Hello All!
I wish I had some pictures to plug in at the moment but I will have to add those later. I thought it would be much more important to add some updated notes. So much has happened since the beginning of May. First of which we had Mollie's IEP meeting with Metro. IEP stands for Individual Education Plan. This is Mollie's plan of "education attack" for the next three years.
I am proud to say after much hard work and lots of paperwork! Mollie will be attending the Mama Lere school through Metro. She will be receiving a free and very valued education through Metro and Mama Lere. She will attend school 5 days a week from 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. This is very sad to me though as I am not ready to send her off to school full time at the age of 3 years. However it is very necessary for her to move forward with her hearing and speech if she is to overcome her delay. She will also be able to have the bus come to our house and pick her up for school and bring her home from school. This is huge! I was so wondering how I could be in 3 places at one time in the morning. That was getting Madie off to her school bus by 7:10 a.m. Mollie to school downtown by 8:30 a.m. and Nate to his school at 9:00 a.m. The logistics were crazy. However someone did mention that she could potentially qualify for the bus to pick her up and I went full throttle for this option. Only after I spoke with a Mom who put her 3 yr. old hearing impaired child on the bus to go to school. This Mom assured me that Mollie would like it and would be well taken care of. So here's hoping for August 11th.
Mollie is attending the Mama Lere camp this summer for the month of July. She has a new teacher Ms. Katie and we think we will really like her... as much as we have Ms. Emily and Ms. Angela. Speaking of Ms. Angela she is off to have her baby and we will forever miss her and her support and education for Mollie. We are also very blessed at the same time to have Ms. Emily move on to be Mollie's therapist and continue to be support on Mollie's journey. She knows Mollie and she will make Mollie work!
Second thing that happened in May, June, now July is that Mollie and Nate turned "3".
We had a small home party this year and got them each a big present. Mollie got a big girl "princess bike" and Nate got a basketball hoop. Both I would like to say are in good use. They also have been potty trained! Yep - Mollie can say "potty potty potty" with quit an urgency when she has to go. So operation P & P (you get the jist) was successful I must say. Not without a lot of Dum Dum's consumed and stickers galore - but we made it!
Finally - we had our very first family vacation since the twins were born. We drove to Destin Beach, Florida. Yes, we drove and thank goodness for hotels along the way and DVD players. But the kids did great! We made memories together and we are looking forward to many more trips to the beach. The kids loved the water, the sand the pool and having Mom and Dad 24/7.
Will update more as we move forward towards the school year.
Mollie
First Day of Kindergarten Aug. 2011
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Words I have learned this month
This is what Mollie is learning in school. Each month they have a theme. For April it was Spring. They learned about rain, umbrellas, raincoats, etc. Mollie now knows how to recognize and say - "its raining" - she understands dog, frog, duck, snake, off, spider and she can say these words spontaneously when she is presented with the item. She can also imitate words such as another, look, and blow. So all of April we learned how to take another turn, blow bubbles, blow hot food, blow out candles and her favorite - blow dandelions into the wind.
Mollie and Madie have now started taking gymnastics. Both girls are so enjoying their classes. Mollie has no fear and she enjoys the balance beam and the trampoline. What was so great and unexpected is that Mollie's coach, Sarah, went to school for speech therapy and she works with autistic children during the day. So, she has been instrumental in helping Mollie use her words in gymnastics. Sarah said she is so glad that I am encouraging Mollie to live a normal life and not put her in a bubble. I had to laugh because anybody who has ever met Mollie would know this child would never stand for being told she could not do something. She sets her mind to it and she does it! Who knows what she will be .... Love to you all :) Khristi
Mollie and Madie have now started taking gymnastics. Both girls are so enjoying their classes. Mollie has no fear and she enjoys the balance beam and the trampoline. What was so great and unexpected is that Mollie's coach, Sarah, went to school for speech therapy and she works with autistic children during the day. So, she has been instrumental in helping Mollie use her words in gymnastics. Sarah said she is so glad that I am encouraging Mollie to live a normal life and not put her in a bubble. I had to laugh because anybody who has ever met Mollie would know this child would never stand for being told she could not do something. She sets her mind to it and she does it! Who knows what she will be .... Love to you all :) Khristi
Spring is here!
Hello All -
I cannot believe (well, yes I can) how long it has taken me to be able to get back to the blog and update on Mollie's great progress with her new ears.
Can I just say - Wow! She is making leaps and bounds literally. She has really clicked with her ears and she is so good she already knows how to put her magnets back on her ears when they fall off. She will come up to one of us and say "uh oh, uh oh" which signals us to fix her ears.
