Second Stair Platform

Here is a pile of photos and a short video showing how the new stairs will work. The second platform is not quite as flat as the first I built but you would be hard pressed to pick which way it slops. It is about 2mm out.

Te Papa

This morning we went to Te Papa. It was seriously busy. The place is growing on me. While it is butt ugly outside, the interior has some nice spaces.

Last night Mark came around and ripped out some wiring in the house. Now there is no power in the walls I need to remove. He also put some new sockets and switches in.

Laura's wedding

Couple of pics from Laura's wedding. I like weddings. However they do make you feel old. This was the first wedding Katya has been to that she has really taken notice of. She was amazed.

Stair platforms

Katya really likes the whole building thing. We have a little tool belt for her.


The first platform of the stairs is in.
Note the level is dead flat. It is actually dead flat in all directions.
The top is 21mm plywood and the wood is VSG8 so rock solid.
The platform is full of glue, screws, nail plates and the odd nail. Note the concrete bolts which fully hold it in place.

Cochlear Implant Costs

Got the St George's Hospital bill today for the theatre time.

$1574.07. This is for 87min of time so we were charged for the shorter of the operations.

One more bill to go and that is the ENT surgeons. Looks like it will work out bang on $35k.

One thing that is not good about these bills is that none of them have bank account numbers in which to pay. Maybe it is a South Island thing but the days of cheque books are at an end. 

More building work

This is the main lintel that covers the hall way and the stairway out of the lounge. I could not recess the stud for this on the left hand side because some previous builder had put a hot water pipe inside the wall just where I would have put my studs. This was very annoying as they had the entire hot water cupboard for the pipe but for some reason had to place it just where I wanted to place my studs.

Katya loves to climb so my ladder was just asking for it.

Cochlear Implant Activation

The next stage for Katya is the activation of her implants. Youtube has some interesting videos of this stage. Here are a few.

This first video is an adult implant in NZ.

These second two are from an Aussie girl.

This is a very informational video

Deck Rail

Katya has been starting to climb our deck fence. Given it is a 2-4m drop I decided to increase the height she has to scale. I still have to put some bolts into it but it is peg nailed enough to keep her safe.

Cochlear Implant - Day Eight - More Scars and Birthday

Cochlear Implant Costs

We got the anesthetist's bill today. $430 which is not bad.

Cochlear Implant Costs

One of the frustrating aspects of Cochlear implants is that the government only funds one. However if you have only one, you can not hear directionally. You would be surprised how much you rely on your directional hearing.

We decided to fund the second implant. We made this decision when we thought it would be around $25-28k. Very quickly we found the price increasing. What the original figures turned out to be is the cost of the implant only and the GST exclusive price.

Currently we still don't know how much the whole operation will cost. As parents facing such a big decision... and a decision that we had only a few days to make... it would have been really helpful to have had a single figure in mind. So I hope to provide this as we get the bills in.

What we do know is that if you get the second cochlear implant as part of a separate operation, it will cost you $50k. If you do it at the same time as the government funded one, you can piggy back on a lot of the government funded parts of the procedure which are no more expensive (ie travel, hospital stay, Xrays, consultations, etc) for one or two implants.

What you will have to fund is the second implant. The implant and processor is $29,812.50 including GST.

Prices excluding GST for kids is really a distraction as there is no way of claiming this GST back without committing tax fraud. A cochlear implant in a 2 year old is going to be very hard to pass off as a business related expense.

Because of the very short decision window we have had, the Southern Hearing Charitable Trust has allowed us to pay this off over 3 months. This makes it a lot easier to sort out the funding.

So... we are currently waiting on the following bills that I will post as they come in. We should then get a real price:

ENT Surgeon... $2000
Anesthetist... $430
Hospital Operating Theatre extra cost... $1574.07 (for 87min)

Cochlear Implant - Day Seven - More Scars

Here are some more photos of Katya's wounds. She has had a very good day. Much happier.

The blood nose has stopped. However so bruising has now started to show. The stitch lines however are reducing very quickly now.

