns 15 months) because then he will be labeled delayed. Of course, that isn't the end of the world, but I guess I am just being impatient! You would think that he would be running by now with the way he is climbing up on everything. I can't wait to report that we have another walker in the house!
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Four Weeks Post Activation
It has been almost a whole month since Logan's CIs were turned on. My how time flies! We have certainly been busy with all the extra therapy sessions that have been added in the past month. We have teachers from both Easter Seals and our school district that we now see once a week each (previously twice a month), our advisor from Sunshine Cottage whom we also see weekly and Logan's physical therapist, which has been bumped to a weekly occurrence as well. In the next month or so, we'll also be adding Speech Therapy to the mix!
I am very happy to say that I am pleased with the progress he has made in the last month. As you may or may not know, cochlear implants provide a whole new way of hearing so the recipient must learn how to interpret the information from the digital signal his brain is receiving from them. Because of this, we were told to consider his hearing like he is a newborn and to expect his vocalizing and speech to roughly follow the timeline of a child in his first year of life. Of course, this is only a generalization and some children progress much faster than this and other progress slower.
Well, during the first couple of weeks with his new ears Logan was pretty quiet, as expected, since he was learning to listen with his new ears. But over the last week he has started babbling again! I am thrilled because this started before his ears were even a month old. He is saying ma-ma-ma-ma and ah ah ah ah. When I first told one of his teachers she was very excited because she said it usually takes a lot longer for CI kids to start babbling again.
Last Wednesday, his implants were remapped because his swelling has gone down a lot over the last month and they were able to make them louder for him. Since then, I've also noticed that he is starting to turn more and more toward sounds. I've even caught him dancing to music, something he had never done before. We can't wait to see what the next month will bring!
I am very happy to say that I am pleased with the progress he has made in the last month. As you may or may not know, cochlear implants provide a whole new way of hearing so the recipient must learn how to interpret the information from the digital signal his brain is receiving from them. Because of this, we were told to consider his hearing like he is a newborn and to expect his vocalizing and speech to roughly follow the timeline of a child in his first year of life. Of course, this is only a generalization and some children progress much faster than this and other progress slower.
Well, during the first couple of weeks with his new ears Logan was pretty quiet, as expected, since he was learning to listen with his new ears. But over the last week he has started babbling again! I am thrilled because this started before his ears were even a month old. He is saying ma-ma-ma-ma and ah ah ah ah. When I first told one of his teachers she was very excited because she said it usually takes a lot longer for CI kids to start babbling again.
Last Wednesday, his implants were remapped because his swelling has gone down a lot over the last month and they were able to make them louder for him. Since then, I've also noticed that he is starting to turn more and more toward sounds. I've even caught him dancing to music, something he had never done before. We can't wait to see what the next month will bring!
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Two Weeks Post Activation
It has already been two weeks since Logan's initial stimulation and we are thrilled with what we are seeing so far. It is by no means a night and day difference from the hearing aids he wore previously. He is still getting used to his new ears and starting to figure out how to listen with them, but when he responds (or appears to respond) to things we had not previously seen, it brings so much joy to my heart.
For those of you who are not familiar with the Ling 6 sounds, these are familiar sounds that broadly represent the speech spectrum and include low, medium and high frequency sounds (ah / ee / oo /mm / sss / sh) and can be used to test whether a child has access to the full spectrum of speech sounds in a very low tech way. With hearing aids, Logan had very limited access to these sounds. We are still unsure of what he has access to with his implants, since we will still be fine tuning his programs and we have not had a hearing test with them yet. However, I was thrilled when Logan responded to the "sh" sound when I was working with him the other day. He has never been able to do that, as far as I can remember.
The other thing that we have been so excited about over the last few days is that he is starting to respond to music! We love listening to music and we are so happy that hopefully our son is now able to hear some of it.
Jasmine was watching Madagascar yesterday and the part with the Bee Gee's song came on. Logan was not looking at the TV at the time, but he started bobbing up and down as he was cruising the sofa. He had no visual cues that would tell him to start dancing so I know he heard the music! We are so excited to see what other great things he will be doing in the near future.
Logan Dancing
For those of you who are not familiar with the Ling 6 sounds, these are familiar sounds that broadly represent the speech spectrum and include low, medium and high frequency sounds (ah / ee / oo /mm / sss / sh) and can be used to test whether a child has access to the full spectrum of speech sounds in a very low tech way. With hearing aids, Logan had very limited access to these sounds. We are still unsure of what he has access to with his implants, since we will still be fine tuning his programs and we have not had a hearing test with them yet. However, I was thrilled when Logan responded to the "sh" sound when I was working with him the other day. He has never been able to do that, as far as I can remember.
The other thing that we have been so excited about over the last few days is that he is starting to respond to music! We love listening to music and we are so happy that hopefully our son is now able to hear some of it.