Since I last wrote we have had several events pass. First we have gone to several stimulation appointments with Dr. Cathy. She plugs Mollie into her computer and we work on games. While we play these games they are able to really fine tune her equipment so that she does not miss anything. She went from hearing at a 80 to 90level all the way up to 15 in both ears. You and I would hear in the normal hearing range from 20 to higher. So, good news is Mollie can actually hear better than us, but her brain has to learn how to process all the new sounds she hears.
The other events we have been going through are her Individual Education Plan (IEP for short) this is where she has the right to have an education plan and school taylored to her learning ability. Since she has been going to the Mama Lere school, our goal as always been to keep her going to this school until she can mainstream into (hopefully) a typical elementary school by the time she starts 1st grade. The school is contracted through Metro which is Davidson County (thank goodness we live here) the county will pay for Mollie to continue her education at the school. The school, just to give you an idea, is $18K a year. This does not include her individual therapy she receives once a week. This allows her the ability to attend a smaller class with children who have hearing loss that are her age as well. It is a very small school but sooo great! So since this process has started we have had a Transition Meeting and an Arena Assessment. Next week we will have her actual IEP which is the written plan for Mollie for the next 3 years. All of this is very overwhelming to get through as a parent. It is dealing with a lot of red tape to make sure your child receives the disability benefits they are entitled to by law. If ever any of you have to go through this type of process... please call me I will be happy to help. One last item we are trying to get included is her transportation to and from school. It would be so helpful to have a bus come to our house every day to pick her up and bring her home. Especially since the school is downtown and gas is getting so expensive. Plus I could keep Nate in his current preschool and get Madie off to school in the morning without having to move mountains. All of this seems to be working out well so far. It just has too, I have prayed and worked so hard for it to. Everytime I say to Bobby - "I just can't do this" - he encourages me and reminds me that I am doing it and I have been doing it and doing a good job of it!!! How sweet and encouraging for me.
In final notes - we are all taking a break in June. Nobody is going to school, nobody is going to camp, we are just going to take a break! We have our first family vacation ever, planned in June to go to the beach for a week. We have rented a house in Destin, FL and will have some friends meet us there towards the end of the week. I cannot wait to introduce Nate and Mollie to the ocean. In July - Mollie will go to school 5 days a week from 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 a.m., Nate will go to school MWF from 9:00 a.m. until when I decide to pick him up and Madie will travel with me and keep me company. Hopefully she and I can carve out some special time together. Then in August both girls will be at school 5 days a week and Nate will be in school 3 days a week. There is some possibility that I might actually have some sense of having some time to myself and being able to get errands done with out always having a child or 3 children with me. Maybe my closets will get cleaned out, maybe I can start a craft or actually read a book again - who knows! :)
I cannot believe (well, yes I can) how long it has taken me to be able to get back to the blog and update on Mollie's great progress with her new ears.
Can I just say - Wow! She is making leaps and bounds literally. She has really clicked with her ears and she is so good she already knows how to put her magnets back on her ears when they fall off. She will come up to one of us and say "uh oh, uh oh" which signals us to fix her ears.
Since I last wrote we have had several events pass. First we have gone to several stimulation appointments with Dr. Cathy. She plugs Mollie into her computer and we work on games. While we play these games they are able to really fine tune her equipment so that she does not miss anything. She went from hearing at a 80 to 90level all the way up to 15 in both ears. You and I would hear in the normal hearing range from 20 to higher. So, good news is Mollie can actually hear better than us, but her brain has to learn how to process all the new sounds she hears.
The other events we have been going through are her Individual Education Plan (IEP for short) this is where she has the right to have an education plan and school taylored to her learning ability. Since she has been going to the Mama Lere school, our goal as always been to keep her going to this school until she can mainstream into (hopefully) a typical elementary school by the time she starts 1st grade. The school is contracted through Metro which is Davidson County (thank goodness we live here) the county will pay for Mollie to continue her education at the school. The school, just to give you an idea, is $18K a year. This does not include her individual therapy she receives once a week. This allows her the ability to attend a smaller class with children who have hearing loss that are her age as well. It is a very small school but sooo great! So since this process has started we have had a Transition Meeting and an Arena Assessment. Next week we will have her actual IEP which is the written plan for Mollie for the next 3 years. All of this is very overwhelming to get through as a parent. It is dealing with a lot of red tape to make sure your child receives the disability benefits they are entitled to by law. If ever any of you have to go through this type of process... please call me I will be happy to help. One last item we are trying to get included is her transportation to and from school. It would be so helpful to have a bus come to our house every day to pick her up and bring her home. Especially since the school is downtown and gas is getting so expensive. Plus I could keep Nate in his current preschool and get Madie off to school in the morning without having to move mountains. All of this seems to be working out well so far. It just has too, I have prayed and worked so hard for it to. Everytime I say to Bobby - "I just can't do this" - he encourages me and reminds me that I am doing it and I have been doing it and doing a good job of it!!! How sweet and encouraging for me.
