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!