Jasmine was watching Madagascar yesterday and the part with the Bee Gee's song came on. Logan was not looking at the TV at the time, but he started bobbing up and down as he was cruising the sofa. He had no visual cues that would tell him to start dancing so I know he heard the music! We are so excited to see what other great things he will be doing in the near future.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Activation Day!!!!
The day we've been waiting for has finally arrived! It's one week after surgery and today Logan's ears were turned on! It is the first day of his new hearing journey, and one that we are thrilled to be undertaking with him. We were very anxious to see what his response would be when they turned the first one on and were well aware that some kids have no reaction, some smile or get excited and some cry because it is so new to them. Of course, every parent who goes through this hopes for the big, excited response, but that is the exception rather than the rule when kids are activated.
The moment finally arrived once Marci, his wonderful audiologist, did her thing to get the first side ready to be turned on. When she turned on the first side poor little Logan was scared and cried. As she went through the mapping of this first side, he got used to the sounds and started to respond much better.
Logan's First Response
Logan gets accustomed to the sounds
It was a really long morning for Logan. He started acting really tired and getting fussy when we were still working on the first side. We even contemplated activating only one today and resuming tomorrow. But Andrew and I really wanted to get it all done, so we resorted to all the snacks and goodies I packed for him. Thank goodness for Veggie sticks, Mum-mums and puffs!
By the time we got to doing the second side, he was already a pro at it! He didn't cry this time. He would just look up at Marci, a veggie stick in hand, and would raise his eyebrows every time he heard something. For those of you that work with Logan regularly, you know this is his signature response! He had gotten his energy back up by the time the mapping was done. By this time, he was back to flirting with his wonderful teacher Lindsey!
Logan's eyebrow raising
Logan does the unexpected!
We were lucky enough to get to talk to an audiologist from Cochlear who happened to be on site at Sunshine Cottage today. We were very interested to talk to her about how "waterproof" his new implants were. She was very helpful and answered all of our questions. She even encouraged us to experiment now while the devices are under warranty!
Once we left and picked Jasmine up from my mom, we went home for the kids' naps. Well Andrew and I realized how exhausting the morning had been and we napped also. After our naps, we decided it was time to celebrate Logan's big day. And what better way to celebrate than to go out for some good ice cream!
Having been through our first day with Logan's implants, I realize just how hard it is going to be just to keep them on his head. The hearing aids were hard enough, and he certainly mastered the art of pulling them out of his ears. But since he is so small and the processors don't stay on his ears very well yet, the device is mostly just dangling from the magnet on his head with the wires so much easier for him to grab onto. I'm sure we'll come up with a way to keep them on him, just like we did with the hearing aids. I'm not really anxious to have to put some type of headband on his head! Either way, I'm so excited to see what the future holds for him!
The moment finally arrived once Marci, his wonderful audiologist, did her thing to get the first side ready to be turned on. When she turned on the first side poor little Logan was scared and cried. As she went through the mapping of this first side, he got used to the sounds and started to respond much better.
It was a really long morning for Logan. He started acting really tired and getting fussy when we were still working on the first side. We even contemplated activating only one today and resuming tomorrow. But Andrew and I really wanted to get it all done, so we resorted to all the snacks and goodies I packed for him. Thank goodness for Veggie sticks, Mum-mums and puffs!
By the time we got to doing the second side, he was already a pro at it! He didn't cry this time. He would just look up at Marci, a veggie stick in hand, and would raise his eyebrows every time he heard something. For those of you that work with Logan regularly, you know this is his signature response! He had gotten his energy back up by the time the mapping was done. By this time, he was back to flirting with his wonderful teacher Lindsey!
We were lucky enough to get to talk to an audiologist from Cochlear who happened to be on site at Sunshine Cottage today. We were very interested to talk to her about how "waterproof" his new implants were. She was very helpful and answered all of our questions. She even encouraged us to experiment now while the devices are under warranty!
Once we left and picked Jasmine up from my mom, we went home for the kids' naps. Well Andrew and I realized how exhausting the morning had been and we napped also. After our naps, we decided it was time to celebrate Logan's big day. And what better way to celebrate than to go out for some good ice cream!
Having been through our first day with Logan's implants, I realize just how hard it is going to be just to keep them on his head. The hearing aids were hard enough, and he certainly mastered the art of pulling them out of his ears. But since he is so small and the processors don't stay on his ears very well yet, the device is mostly just dangling from the magnet on his head with the wires so much easier for him to grab onto. I'm sure we'll come up with a way to keep them on him, just like we did with the hearing aids. I'm not really anxious to have to put some type of headband on his head! Either way, I'm so excited to see what the future holds for him!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
One Day Post Surgery
Logan woke up feeling much better today. It was pretty entertaining to watch him crawl around with that big bandage on his head. He was a little unstable because he was so top heavy and I felt like I had to follow him closely to make sure he didn't lose his balance and fall on his head.