In final notes - we are all taking a break in June. Nobody is going to school, nobody is going to camp, we are just going to take a break! We have our first family vacation ever, planned in June to go to the beach for a week. We have rented a house in Destin, FL and will have some friends meet us there towards the end of the week. I cannot wait to introduce Nate and Mollie to the ocean. In July - Mollie will go to school 5 days a week from 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 a.m., Nate will go to school MWF from 9:00 a.m. until when I decide to pick him up and Madie will travel with me and keep me company. Hopefully she and I can carve out some special time together. Then in August both girls will be at school 5 days a week and Nate will be in school 3 days a week. There is some possibility that I might actually have some sense of having some time to myself and being able to get errands done with out always having a child or 3 children with me. Maybe my closets will get cleaned out, maybe I can start a craft or actually read a book again - who knows! :)
Sunday, March 9, 2008
I can hear!
"And now for the rest of the story..." I quote Paul Harvey for those of you who may be fans.
3/3/08 -
Mollie had her activation for her implants - day one. We turned on her left ear first. This would be all for the day as it is too much to do both ears at one time. When you look at the pictures you will see the devices on her head. Mollie now wears two microphones (one on each ear), two processors and two magnets. All of the components are important but the magnets are the key. If the magnets fall off her head she will not be able to hear. The magnet connects through her skin to the actual implants in her skull. Amazing!
When we put the ear piece on, Mollie was giving us some trouble and was not interested. When we finally got everything hooked up, she was very coy. She did not look at us with an "a ha" moment, she continued to color. Dr. Cathy Hayes, her new ear doctor for the cochlears, said this is common. She informed us that some children will cry and some will show no reaction, which was Mollie. We proceeded to video tape her but we really saw no reaction. Although Bobby and I were assured that she was on and she could hear us, we both seemed very doubtful that she could hear us. My first words to her were, "hi Mollie, I love you". However Mollie did not respond to her name. After awhile we decided to give her a break and Bobby took her out in the hallway with the device on to run around. Meanwhile I stayed behind to learn about the two suitcases of equipment we had received on her behalf. I also was learning how to take this "stuff" apart and put it back together. Let's just say it is overwhelming. I just started to panic as I thought about how much equipment she was wearing and how much it was worth, and what if she lost it or broke it! (By the way the equipment itself is $98,000.00 not to mention what the hospital bill was). This equipment takes 6 small cochlear batteries a day to operate! So while I am panicking about this... I hear her out in the hallway - chattering away. Dr. Cathy said she was doing so well and keeping her ears on. When we heard Mollie start to play hide and go seek with another doctor. Mollie was imitating everything the doctor was doing and she was hearing it!!! This was our a ha moment for us. And wouldn't you know I was out of video tape at this time to record it. :(
When we took her home Monday night she carried her new friend with her a Koala Bear with an imitation implant on him. This is a gift from Cochlear to help the child bond with their new ears. When her Mimi picked her up to talk to her, Mollie promptly showed her the bear's implant and then pointed to her ear! Wow this kid was really understanding what was going on for her. I could not have been more delighted and proud of this little girl! We had asked so much of her and she was just doing great!
On Tuesday 3/4/08 - we went back to the doctor to turn on her right ear. This was a little better than the day before, however she was now hearing in surround sound!
On Wednesday 3/5/08 Mollie got to go back to school. Her friends and teachers welcomed her with lots of joy. Again, I was so proud of Mollie as she started right back to using her words she knew prior to her operation and not hearing for 3 weeks. Her major achievement for this day was that she kept her ears on the whole day! She even started to tell us "uh oh" when her magnets fell off. She knows when she is not hearing - a huge milestone as the teachers and her therapists are so impressed with her progress this quickly.
On Thursday 3/6/08 - we were playing outside and Mollie stopped playing to look at the sky, her eyes were just wide eyed - we heard an airplane overhead but could not see it yet. She was so curious about what was making that sound and then she saw the plane. Last summer she would see a plane and make the sign for the plane, now she hears it!