Cochlear Implant - Day Six - The Scars

Yesterday we went to church. Our church family have been and continue to be an enormous support to us.

Katya has been healing well. The only concern has been a lot of blood (dark and dry) coming out her nose. We think the surgeon may have got too close to the sinuses.

This morning we found Katya had removed the bandage but the wounds have healed enough for us to leave them off.

This photo is the best I have got so far. It does not show the 1inch cut above her ear.

Cochlear Implant - Day Four - Back Home

We are back home in Wellington. One of our friends picked us up from the airport and had cooked us a lovely meal.

Our friends from Christchurch who loaned us a car are here as well.

As we were getting dinner heated, Katya ripped off her head bandage. It came off in one piece. So much for the bandage being done so it is Katya proof.

Anyway... she started itching her ears and made the wound bleed slightly. So we put a new bandage on her and got one of our nurse friends to come and make sure we had done it ok. Seems to be fine.

We may end up having to put mittens on her and leave the bandage off. Then the wond can heal and she can't scratch it. I think she has my long nail genes.

Some thoughts on our engagement with health professionals

I guess because of the type of person I am and the work I do, our engagement so far with the health system is something I have noticed.
The health system is made up of a whole pile of people and isn't really a single entity. One thing that annoys me is when people say that the "system" is failing. Actually what it means is that too many of the people who make up that system are failing.
Any how... today we struck and interesting person who has caused me to think. We were having Xrays which involved me holding Katya and this Xray technical holding her head in place. We got the first side done but then it just was not working on the second side. Katya was getting upset so I said stop. I then proceeded to settle Katya down while being lectured about how it was better to just plow ahead and get it over and done with. This may or may not have been the case but as Katya's father it is my call as to what is best for her... end of story. Most health professionals accept this now days. Apparently there are a few stragglers.
It seems however that there are a significant number of more competent and professional people at St George's Hospital because it was pretty impressive compared to our involvement with Wellington Hospital.

The other key health professional we have engaged with are the ENT surgeon and the anesthetist. Both have a very confident manner, almost a bit cocky.
In the case of the ENT surgeon it seems as though this is well founded. Anyone who can knock out four implants in one day and not stuff up is pretty hot stuff. His manner shows that he realises he is very very good at what he does.
We had an interesting conversation with the anesthetist. I told him that Katya was very very good at undoing bandages and asked him to do a real job on the IV drip bandage. He informed me that he was a pediatric anesthetist etc and essentially said he knew what he was doing. Too his credit he did a really good job on the IV bandage on Katya. He didn't do such a good job on the other kids who undid their bandages! He also has done a poor job on the breathing tubes as Katya has had and continues to have blood noses. Hopefully tonight these will stop.
Both these guys though were really really good at letting us know how the op was progressing and letting us know immediately it was finished.
The other health professional we have been dealing with is the audiologist. He is a completely different kettle of fish. He seems competent but isn't flashy or cocky. Almost to the other extreme. He also is a listener and explainer person. I am going to enjoy watching him over the coming months and maybe years as he does the 'real' magic of making the cochlear implant sing.
As a team however, the ENT surgeon, Anesthetist and Audiologist cover most bases. An example of a working system.

Cochlear Implant - Day Three - Recovery

Claire stayed overnight with Katya in St George's. Katya slept well and woke up at her norml time. She was much happier and smiled when I arrived.

During the morning she had and Xray. The implants are really well placed. I'm hoping to get copies of the Xrays.


Here she is just before we checked out.



This is playing back at Ronald McDonald House.

Here she is with the other two implant kids (Benji -middle, Liam -right) who were before her. There is $120k of implant sitting on this couch!

Cochlear Implant - Day Two - Operation Done

What a day.

Katya was admitted at 11am. She was taken for surgery at 2pm. She came out at 5.30ish. She slept in recovery for a long time and was still out of it when she came back on the ward.

But then she woke up and was not grumpy. She was hungry and thirsty and just piled into the food. She eat at least twice her normal dinner and drunk heaps.



This is Katya after eating. The flowers are from my work (NZVA).