Were were instructed to remove the bandages 24 hours after the surgery, so we took them off mid afternoon. I was hesitant to do it, so Andrew volunteered to do it. I was so happy for that. I was really nervous to see what his ears and the incision spot would look like when we took it off.
We can tell that his ears and face are swollen and I am hoping that it goes down quickly. He was happy to have the bandages and the arm braces off, but we eventually had to put the braces back on because he kept trying to pull on his ears.
Later in the day, his big sister Jasmine got home from her Aunt and Uncle's house and we were all very happy to see her. We hadn't seen her since Tuesday evening, which is the longest we've been without her. I'm so glad our family is back together again.
Were were instructed to remove the bandages 24 hours after the surgery, so we took them off mid afternoon. I was hesitant to do it, so Andrew volunteered to do it. I was so happy for that. I was really nervous to see what his ears and the incision spot would look like when we took it off.
We can tell that his ears and face are swollen and I am hoping that it goes down quickly. He was happy to have the bandages and the arm braces off, but we eventually had to put the braces back on because he kept trying to pull on his ears.
Later in the day, his big sister Jasmine got home from her Aunt and Uncle's house and we were all very happy to see her. We hadn't seen her since Tuesday evening, which is the longest we've been without her. I'm so glad our family is back together again.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Logan's Big Day Today
The day we have been waiting on for months has finally arrived. Yesterday, I got a call from the pre-op nurse asking a million questions about Logan's medical history. This is when it really sank in that his surgery was actually happening. Originally, we were told that we should arrive at 6 a.m. for an 8 a.m. surgery, but Dr. Perry's office called at 4:55 in the afternoon to tell me that we needed to be there at 5:30 for a 7:30 a.m. surgery. I know it is only a half our difference, but man do you feel it when you get up in the morning.
We were up at 4:15 a.m. and left the house at 5:10 a.m. I got Logan up 10 minutes before we left hoping he would go back to sleep, but of course, he was wide awake. We got to the hospital right on time and waited for them to take us up to prep him for surgery.
We got upstairs and he was squirming and trying to get out of my arms. He wanted to go and explore so badly! We changed him into his hospital gown and waited to talk to his doctor and the anaesthesiologist.
When it was time for surgery, Andrew carried him to the doors of the operating room, where we gave him hugs and kisses and took out his hearing aids for the last time. His Grandma and Aunt Jenny got to see him before he went in also.
We were asked to stay in the waiting room because they would call to give periodic updates. The first call was at 8 a.m. to tell us that they were starting the first side. The nurse called again around 9:30 to let us know that they had successfully completed the first ear and were about to begin the second ear. Around 11:30, we saw Dr. Perry come out of the operating room carrying all of Logan's equipment that we would be taking home. I was so glad to see Dr. Perry and to know that everything went well.
They called Andrew and I back to the recovery room around noon. Poor Logan was just miserable. He was trying to cry but it seemed like he was just too tired and uncomfortable to make a big effort, so he mostly just whined. He was also mad because they put restraints on his arms so he couldn't bend them and pull on his dressings. He has to keep the restraints on until tomorrow when the bandages come off. Poor little guy!
They gave him some glucose water, which he finished very quickly. So they gave him a second serving. They also decided to give him some more pain medication, which I was very happy about.
We only had to stay for about an hour and a half after the surgery was completed. We were all very happy to get him dressed so we could leave.
We have been home for about 4 hours now and Logan has been sleeping most of the day. He had another dose of pain medication and has started back on his milk. So far, he hasn't been interested in any solids. I can't wait until he is back to his normal, funny self.
We were up at 4:15 a.m. and left the house at 5:10 a.m. I got Logan up 10 minutes before we left hoping he would go back to sleep, but of course, he was wide awake. We got to the hospital right on time and waited for them to take us up to prep him for surgery.
We got upstairs and he was squirming and trying to get out of my arms. He wanted to go and explore so badly! We changed him into his hospital gown and waited to talk to his doctor and the anaesthesiologist.
When it was time for surgery, Andrew carried him to the doors of the operating room, where we gave him hugs and kisses and took out his hearing aids for the last time. His Grandma and Aunt Jenny got to see him before he went in also.
We were asked to stay in the waiting room because they would call to give periodic updates. The first call was at 8 a.m. to tell us that they were starting the first side. The nurse called again around 9:30 to let us know that they had successfully completed the first ear and were about to begin the second ear. Around 11:30, we saw Dr. Perry come out of the operating room carrying all of Logan's equipment that we would be taking home. I was so glad to see Dr. Perry and to know that everything went well.
They called Andrew and I back to the recovery room around noon. Poor Logan was just miserable. He was trying to cry but it seemed like he was just too tired and uncomfortable to make a big effort, so he mostly just whined. He was also mad because they put restraints on his arms so he couldn't bend them and pull on his dressings. He has to keep the restraints on until tomorrow when the bandages come off. Poor little guy!
They gave him some glucose water, which he finished very quickly. So they gave him a second serving. They also decided to give him some more pain medication, which I was very happy about.