On Friday 3/7/08 - Mollie had her first therapy session since being activated and Angela her therapist was so thrilled with her response. Mollie was producing the Ling sounds (a way to test her clarity of hearing and response- you say ah, sssss, shhhh, oooo to name a few) Mollie could respond to requests to things she knew prior to her implants such as wash wash means the sink, shhhh for baby, go to the potty, etc. The other great moment was a way to test how softly and loudly she could hear. Angela had me go out in the hallway and partially close the door, my job was to call Mollie's name. If Mollie responded by turning her head she would be rewarded with a puzzle piece. I called her name about 9 times loud to about a whisper and she heard me every time! So, we learned on this day that it will take Mollie about a month to get her brain to wrap around the difference of the sound she is hearing before we can start to teach her new sounds. All soooo amazing and interesting.
One last funny I forgot to mention. On Friday night I was cleaning up some and decided to run the vacuum cleaner. Poor Mollie about came out of her skin, as she had never heard the vacuum cleaner quite so full blast before and had never been afraid of it. I quickly realized I was probably scaring her and had to explain that all was okay. It really is a new world for her.
I have included some pictures of what the equipment looks like on Mollie. I hope this explains some of what I have talked about. Will write more later.
3/3/08 -
Mollie had her activation for her implants - day one. We turned on her left ear first. This would be all for the day as it is too much to do both ears at one time. When you look at the pictures you will see the devices on her head. Mollie now wears two microphones (one on each ear), two processors and two magnets. All of the components are important but the magnets are the key. If the magnets fall off her head she will not be able to hear. The magnet connects through her skin to the actual implants in her skull. Amazing!
When we put the ear piece on, Mollie was giving us some trouble and was not interested. When we finally got everything hooked up, she was very coy. She did not look at us with an "a ha" moment, she continued to color. Dr. Cathy Hayes, her new ear doctor for the cochlears, said this is common. She informed us that some children will cry and some will show no reaction, which was Mollie. We proceeded to video tape her but we really saw no reaction. Although Bobby and I were assured that she was on and she could hear us, we both seemed very doubtful that she could hear us. My first words to her were, "hi Mollie, I love you". However Mollie did not respond to her name. After awhile we decided to give her a break and Bobby took her out in the hallway with the device on to run around. Meanwhile I stayed behind to learn about the two suitcases of equipment we had received on her behalf. I also was learning how to take this "stuff" apart and put it back together. Let's just say it is overwhelming. I just started to panic as I thought about how much equipment she was wearing and how much it was worth, and what if she lost it or broke it! (By the way the equipment itself is $98,000.00 not to mention what the hospital bill was). This equipment takes 6 small cochlear batteries a day to operate! So while I am panicking about this... I hear her out in the hallway - chattering away. Dr. Cathy said she was doing so well and keeping her ears on. When we heard Mollie start to play hide and go seek with another doctor. Mollie was imitating everything the doctor was doing and she was hearing it!!! This was our a ha moment for us. And wouldn't you know I was out of video tape at this time to record it. :(
When we took her home Monday night she carried her new friend with her a Koala Bear with an imitation implant on him. This is a gift from Cochlear to help the child bond with their new ears. When her Mimi picked her up to talk to her, Mollie promptly showed her the bear's implant and then pointed to her ear! Wow this kid was really understanding what was going on for her. I could not have been more delighted and proud of this little girl! We had asked so much of her and she was just doing great!
On Tuesday 3/4/08 - we went back to the doctor to turn on her right ear. This was a little better than the day before, however she was now hearing in surround sound!
On Wednesday 3/5/08 Mollie got to go back to school. Her friends and teachers welcomed her with lots of joy. Again, I was so proud of Mollie as she started right back to using her words she knew prior to her operation and not hearing for 3 weeks. Her major achievement for this day was that she kept her ears on the whole day! She even started to tell us "uh oh" when her magnets fell off. She knows when she is not hearing - a huge milestone as the teachers and her therapists are so impressed with her progress this quickly.
On Thursday 3/6/08 - we were playing outside and Mollie stopped playing to look at the sky, her eyes were just wide eyed - we heard an airplane overhead but could not see it yet. She was so curious about what was making that sound and then she saw the plane. Last summer she would see a plane and make the sign for the plane, now she hears it!
On Friday 3/7/08 - Mollie had her first therapy session since being activated and Angela her therapist was so thrilled with her response. Mollie was producing the Ling sounds (a way to test her clarity of hearing and response- you say ah, sssss, shhhh, oooo to name a few) Mollie could respond to requests to things she knew prior to her implants such as wash wash means the sink, shhhh for baby, go to the potty, etc. The other great moment was a way to test how softly and loudly she could hear. Angela had me go out in the hallway and partially close the door, my job was to call Mollie's name. If Mollie responded by turning her head she would be rewarded with a puzzle piece. I called her name about 9 times loud to about a whisper and she heard me every time! So, we learned on this day that it will take Mollie about a month to get her brain to wrap around the difference of the sound she is hearing before we can start to teach her new sounds. All soooo amazing and interesting.