This is Katya piling into the food. What you don't see is the sandwich, cheese, orange, grapes, beef and orange juice she flogged off our dinner.

This is before the op. The pig was from my work as well.

In the morning we went around on the tram and stopped at the Christchurch art museum. Katya loved the water fall.

Well that is it for tonight. Claire is in hospital with Katya. I will go back tomorrow morning. We have two courses of IV anti-biotics and an X-ray to do. Then it sounds like Katya will be discharged.

We fly back to Wellington on Saturday.

Cochlear Implant - Day One

Well we made it to Christchurch. We are settled into Ronald McDonald House. This is a place where people with family in hospital can stay for free. It is seriously flash. It is like a hotel except everything is free (including wireless internet). The kitchen has five different stations all set up so families can cook their meals. Tomorrow night they put on Christmas dinner.

We had our pre-op meeting. The CT showed normal bone formation. There are no abnormalities so it should be pretty straight forward.

There are two other families who have kids getting CIs tomorrow. The surgeon has a full on day.

We will go to the hospital at 11am. Operation is at 2pm. It takes four hours.

Christmas is coming...

Gummy Bear Rocks

A blast from the past...

Oh wasn't the hair soooo cool back then?

Introducing...

Baby number two. Due 21st April. Seems a bit shy and won't let us know the gender yet.

The study is back

This is the new lintle.


This is the gibbed wall. I have to leave these end walls open for building inspection. The gibbed wall can be inspected from the other side.

CI operation confirmed

Katya's CI operation has been confirmed for next week. We will be down in CHCH on Wed. Op on Thur. Back home on Sat night.
We don't need to front with the $$$ before the op. We have 3 months to pay.
So... all go.

Here is a video that explains how a cochlear implant works.

And then there was floor

There was a hole in the floor

Now it is pretty much gone!

CT all done!

Katya had a CT scan this morning. This went really well. She went out quickly with the gas and only let us know about it all for about 15min afterwards. Then she was fine and happy.

The CT is crucial to confirm she is on for the cochlear implants and there is nothing else.

We are working with the Southern Cochlear Implant program at the moment on costs for the bilateral implant. We have decided to do it but the costs are a bit hard to nail down. It started off at $25k and has drifted up to $33k. Hopefully we can see these drift back down a bit.

Now we wait to see whether what we have been told about having surgery next week comes to pass.

A really interesting CI website

This is someone's blog whose kid has had two cochlear implants.

http://momtotoes.blogspot.com/

Worth checking out to see what Katya is heading into.

Safety glasses are cool!

New walls finished

It has been a very busy few months. It feels like we're doing four jobs.

However we have now completed the new framing.

This is the new wall upstairs.

This is a frame to attach the floor boards to. Unfortunately the floor is a native wood which means it is ridiculously expensive.

These are the new walls downstairs.

What is left before building inspection is to attach the lower walls into the concrete floor, some wiring, three doorways, removal of the existing floor upstairs, construction of a half height wall, and construction of some platforms where the stairs change direction (in photo immediately above.

The supplies arrive later this week so along with possible Katya operations, work and this... it is going to be a busy time.

It is all go!!!

We have been in Christchurch for a cochlear assessment for Katya. All the specialist have concluded that the issue is not a skull issue but that Katya is just deaf.
Katya has now been accepted into the cochlear implant program. We now have a CT scan on the 10th Dec. We then hope Katya will be able to get the implants in the week before Christmas.
We are planning to get a bilateral implant (ie one in each ear). Unfortunately the government only provide one implant. We therefore have to find $25k for the second implant.
The benefits of the bilateral implant are that:
1) Better sound isolation. This means that she will be able to pick a voice out from background noise.
2) Better sound localization. This means she will be able to know where a sound comes from. This is not possible with a single implant.
3) If we don't do this now, it reduces the effectiveness of any second implant done in the future. Basically the auditory nerve needs stimulation to develop.

The cool thing about the implants are that within the next 6 months, Katya should have pretty close to full hearing. The difference is basically the difference between a laptop speaker sound vs. a high quality sound system. Still pretty good.