We only had to stay for about an hour and a half after the surgery was completed. We were all very happy to get him dressed so we could leave.
We have been home for about 4 hours now and Logan has been sleeping most of the day. He had another dose of pain medication and has started back on his milk. So far, he hasn't been interested in any solids. I can't wait until he is back to his normal, funny self.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Counting Down!
There are a number of reasons that I am counting down the five days until Logan's surgery. I am anxious to get this procedure over with and stop worrying about it. And of course, I can't wait to start this new chapter in his life.
However, another unexpected reason I am counting down is that I just can't wait to be done with these hearing aids! Yes, I know the cochlear implants will be a whole new set of headaches, but I am so done losing pieces of these hearing aids.
I hosted an in house playdate for the toddler playgroup I am a member of this morning. We had 11 toddlers, 3 infants, and of course, their moms here this morning. It was a blast as usual. But once everyone was gone for about 20 minutes, I noticed that Logan's processor from his left hearing aid was missing. The earhook and earmold were still there, so the processor managed to get unscrewed from the rest of it. I had to tear up the playroom again looking for it, but came up empty. I checked downstairs, in his hamper, and upstairs again and couldn't find it.
During all this, I was battling with Jasmine to stay in her room and take her nap. When I finally got her to stay in her room, I went back downstairs and started crawling on the floor everywhere Logan had been. Unbelievably, I found it in the middle of the living room floor. I was so relieved! The whole time I was looking for it I kept thinking I can't believe we made it this far without having to pay the deductible for a lost hearing aid and here we are, less than a week before surgery, and we've finally lost one.
I am so glad I found it and I am so ready to turn them back in to Sunshine Cottage.
However, another unexpected reason I am counting down is that I just can't wait to be done with these hearing aids! Yes, I know the cochlear implants will be a whole new set of headaches, but I am so done losing pieces of these hearing aids.
I hosted an in house playdate for the toddler playgroup I am a member of this morning. We had 11 toddlers, 3 infants, and of course, their moms here this morning. It was a blast as usual. But once everyone was gone for about 20 minutes, I noticed that Logan's processor from his left hearing aid was missing. The earhook and earmold were still there, so the processor managed to get unscrewed from the rest of it. I had to tear up the playroom again looking for it, but came up empty. I checked downstairs, in his hamper, and upstairs again and couldn't find it.
During all this, I was battling with Jasmine to stay in her room and take her nap. When I finally got her to stay in her room, I went back downstairs and started crawling on the floor everywhere Logan had been. Unbelievably, I found it in the middle of the living room floor. I was so relieved! The whole time I was looking for it I kept thinking I can't believe we made it this far without having to pay the deductible for a lost hearing aid and here we are, less than a week before surgery, and we've finally lost one.
I am so glad I found it and I am so ready to turn them back in to Sunshine Cottage.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
First Meetup Today!
Through the last year I have found that talking with families with a hearing impaired child has helped me out tremendously. Not only does it help you feel less isolated, but it gives you the ability to share your war stories, so to speak. It's the same as a new mom who wants to talk about diapers, napping, their baby's latest accomplishments or even frustrations and questions. You get support and you give support. Speaking of this, I am a member of a toddler meetup group for my daughter and have made some great friends for myself and for my daughter because of it. I have also gotten lots of support from them as well. I am so glad that I took that step to join the group.
Because of this experience, last month I decided to start my own meetup group for infants and toddlers with hearing loss. I recall when Logan was first diagnosed, one of the first things I did (after calling a dear friend who has a daughter with hearing loss) was to look for a support group. Unfortunately, there was nothing here. I had entertained the idea of starting something then, but I just wasn't ready. The wound was still too new. So it slipped to the back of my mind, and life went on.
To make a long story short, I hosted my first meetup for my new group today at a local park. It was small, as we do not have very many members yet, but it was quite a success! One of the moms that I know from Sunshine Cottage was there and we also had a father join just the other day who was there with his son, daughter and wife! What made this so great was that they just found out within the last week that their 2 year old son has hearing loss. It makes me very happy that I created a group that has already served to support a family who is going through that very difficult period of shock, sadness, anger, isolation and just about every other emotion you can think of.
I hope that I can reach more people with my group and that it serves its purpose to provide support, encouragement, and a sense of family for others who are going through this as well.
Because of this experience, last month I decided to start my own meetup group for infants and toddlers with hearing loss. I recall when Logan was first diagnosed, one of the first things I did (after calling a dear friend who has a daughter with hearing loss) was to look for a support group. Unfortunately, there was nothing here. I had entertained the idea of starting something then, but I just wasn't ready. The wound was still too new. So it slipped to the back of my mind, and life went on.