One last funny I forgot to mention. On Friday night I was cleaning up some and decided to run the vacuum cleaner. Poor Mollie about came out of her skin, as she had never heard the vacuum cleaner quite so full blast before and had never been afraid of it. I quickly realized I was probably scaring her and had to explain that all was okay. It really is a new world for her.
I have included some pictures of what the equipment looks like on Mollie. I hope this explains some of what I have talked about. Will write more later.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
The Surgery Part II
Back Again - I have under estimated how difficult it is to keep a running blog with small children in the house. First, there is a competition to use the computer vs. Madie. She has these toys called Webkinz and if you don't feed them and go online to play with them, they get sick. Great! This is her excuse to use the computer. Not only am I responsible for live children and a fish (our 2nd one) that must be fed and cleaned but now I get guilt trips because I have not let Madie use the computer to play with her animals. Second, Mollie likes to jump in my lap and pretend that she is typing if she knows I am on the computer. So... this is my excuse for not finishing the story.
2/13/08 Continued...
11:15 a.m. - Ms.Regina came and brought us lunch and nosh food. She also kept us laughing and very good company.
11:45 a.m.
Ally came out to tell us that the right ear was done. She helped us to pick out some of the equipment (BTE's) that Mollie would wear on her ears. We have been told that we will receive a large suitcase of equipment. Wow! We also picked hot pink on the ear bands for fashion!
Ally did tell us that all was going well so far for Mollie.
12:30 p.m. - Catherine and Mike came back to visit with us and check on Mollie's progress. We were not alone during this whole day of waiting - we had all of our friends and family with us and praying for us. This was so amazing to me.
1:00 p.m. - We were sent to the Holding Room to wait for Mollie to wake up. Auntie Debbie called from Austria to see if Mollie was okay. She and Uncle Gary were skiing in the Alps.
1:30 p.m. - Dr. Bennett came to see us. He said Mollie did great! He said when we saw her she would look like Princess Lea from Star Wars (Mollie we will tell you about the movie some day). Dr. Bennett said going forward he will always be her doctor for her ears, ie ear infections etc. and stated that she may have to get tubes at some point if she gets ear infections. I would imagine this is to make sure the implants to do not get infected. We were given an implant card with serial #'s and warnings for the future when she fly's or has a medical emergency. I guess she will be able to set off the security medical detectors at the airport. A bionic girl - ha!
2:45 p.m. - We were brought back to see Mollie in recovery. She looked so sleepy and so sad. The medicine and oxygen she had been on made her very raspy. She had had a ventilator tube down her throat for over 4 hours. Children who come out of anesthesia can have very different reactions to it. Mollie was just very thirsty and very tired. I sat in the rocking chair and just held her. The bandages were scary to see and both Bobby and I had gut reactions of "why did we do this to our little girl?" She had some trouble keeping her oxygen levels up so we had to keep giving her the oxygen. Mollie wanted nothing to do with all the wires she was hooked up to and wanted to rip them off. Finally the nurse started to let us take these items off her to get her settled down.
As a mother I was so upset with myself. I knew going into this what to expect...but when you live it and see it, it is very sobering. All my memories came flooding back of being in the hospital all that time waiting for them to come into the world and all the wires they had hooked up to them when they were born - all the stuff we have gone through with these two since they were born. It all just seemed so unfair and I told Bobby that we had just spent way too much time in hospitals in the last 3 years since we have moved to Nashville. I had just had enough!
5:00 p.m. - We finally just felt it was time to go and really just wanted to get Mollie home. It had snowed during the day and it was soooo cold outside and we just walked her out the door to a cold day. No big fan fair after what we had gone through, Mollie was just whimpering and I am so sure people in the lobby and parking lot were thinking - "what in the world just happened to that child" Too me this was the longest car ride I had ever had in my whole life to get her home. I just wanted her to be home and feel comfortable in her own bed. I wanted to let her know that she was going to be okay and things would be normal again. (I cannot imagine what pain the parents of very sick children go through on a continuous basis. I cannot imagine sending my child through surgery after surgery or chemotherapy. Any of this would just be very difficult) We are so blessed that this is Mollie's only issue through life and we all can deal with this and help her and move on to a bright future.
