Cochlear Americas Ambassador Training

So this post is not so much about Logan's progress as it is about what I have been trying to do for him and other children like him.  As you know, I started this blog to document Logan's progress once we knew he'd be receiving cochlear implants and to help spread general awareness about the technology.  I've also started a meetup group for children with hearing loss that was initially for children ages birth to three, but has since been expanded to ten years of age.  In addition, I've done some volunteer work for Cochlear and raised money for Logan's school, Sunshine Cottage.

Last year, our Family participated in the Houston Walk for Hearing 5k event where I met the  Cochlear Awareness Manager for our area named Paula. We exchanged contact information and she put me in contact with some great people locally.  Eventually, I wound up doing some volunteer work for Cochlear, which I really enjoyed.  Then, last month Paula contacted me to ask if I was interested in doing some training on Cochlear Awareness in Denver.  I was thrilled! What better way to help my son and other children with hearing loss than to take the time to absorb as much as I can to help spread awareness?  After talking with Andrew about it, we decided that I should do it.

Houston Walk for Hearing 2012

Within a few weeks, I arrived in Denver and met some really great people who were so inspiring and strong.  Some were Cochlear recipients, and others, like me, were the parents of a cochlear recipient (or two).  We learned so much together and we got to hear each others' stories.  A few of them even had the room in tears. 

It was so exciting to see the Cochlear American offices and I loved how the walls were covered in  pictures and quotes from recipients.  There was even a recipient wall that had thousands of dots representing the number of Cochlear recipients (over 250,000 worldwide).

I wish I had a better picture of this!

The front of the Cochlear office

We spent a lot of time discussing the products, the upcoming products and ways to spread awareness about cochlear implants and hearing loss. I've already had the opportunity to use my increased knowledge to help people with questions!  One thing that was really interesting was a video that they played that demonstrated the lack of knowledge / awareness about what a cochlear implants is. And really, before Logan was born and diagnosed with profound hearing loss, I was one of those people who had never heard of them. This video is only three years old, so I really think if someone went around with the same question today, the results would be similar.

We also had the opportunity to talk and make connections with each other. Cochlear took great care of us and most of our connecting was over some delicious food!  They also planned a really fun evening on Saturday. We painted Red Rocks and sipped wine and had a total blast doing it!

I was sad to have the training end because the people there were awesome, but I am glad to say that I have made some good friends from it and am completely energized to spread more awareness about this wonderful technology.  I've even had the opportunity to visit one of these fabulous people at their home already (more on that soon)!

Loving the Love....From Sunshine Cottage

It is easy to tell when Logan's cochlear devices are working properly.  The front of each of his sound processors has an indicator light that blinks green when it is connected and working properly. If there is a problem or the coil is not sitting on his head correctly the light will blink orange.

For the past few weeks we've had intermittent problems with Logan's right side device. At first it would start blinking orange until we removed the coil from his head and repositioned it.  I finally solved this issue when I changed out the cable that goes from the processor to the coil that sits on his head.

I thought all our issues were over until a few days ago. I've made a habit to check the indicator lights throughout the day to make sure everything is working so that he gets as much access to language as possible. Well several times throughout the day I found that the sound processor had powered off.  Each time this happened, I turned it back on and made sure I locked the buttons just in case little fingers were getting to them.

Today I called Logan's awesome audiologist Marci from Sunshine Cottage about the issue and we did some troubleshooting together. She was leaving early to spend the weekend with family in another city and gave me her cell phone number in case I needed anything. She even called to check in with me after she left work.

Everything seemed to be fine until we got home from picking Jasmine up from her preschool. When I got Logan out of the car I noticed his processor was off. When I went to turn it on, nothing happened! I tried for several minutes and still nothing. So I tried a different, fully charged battery and it still didn't turn on. I immediately got out my phone to call Marci to let her know what was going on.  I can't even begin to express how awesome she is and how well she takes care of us.  She immediately called Cochlear Americas to overnight a premapped replacement sound processor. To ensure this could even happen, she had to take all Logan's mapping information with her on her trip.

I am so amazed by the love Logan has received from the wonderful women that work with him. This is just another example of how much they care for him and his success. Marci didn't have to do all this for us. She could have told me that I needed to call Cochlear Americas and work it out with them. But instead she chose to take time while she was off the clock to ensure Logan gets what he needs. She even asked me to let her know as soon as it arrives so that she knows he has it and that it is working properly.  We are so lucky to have these women in our lives and I am thankful for them everyday.

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.
 

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!

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!