To make a long story short, I hosted my first meetup for my new group today at a local park. It was small, as we do not have very many members yet, but it was quite a success! One of the moms that I know from Sunshine Cottage was there and we also had a father join just the other day who was there with his son, daughter and wife! What made this so great was that they just found out within the last week that their 2 year old son has hearing loss. It makes me very happy that I created a group that has already served to support a family who is going through that very difficult period of shock, sadness, anger, isolation and just about every other emotion you can think of.
I hope that I can reach more people with my group and that it serves its purpose to provide support, encouragement, and a sense of family for others who are going through this as well.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Logan is 1!
With the end of Logan's first birthday
here, I have been thinking about this last year quite a bit. I
remember the anticipation I felt as I waited out those last few weeks
of pregnancy. I remember my contractions getting regular late in the
evening and finally calling my mom to come stay with Jasmine. I
remember the joy we felt when we first saw him and held him. I
remember the worry we felt when he failed his newborn hearing
screening.
Waiting those weeks for the next
hearing test was torture. And when the audiologist confirmed that he
had significant hearing loss, I remember my world crashing down. I
wondered if I would ever hear him speak and what life would be like
for him. I am so happy to say that today, as a one year old, he says
mama, dada and hi consistently, and it is music to my ears!
I also remember the day when we went in
to get his first set of hearing aids. I can still see the smile on
his face when he actually heard us talk to him for the first time!
And now that he has tried out the hearing aids, gotten more powerful
hearing aids to try, and is scheduled to get his cochlear implants in
less than a month, I am so excited to see his reaction when they get
turned on.
I remember meeting his teachers (from
Sunshine Cottage and the Early Intervention program) and his
audiologist and feeling apprehensive and nervous about the process we
were going to be going through. But now these women are like our
extended family and we love them so much! I can't express how much
they have helped, not only Logan, but me as well.
When I took him to his 6 month checkup,
I shared my concern with his pediatrician about his upper body
strength. He just seemed too wobbly for his age. She agreed and
referred him for a physical therapy evaluation. It took a lot of
work to get him to sit up unassisted and I don't think he actually
did it consistently until he was 9 months old. But since he reached
that milestone he has been progressing at warp speed! In these 3
months, he started rolling to get everywhere, started doing a
commando crawl, transitioned to a traditional crawl and then a bear
crawl, and has been pulling up and cruising on anything and
everything he can get his hands on! He will be walking before we know
it.
This next year is going to be great for
him and our family!
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Surgery is Scheduled!
Originally, we were going to do one
implant when Logan turns 1 and the second implant about 6 months later.
However, when we went to see his ENT recently, he said that Logan's
hearing test results were so much on the fence that you could make an
argument to do one at a time or to do them both together. We told
him that our preference would be to do them both at once and only
have to go through the surgery once. So he said he would talk to
Logan's audiologist, and if she was on board, we would do them both
when he turns 1.
Well, we heard from the doctor's office
last week to schedule his surgery and they scheduled bilateral
implants (both ears)! The downside is that since the surgery is
twice as long we could not get it scheduled right after his birthday
at the beginning of July like we had hoped. So now he is scheduled to go
in for his implants on July 25th. Here's hoping there is a
cancellation so we can get in before then!
We are so excited to get his new “ears”
and to begin his therapy for this. I know his wonderful teachers
are excited to see how he does as well.
For those of you that don't know, this
is what he will be wearing:
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Making Progress
For those of you that don't know, Logan
has been in physical therapy 3 times a month for the last 4 months or
so. At his 6 month checkup, I mentioned to his pediatrician that he
was still a little wobbly and seemed to be weaker in his upper body
in comparison to his lower body. She checked him out and decided to
refer him for physical therapy. Developmental delays are common in
children with CMV.
When we had our physical therapy
evaluation the therapist said he was about 2 months behind which she
said is not too bad. For the past 4 months we have been working hard
on helping him with his head control, sitting, rolling properly (some of you
have seen his acrobatic style rolls), crawling and standing (in
addition to learning to listen).
At times I have been discouraged
because he seems to be taking so long to reach certain milestones. I
realize this is because I am comparing him to Jasmine and how quickly
she achieved them. I try to stop myself when I catch myself
comparing them, but it is easy to slip back into it.
I have to say that the therapy has
really started to pay off over the last month and a half. In this
short time he has perfected his sitting, rolling, commando crawling
(although he did actually crawl with his belly off the floor today!)
and is pulling up on anything and everything he can possibly find. He
actually prefers to be standing now and has let go of whatever he is
holding thinking he can balance already! I am so proud of him and am
so happy to see him finally start taking off and catching up to
babies his age. Thanks Denyse, we couldn't have done it without you.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Sound Decision
We met with Logan's audiologist today
to go over the pros and cons of the different implant brands. We had
already ruled out one brand, so we had the Med-El and Cochlear
Americas to look at. There is really so much to think about since
this is something that will be inside his head and it's not like you
can just switch it out on a whim.