When we got home, Mimi, Madie and Nate were waiting to see us. They were so anxious to see Mollie. Mollie was still very sleepy and clinging to her pink dog and blanket that Mrs. Regina and Mrs. Blake had given her. It was the only thing that seemed to really comfort her. We were all so very tired but Mrs. Blake had made us a nice dinner of comfort food and a few beers for us if we needed! I went to bed and got some rest while Bobby stayed up with Mollie until midnight. I cannot speak for Bobby's thoughts and I don't know if he will put them down but I hope.
I woke up at midnight and took over with Mollie and I just sat and prayed that she would forgive us, prayed for her to feel better, prayed for her to eat something, prayed that she would show some signs of Mollie again. We so missed her smile.
2/14/08 Valentine's Day - just did not feel the same. I was so filled with guilt and just wanted Mollie to feel better. I know in my heart that we were so over tired. But I really had doubts as to whether we had just asked too much of Mollie. We can say in our own minds that this was the best thing for her and her future but that was easy compared to what we had physically asked of her. Mollie has worked so hard at school and at therapy and she has been so patient with the doctors constantly picking at her ears, asking her to respond in the sound booth, really work to listen - since she had been diagnosed with her hearing loss, Mollie has really moved mountains to get to where she is at. I just kept thinking maybe she would have been okay living in a deaf world. I really did understand at that moment why the deaf community can be so against the implant world. Why did we mess with nature, maybe we should have left the choices up to her? But as a parent you want only the best for your children and we push and push for the best. Again I say I know how tired I was still and I just wanted to see Mollie smile again.
I could only imagine what Nate thought about this and poor Madie we sent her off to school as if all of this was a normal day but yet her sister had just gone through a traumatic experience and we just tried to keep things normal.
2/15/08 - Mollie slept the whole night through. She was still getting nose bleeds (one of the side effects of anesthesia). But she woke up so much more alert today. She would try to eat something but she just had no taste for anything. I was willing to let her eat ice cream for breakfast if she would just eat. But no, she just pushed everything away. She would have bursts of energy and then I can only imagine the pressure in her head, she would go and put her head upside down - very odd I thought.
Mimi and I got Nate off to school and then decided it was time to take the bandages off. This was a painful and another traumatic process for Mollie. We did video tape this, I have not watched it yet. It was difficult to cut through the tape and not peel her hair and hurt her. But once the bandages came off we really saw there was very little blood and very little hair loss. We saw that her incisions looked soooo good. Dr. Bennett did such a great job! He cut so close to the back of her ears that you really cannot see them - especially with her hair. Mollie was so exhausted that she immediately fell asleep in my lap for over an hour. When she woke up we gave her her first bath and wow! I have to say as Mollie started to feel better and act more herself, I started to feel better as well. We were starting to see her spirit return.
2/16/08 Mollie has started to act herself again. We have taken her off the pain medicine and she is just on antibiotics. She still has no real appetite but we feel so much better and feel there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Mollie has started to ride her tricycle again around and around the house. She's back!
2/13/08 Continued...
11:15 a.m. - Ms.Regina came and brought us lunch and nosh food. She also kept us laughing and very good company.
11:45 a.m.
Ally came out to tell us that the right ear was done. She helped us to pick out some of the equipment (BTE's) that Mollie would wear on her ears. We have been told that we will receive a large suitcase of equipment. Wow! We also picked hot pink on the ear bands for fashion!
Ally did tell us that all was going well so far for Mollie.
12:30 p.m. - Catherine and Mike came back to visit with us and check on Mollie's progress. We were not alone during this whole day of waiting - we had all of our friends and family with us and praying for us. This was so amazing to me.
1:00 p.m. - We were sent to the Holding Room to wait for Mollie to wake up. Auntie Debbie called from Austria to see if Mollie was okay. She and Uncle Gary were skiing in the Alps.
1:30 p.m. - Dr. Bennett came to see us. He said Mollie did great! He said when we saw her she would look like Princess Lea from Star Wars (Mollie we will tell you about the movie some day). Dr. Bennett said going forward he will always be her doctor for her ears, ie ear infections etc. and stated that she may have to get tubes at some point if she gets ear infections. I would imagine this is to make sure the implants to do not get infected. We were given an implant card with serial #'s and warnings for the future when she fly's or has a medical emergency. I guess she will be able to set off the security medical detectors at the airport. A bionic girl - ha!
