I haven't blogged about what is happening with Katya for a while.
Claire and her mother went down to CHCH for a further session of tuning last week. All the electrodes are now active. This has been challenging as we had got Katya to a stage where she was asking for us to put her processors on. After the latest tune up, she is reacting very badly to having the processors attached. She quickly gets over it but it is quite annoying that we had got to a very good place and then the latest adjustment seems to have been too much for her. It is certainly a behaviour we want to get through and get back toher likingher processors.
She is developing in her language. There is serious tonal variation and there is inflection in the "words" she is trying to say. None are words as we understand it yet but there is something close to a Hello and a Mum. She is a lot more vocal.
We had our first accident with a processor. One ended up briefly in a puddle. It took to blasts of the drying kit to take the water out of the battery pack. Fortunately the processor itself did not end up in the water.
If you are interested and have an hour and a half to kill, here is a link to a CI operation.
http://or-live.com/RainbowBabies/2419/event/rnh.cfm
I don't do blood so I'm not watching it. Also I still struggle the idea of doing harm to someone I love for their long term benefit. I know it is right but that does not stop it from being a struggle. Surgeons need to operate on their spouse or kids or other family members to understand this I think.
2 comments:
Dear Sym,
Thanks for the comments about Katya's last appointment with us.
In the early stages post-implant children acclimatise slowly to increases in stimulation. It is normal within the first 3 months for children to find a new MAP or MAPs a little overwhelming.
If we were to leave MAP levels unchanged, particularly in the early post-implant period, then Katya would not receive the stimulus levels necessary for ongoing speech-language development.
Over time Katya will adjust more quickly to each change in MAP as she becomes used to stimulation.
Kind regards
Neil Heslop, Audiologist
Southern Cochlear Implant Programme
Hi Neil
I fully understand the need to keep winding things up. I had braces as a kid and the same approach was taken there.
I guess I was really encouraged when Katya would come to me in the morning and ask for me to put her processors on. There is quite a contrast between that situation and now. However we are determined that we will encourage her back to wanting them on first thing in the morning. We are seeing small steps back to that state already. She is wearing them the majority of the day. Interestingly the left side is now the most favourite (it wasn't at the start).
Sym
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