Originally, we were pretty sure we were
going with Med-El since Logan's ENT had suggested it because the
internal device has the thinnest profile and the outer device is
backwards compatible. We got to look at a sample device and it was
very basic. It didn't really have much polish to it. Both brands come
with a remote to control various options on the device but theirs was
also quite basic and looked more difficult to use.
Once we reviewed the Cochlear Americas
device we were sold! This device does everything the Med-El does but
it seems like it does it better. Their devices are also backwards
compatible, their remote has a screen and some great troubleshooting
features, has a sleeker design and has splash protection. Our
audiologist shared a story with us about the Cochlear Americas
representative who visited the school and talked about how parents
tend to be apprehensive about the splash protection, and
understandably so! I mean these devices aren't cheap! So to
demonstrate, she actually had the device submerged in a fishbowl full
of water for over 3 hours and it still worked! This is a big deal to
us because both our kids love the water and it is always a shame that
we have to take his hearing aids off for him to be in water. The
other thing we loved about Cochlear Americas is that they seem to
have a lot of integrity as a company. Our audiologist told us that
they voluntarily took their latest internal processor off the market
and reverted back to their older processor because they saw a trend
of processor failure after a few months of use. So instead of
waiting for the FDA to force them to take it off the market, they
took it off themselves. Advanced Bionics, a company we were not
considering, actually has been forced to take their stuff off the
market a few times.
We also got to talk to a child that had
a Med-El implant and one that had Cochlear Americas. They both spoke
very well and it was nice to see how much these implants can help
these kids. I can't wait to see how it helps little Logan!
Friday, May 4, 2012
Reflections
I'm here trying to sleep and I keep thinking about another blog I read earlier today about a baby that died due to SIDS. That has always terrified me. It got me to thinking about Logan and how I am so happy that he is my son, even with all the challenges he will face in his lifetime.
Thinking of this reminded me of our grocery shopping outing earlier this week. I usually go by myself but this time Andrew and the kids came along. Afterwards, we decided it was really a bad idea because the grocery store was packed.
We decided to divide and conquer. Andrew took Jasmine in a shopping cart and I had Logan in another. While I was trying to find a certain breakfast cereal, I noticed a family of four, though the two kids were much older than mine. Their boy, who was probably 7 or 8, was staring at Logan. Then he started pointed at him and saying "mom, look at that baby with those things on his ears." I heard the mom reply that it was to help him hear. That was all fine with me, but then the boy kept pointing and staring and practically shouting about Logan to his parents.
This really infuriated me, especially because his parents didn't correct his behavior and just let him keep being rude! I really wanted to tell that boy something, or his parents for that matter, but I was so angry about it that I didn't have anything remotely polite to say. That was this past Sunday and it still gets to me when I think about it.
I know I will need to get used to this since the staring and comments will be more frequent once Logan gets his implants and has the processor stuck on his head. I just need to think about how I want to handle these situations now before I run into them again.
Thinking of this reminded me of our grocery shopping outing earlier this week. I usually go by myself but this time Andrew and the kids came along. Afterwards, we decided it was really a bad idea because the grocery store was packed.
We decided to divide and conquer. Andrew took Jasmine in a shopping cart and I had Logan in another. While I was trying to find a certain breakfast cereal, I noticed a family of four, though the two kids were much older than mine. Their boy, who was probably 7 or 8, was staring at Logan. Then he started pointed at him and saying "mom, look at that baby with those things on his ears." I heard the mom reply that it was to help him hear. That was all fine with me, but then the boy kept pointing and staring and practically shouting about Logan to his parents.
This really infuriated me, especially because his parents didn't correct his behavior and just let him keep being rude! I really wanted to tell that boy something, or his parents for that matter, but I was so angry about it that I didn't have anything remotely polite to say. That was this past Sunday and it still gets to me when I think about it.
I know I will need to get used to this since the staring and comments will be more frequent once Logan gets his implants and has the processor stuck on his head. I just need to think about how I want to handle these situations now before I run into them again.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Visit to the Neurologist
I mentioned in my last post that Logan's ENT was a bit concerned with some of the MRI results. His concern was mainly the presence of white calcium deposits on his brain. Although he wasn't too worried about it, he called a local pediatric neurologist and went ahead and referred us just to check it out. Apparently, this is pretty common in CMV kids.
Those of you that really know me, know that I am a worrier. So, of course, I go and google this and find all the worse case scenarios I can find. Andrew finally talked me out of "researching" this and just waiting to see the doctor.
So, naturally, I was quite excited to go talk to the neurologist today only to get there and be seen by the nurse practitioner because the doctor was out of town. Luckily for us, the nurse practitioner was very good at what he does and went over everything with us and answered our questions well. He even called us back after hours once he spoke to the doctor about Logan!
Basically everything looks fine because the spots were nonspecific and, although he is a little slow in his development, the important thing is that he is developing. At this point, the only concern the white spots cause is an increased risk for seizures. We will hear from the doctor personally next week and go back in 4 months to make sure Logan is still developing appropriately.
