The stairs are in!!!

The stairs are in!

Josh came and helped all day. Legend!



Mark and Nick came and helped with the stair installation.

Awesome butt shot Nick!

Interview with Driscoll...

Left Hand Success

We finally got some time with Katya wearing her left hand side. It was down very low but she was ok with it. Had to bust a gut trying to entertain her so she would not brush it off. Back to the right hand side tomorrow and then we might give the left a go on Sunday.

Stairs

The stairs have arrived. VERY VERY HEAVY!OUCH!

CI Inside and Out

For those of you who are interested, this is what the cochlear implant is made up of.

First an internal bit that is under the skin. The round bit is an induction coil and a magnet. The straight tentacle is an earth. The tentacle that coils, is the electrode array inside the cochlear.
Outside the skin is another induction coil and magnet, a sound processor (in red/pink) and a battery pack/controller.

Bending wood

One of my little side projects is to make a hand rail so Katya can walk up and down our steps. I am bending the wood very slowly and hope to have it overlapped in a week or two. I have bent it in over 50cm so far with no cracking.

The builder Katya

Katya is getting use to her right hand implant. Most days we can know have it up to P4 and have her wearing it most of the time.

The left hand implant is a different story. The levels are just too much for her. However we are going to give it a solid go tomorrow and not use the right hand one. It is a bit of a risk as we may make her upset about the right hand one. However it is important that her left hand side gets some action. I have managed to figure out how to adjust the volume down so hopefully she will get use to it.

We are now onto our second magnet/induction coil as she has managed to break the wire. Fortunately the device gives us error codes (H3) which allows us to diagnose problems. Once the magnet was transferred to a replacement coil, no more error!

One down side of all this focus is that her glasses are not being worn. Once we get the CIs going we will return focus on this.

Katya is fully getting into the building work I am doing and loves her builders belt. Tonight she was trying to remove the door hinge with the plastic pliers.

Katya and the office

Brendan gave me a hand putting up a sheet of braceline in the office.

Katya wearing her right (red is for right) processor.

Bit more progress

Getting ready for stairs...

Today I removed the wall that is where the stairs begin. They may turn up this week so I need to be ready.

Stairs continues...

All the floor joists are now cut. Apparently the stairs could be a week away so I have to get a hurry on.

Afternoon Playtime - LH and both

Afternoon play time - RH side

We had a play session in the afternoon. Katya got up to the loudest settings and had both implants on at one stage quite happily.

Dad's turn...

Right Ear Switch On

Switch On Day Video - Katya's Entrance

Reminds me of Stewie off Family Guy

Switch On Today

We have just returned from Christchurch where Katya's implants were switched on for the first time.

The implants themselves are inert. But once the external sound processor is attached they start working.



This is a photo back at the house with one of her sound processors attached.


This is all (except for the soccer ball, pencil case, calendar, painting set, safety strap and pencils) the stuff that comes in each pack!!!

It includes (left to right):

carry pack
processor plus replacement parts in black case
drier
Batteries
Various accessories for attaching to the ear more firmly
Covers for the microphones

I will put some video up soon of the switch on.

Safari vs. Firefox

I am now try Firefox as my primary browser. Safari hangs too many times and is getting frustrating. Safari has a reputation as the fastest browser but it is not fast if it hangs.

The thing I like about Firefox is that it tells you what it is up to so you know whether it is waiting for a response from a site or whether there is some other problem.

The stair well takes shape

Today I started to remove the floor where the new stairs will go.

Just Juice... yer right!

I am not sure whether this is has always been the case... but I have just noticed that a kiwi icon... Just Juice... is not just juice. If you read the contents label it has flavouring in it. Surely a case of misrepresentation?

That is the end of us buying Just Juice.

Switch On is coming

This week is a very exciting week. On Tuesday we head down to Christchurch for switch on. This is where we get the external bits of the CI and the audiologist starts the process of tuning Katya's implants. In short, Katya will begin to be able to hear.

This could be a bit of a traumatic event... given all the videos of kids bursting into tears when they hear for the first time. Hopefully because Katya has kind of heard a bit she should be ok.

A strange plant

We have covered our place in agapanthus. They are either blue, purple or white.

However we have found this one growing that is primarily white with just a touch of purple. I did not think the different colours crossed so this is a strange plant.

The rafters are finished

Today I bought a new battery drill. My old ones battery is dying. Bunnings cheapo model (18v) was sufficient. I also got a very cool LED torch set with a head lamp that Katya liked.



All this was to install nine rafters in my ceiling. I had done 2.5 with my old drill over about 5 days. Today I did the remaining 6.5 and completed the work.








The rafters sit above or to the side of old rafters that rest on a wall we are removing. These new rafters span from a new wall to an existing wall that is being retained. Note all the metal straps that hold the old rafters to the new ones.

So... done.

On Tuesday morning the stair builders come to measure up. They say it will take them two weeks to build the stairs. So not long now until we have usable stairs.

More building inspector stuff...

These are two of the things I had to to. I have just got to photographing them.

The first was to put a prop under a roof runner.


This transfers the load directly down onto an existing wall that will be retained. The angled bit of wood running down to the left was the existing prop which ran down onto a wall that I am removing.

The second thing was to take the load of an existing prop that loaded the weight of the roof onto the wall I am removing. The inspector wanted me to put a beam in under it that spanned from the new wall to a new beam I had put in. The architect (Dad) was not happy with this as any deformation would impact the ceiling. Instead we transferred the weight out to the walls by putting a cross brace in and a strut angled down to the new wall.




In the second photo you can see all the ceiling rafters I have moved up into the ceiling. This is my next major project before removing the floor and wall completely.

Katya at Laura's Weding

My workmates with Laura and Ciaran

The rest are Katya...

The fifth item

The building inspector had five things I had to sought. This one could have been the easiest but Dad wanted a detail exact so it took a lot of effort. The floor joist has been moved and replaced. What the inspector wanted was the two 12mm bolts which are now done. I am sure it will better in the long run.

Final CI bill

Well we got the final bill for Katya's CI. The all up cost was:

The implant and processor is $29,812.50
ENT Surgeon... $2000
Anesthetist... $430
Hospital Operating Theatre extra cost... $1574.07 (for 87min)

So $33,816.57

So a little less than we had thought we were heading to.

Compared to $50k if it was done separately, it makes a lot of sense to do the bilateral implant all together.

Building Inspector

We had the building inspector around this week. He was really prompt (contacted on Monday - arrived Tuesday). He was very pleased with the building and passed it through to final inspection. He had five things which he wanted addressed. I have done four of them so far.

One is doing a bracing element which is what these pictures are about.



Below the floor


Above the floor

More stair developments

I have had to order some more wood as the ceiling rafters need to be spanned.

However this has not stopped progress downstairs.

A new wall.



And another step.