2:45 p.m. - We were brought back to see Mollie in recovery. She looked so sleepy and so sad. The medicine and oxygen she had been on made her very raspy. She had had a ventilator tube down her throat for over 4 hours. Children who come out of anesthesia can have very different reactions to it. Mollie was just very thirsty and very tired. I sat in the rocking chair and just held her. The bandages were scary to see and both Bobby and I had gut reactions of "why did we do this to our little girl?" She had some trouble keeping her oxygen levels up so we had to keep giving her the oxygen. Mollie wanted nothing to do with all the wires she was hooked up to and wanted to rip them off. Finally the nurse started to let us take these items off her to get her settled down.
As a mother I was so upset with myself. I knew going into this what to expect...but when you live it and see it, it is very sobering. All my memories came flooding back of being in the hospital all that time waiting for them to come into the world and all the wires they had hooked up to them when they were born - all the stuff we have gone through with these two since they were born. It all just seemed so unfair and I told Bobby that we had just spent way too much time in hospitals in the last 3 years since we have moved to Nashville. I had just had enough!
5:00 p.m. - We finally just felt it was time to go and really just wanted to get Mollie home. It had snowed during the day and it was soooo cold outside and we just walked her out the door to a cold day. No big fan fair after what we had gone through, Mollie was just whimpering and I am so sure people in the lobby and parking lot were thinking - "what in the world just happened to that child" Too me this was the longest car ride I had ever had in my whole life to get her home. I just wanted her to be home and feel comfortable in her own bed. I wanted to let her know that she was going to be okay and things would be normal again. (I cannot imagine what pain the parents of very sick children go through on a continuous basis. I cannot imagine sending my child through surgery after surgery or chemotherapy. Any of this would just be very difficult) We are so blessed that this is Mollie's only issue through life and we all can deal with this and help her and move on to a bright future.
When we got home, Mimi, Madie and Nate were waiting to see us. They were so anxious to see Mollie. Mollie was still very sleepy and clinging to her pink dog and blanket that Mrs. Regina and Mrs. Blake had given her. It was the only thing that seemed to really comfort her. We were all so very tired but Mrs. Blake had made us a nice dinner of comfort food and a few beers for us if we needed! I went to bed and got some rest while Bobby stayed up with Mollie until midnight. I cannot speak for Bobby's thoughts and I don't know if he will put them down but I hope.
I woke up at midnight and took over with Mollie and I just sat and prayed that she would forgive us, prayed for her to feel better, prayed for her to eat something, prayed that she would show some signs of Mollie again. We so missed her smile.
2/14/08 Valentine's Day - just did not feel the same. I was so filled with guilt and just wanted Mollie to feel better. I know in my heart that we were so over tired. But I really had doubts as to whether we had just asked too much of Mollie. We can say in our own minds that this was the best thing for her and her future but that was easy compared to what we had physically asked of her. Mollie has worked so hard at school and at therapy and she has been so patient with the doctors constantly picking at her ears, asking her to respond in the sound booth, really work to listen - since she had been diagnosed with her hearing loss, Mollie has really moved mountains to get to where she is at. I just kept thinking maybe she would have been okay living in a deaf world. I really did understand at that moment why the deaf community can be so against the implant world. Why did we mess with nature, maybe we should have left the choices up to her? But as a parent you want only the best for your children and we push and push for the best. Again I say I know how tired I was still and I just wanted to see Mollie smile again.
I could only imagine what Nate thought about this and poor Madie we sent her off to school as if all of this was a normal day but yet her sister had just gone through a traumatic experience and we just tried to keep things normal.
2/15/08 - Mollie slept the whole night through. She was still getting nose bleeds (one of the side effects of anesthesia). But she woke up so much more alert today. She would try to eat something but she just had no taste for anything. I was willing to let her eat ice cream for breakfast if she would just eat. But no, she just pushed everything away. She would have bursts of energy and then I can only imagine the pressure in her head, she would go and put her head upside down - very odd I thought.
Mimi and I got Nate off to school and then decided it was time to take the bandages off. This was a painful and another traumatic process for Mollie. We did video tape this, I have not watched it yet. It was difficult to cut through the tape and not peel her hair and hurt her. But once the bandages came off we really saw there was very little blood and very little hair loss. We saw that her incisions looked soooo good. Dr. Bennett did such a great job! He cut so close to the back of her ears that you really cannot see them - especially with her hair. Mollie was so exhausted that she immediately fell asleep in my lap for over an hour. When she woke up we gave her her first bath and wow! I have to say as Mollie started to feel better and act more herself, I started to feel better as well. We were starting to see her spirit return.
2/16/08 Mollie has started to act herself again. We have taken her off the pain medicine and she is just on antibiotics. She still has no real appetite but we feel so much better and feel there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Mollie has started to ride her tricycle again around and around the house. She's back!