Those of you that really know me, know that I am a worrier. So, of course, I go and google this and find all the worse case scenarios I can find. Andrew finally talked me out of "researching" this and just waiting to see the doctor.
So, naturally, I was quite excited to go talk to the neurologist today only to get there and be seen by the nurse practitioner because the doctor was out of town. Luckily for us, the nurse practitioner was very good at what he does and went over everything with us and answered our questions well. He even called us back after hours once he spoke to the doctor about Logan!
Basically everything looks fine because the spots were nonspecific and, although he is a little slow in his development, the important thing is that he is developing. At this point, the only concern the white spots cause is an increased risk for seizures. We will hear from the doctor personally next week and go back in 4 months to make sure Logan is still developing appropriately.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Cochlear Implants, Here We Come!
Today was finally the day to go see Logan's ENT to discuss the results of his MRI from a couple of weeks ago. We were up bright and early this morning to get Jasmine to Grandma's house and make it to Logan's 8 am appointment.... Did I mention I could use some Starbucks right about now?!?
Although there are other concerns with the MRI results, he is a candidate for cochlear implants, which he is eligible for once he is a year old. Unless there is a dramatic change to his hearing, he will get one implant in 3 months and the second 6 months after that. As it was explained to us, since he has some hearing now, it is best to do one at a time so that he can rely on his aided ear to hear while the cochlear implant gets activated and mapped correctly (which could take 3-6 months). This way, he doesn't lose any valuable listening time.
I don't like the idea of him having to go through surgery twice in the span of a year, but if it gives him the best chance to be able to listen and speak, then we will go through whatever we have to. At least by the second time, we will know what to expect.
We go back in 6 weeks to start discussing dates for surgery. In the meantime, we will be going through cochlear implant options with our friends at Sunshine Cottage. I'm glad to finally have some direction here.
Although there are other concerns with the MRI results, he is a candidate for cochlear implants, which he is eligible for once he is a year old. Unless there is a dramatic change to his hearing, he will get one implant in 3 months and the second 6 months after that. As it was explained to us, since he has some hearing now, it is best to do one at a time so that he can rely on his aided ear to hear while the cochlear implant gets activated and mapped correctly (which could take 3-6 months). This way, he doesn't lose any valuable listening time.
I don't like the idea of him having to go through surgery twice in the span of a year, but if it gives him the best chance to be able to listen and speak, then we will go through whatever we have to. At least by the second time, we will know what to expect.
We go back in 6 weeks to start discussing dates for surgery. In the meantime, we will be going through cochlear implant options with our friends at Sunshine Cottage. I'm glad to finally have some direction here.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Lost and Found
Logan is at the age where he likes to pull his hearing aids out of his ears to chew on them. In recent weeks, he has become quite proficient at this, as well as stealthy. We had several adventures at home looking for his hearing aids on the floor, but it becomes quite another matter when this starts happening outside of our home.
In the last week, we've had two incidents when we thought one of his aids was lost. Last week, Andrew took the kids out to Target while I spent some time with my mom. I get a call from him saying that he got home from the store and he can't find Logan's right hearing aid. So my mom and I rush to meet them at Target, where we search every aisle they went through and look through every shopping cart we can find. After a while, Andrew took the kids home and my mom and I kept the search up. We finally gave up and decided to check the carts outside again on the way to our cars. Incredibly, we found it at the bottom of a cart at the edge of the parking lot.
When I relayed this story to our audiologist, she suggested we use ear gear on his aids to keep them nearby. This is basically a sock that goes over each hearing aid that is tethered to the child's shirt. I happily gave this a try for a few days, but I noticed that Logan took his hearing aids out even more, since it makes them bulkier. After a few days, we stopped using it.
We are back to using the ear gear after losing one again today, but this time at Lowe's. I remember seeing the hearing aid on him when we were in the store, but when we got home only the earpiece was in and not the receiver. AHH! Not Again! We frantically search the truck, his clothes and his seat and then jump back into the truck to rush back to Lowe's. We must have someone watching over us because we found it near the cart return. It has some scuffs on it, like it was run over by a shopping cart, but it still works!
Needless to say, we will be using the ear gear daily and doing regular hearing aid checks throughout the day to make sure he still has them.
In the last week, we've had two incidents when we thought one of his aids was lost. Last week, Andrew took the kids out to Target while I spent some time with my mom. I get a call from him saying that he got home from the store and he can't find Logan's right hearing aid. So my mom and I rush to meet them at Target, where we search every aisle they went through and look through every shopping cart we can find. After a while, Andrew took the kids home and my mom and I kept the search up. We finally gave up and decided to check the carts outside again on the way to our cars. Incredibly, we found it at the bottom of a cart at the edge of the parking lot.
When I relayed this story to our audiologist, she suggested we use ear gear on his aids to keep them nearby. This is basically a sock that goes over each hearing aid that is tethered to the child's shirt. I happily gave this a try for a few days, but I noticed that Logan took his hearing aids out even more, since it makes them bulkier. After a few days, we stopped using it.
We are back to using the ear gear after losing one again today, but this time at Lowe's. I remember seeing the hearing aid on him when we were in the store, but when we got home only the earpiece was in and not the receiver. AHH! Not Again! We frantically search the truck, his clothes and his seat and then jump back into the truck to rush back to Lowe's. We must have someone watching over us because we found it near the cart return. It has some scuffs on it, like it was run over by a shopping cart, but it still works!
Needless to say, we will be using the ear gear daily and doing regular hearing aid checks throughout the day to make sure he still has them.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Next steps
Logan's hearing is worse in his right ear, but his left ears seems to be getting worse as well. Since he has profound hearing loss in his right ear, we have already been discussing the possibility of a cochlear implant (at least for that ear) with his ENT.
The first step is to see if he is even a good candidate for an implant. So we had to schedule a sedated MRI so his Dr. can see what his cochlea and nerves look like. We had this scheduled for the end of February, but of course, Logan got sick the week before we were going to have it done and we had to reschedule. Unfortunately, that meant we had to wait another month to get it done.
We finally had his MRI done this past Wednesday. It was so hard seeing them put an IV on my little guy, but I know that is nothing to what it will be if he gets his surgery done! Everything went smoothly and we were home within an hour after the test was completed. Now we have to wait for our ENT appointment to get the results. I swear it feels like we are always waiting. We just want to know what direction we are going!
The first step is to see if he is even a good candidate for an implant. So we had to schedule a sedated MRI so his Dr. can see what his cochlea and nerves look like. We had this scheduled for the end of February, but of course, Logan got sick the week before we were going to have it done and we had to reschedule. Unfortunately, that meant we had to wait another month to get it done.
We finally had his MRI done this past Wednesday. It was so hard seeing them put an IV on my little guy, but I know that is nothing to what it will be if he gets his surgery done! Everything went smoothly and we were home within an hour after the test was completed. Now we have to wait for our ENT appointment to get the results. I swear it feels like we are always waiting. We just want to know what direction we are going!
 |
| Logan and Grandma waiting for the MRI to start |
Our Story
This blog is long overdue! Logan is now 9 months old and I've been meaning to start this to document his story and to share with others for so long. Since he was diagnosed, I've taken much comfort in reading the stories of other families and I hope our story can give comfort to others.
We have 1 daughter and were very happy to be adding a son to our family. I can remember how in his first month of life it was both one of the happiest times and one of the hardest and saddest times in my life. He failed his newborn hearing screening 3 times before we were discharged from the hospital. They assured us that we did not need to worry and that this happens quite often. We were sure he just had some fluid in his ears.
When he was 1 week old, we went to get an ABR test done, which he failed. The audiologist suggested we do a repeat ABR when he was a month old, just in case there was still fluid in his ears. As we waited those 3 weeks we did many "hearing tests" on him, such as banging pots together, having his sister yell and anything else we could think of. Every time we thought he had a response, we were so hopeful. The 3 weeks finally passed and there I was with him and the audiologist again. As I knew deep down, they confirmed his hearing loss that day. I was crushed when they told me that he had severe to profound hearing loss in both ears.
Logan was fitted with his first set of hearing aids when he was just 7 weeks old. I will never forget how his face lit up when he actually heard us. But with that joy I also felt so sad thinking about all the things he had been missing.
Logan has come a long way since then. He has so much help that I am so thankful for. He is enrolled in an early childhood program at a great oral deaf school here and has other early childhood intervention services. He is such a happy baby and he loves to babble, which melts my heart knowing his degree of hearing loss.
We have 1 daughter and were very happy to be adding a son to our family. I can remember how in his first month of life it was both one of the happiest times and one of the hardest and saddest times in my life. He failed his newborn hearing screening 3 times before we were discharged from the hospital. They assured us that we did not need to worry and that this happens quite often. We were sure he just had some fluid in his ears.
When he was 1 week old, we went to get an ABR test done, which he failed. The audiologist suggested we do a repeat ABR when he was a month old, just in case there was still fluid in his ears. As we waited those 3 weeks we did many "hearing tests" on him, such as banging pots together, having his sister yell and anything else we could think of. Every time we thought he had a response, we were so hopeful. The 3 weeks finally passed and there I was with him and the audiologist again. As I knew deep down, they confirmed his hearing loss that day. I was crushed when they told me that he had severe to profound hearing loss in both ears.
Logan was fitted with his first set of hearing aids when he was just 7 weeks old. I will never forget how his face lit up when he actually heard us. But with that joy I also felt so sad thinking about all the things he had been missing.
Logan has come a long way since then. He has so much help that I am so thankful for. He is enrolled in an early childhood program at a great oral deaf school here and has other early childhood intervention services. He is such a happy baby and he loves to babble, which melts my heart knowing his degree of hearing loss.
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