Saturday, February 23, 2008
The Surgery Part - I
2/12/08 -
Mollie gets a nice bath for the next few days and we take pictures of her hearing aids to remember that one day we wore them. "Bye Bye" hearing aids and on to a whole new world of hearing.
It's off to bed early everyone for an early day tomorrow. Mimi was here for our rescue and sanity. She came to help with Nate and Madie.
The weather called for snow and ice in the early morning. Bobby assured me that nothing would keep us this time from Mollie getting this surgery. Even if he had to go get Dr. Bennett at home himself.
2/13/08
4:30 a.m. - Mommy and Daddy get up after not really sleeping at all.
5:10 a.m. - We wake Mollie up and get her ready. She was so sleepy and she had her new pink doggy and blankie, a gift from Mrs. Blake and Mrs. Regina. She really loved this doggy and blanket. We say goodbye to Mimi and we were glad to see that the snow had held off for the moment. They did close school for Nate. We left not knowing if Madie would have school. Madie was very worried about her little sissy.
5:49 a.m. - arrive at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital (VCH). We left Mollie in her jammies as we figured she would go right to surgery. They have quite an operation going on at VCH. The large waiting area was very quiet - but we would soon learn that would not be the case for the day. Mollie ran around the waiting room very much unaware of what was coming.
7:30 a.m. - Pastor Mike and Pastor Catherine arrived to offer comfort and prayer for Mollie. This was so moving for us. They arrived just as they called Mollie back to the pre-op room. We realized quickly that a 7:30 a.m. surgery was not going to happen. We were told Mollie's surgery would not happen until 9:30 a.m. We did not want Mike and Catherine to have to sit around while we waited so we said - please go on with your day.
Once we got into the pre-op room Mollie started to become leary of all that was starting to happen. She was changed into her very own set of special blue VCH jammies. Nurses started to come in and out and introduce themselves, check her blood pressure, oxygen and ask us over and over again did we know what surgery Mollie was going to have. This was part of the procedure - of course we knew what surgery Mollie was going to have. Then Dr. Bennett came into the room to tell us what he expected for the surgery.
8:20 a.m. We met Jill the "gas doctor" she came to explain she would give Mollie a little drink that would make her "drunk" and then they would take her from us. Once she was to go to sleep they would insert a breathing tube down her throat to help her breathe. Jill said this type of surgery tends to make patients sick to their tummy so they would also give her medicine and iv for this to help avoid when she woke up.
8:40 a.m. - Time for her sleepy drink. Mollie did well we were told it tastes yucky.
9:22 a.m. - Mollie went off to surgery with her doggy and blankie and without a tear. Mommy however was not without a tear. Daddy was pretty worried himself. But we knew we were doing the right thing for Mollie.
10:02 a.m. - We were back out in the waiting area and told how the process would work for the day. As long as we told the concierge contact where we would be they would let us know about every hour from the operating room, just how Mollie was doing. Meanwhile they had an electronic screen which runs the patients names by and tells you exactly where your precious cargo is. By this time the waiting room was very full. Nobody talked to one another and nobody asked what you were there for. Just a lot of private whispered prayers I am sure.
10:16 a.m. - Mrs. Emily and Mrs. Angela (Mollie's teacher and her speech therapist) came to visit us and check on Mollie. It was so sweet that they took the time out of their day to come offer us comfort. It is just so amazing to us the people we have met at Mama Lear and the Bill Wilkerson Center. These folks are so invested in the future of the children they work with.
10:20 a.m. Ally Sissler arrived to go into surgery with Mollie. She is an Audiologist at the Bill Wilkerson center. She would be responsible for making sure the implants were working before they implanted them into Mollie's head. For those who do not know Ally has been the voice for us that has convinced us to do this for Mollie. She has two implants herself and as an adult has been able to give us so much insight into what it is like to wear implants and what it sounds like.
Mollie gets a nice bath for the next few days and we take pictures of her hearing aids to remember that one day we wore them. "Bye Bye" hearing aids and on to a whole new world of hearing.
It's off to bed early everyone for an early day tomorrow. Mimi was here for our rescue and sanity. She came to help with Nate and Madie.
The weather called for snow and ice in the early morning. Bobby assured me that nothing would keep us this time from Mollie getting this surgery. Even if he had to go get Dr. Bennett at home himself.
2/13/08
4:30 a.m. - Mommy and Daddy get up after not really sleeping at all.
5:10 a.m. - We wake Mollie up and get her ready. She was so sleepy and she had her new pink doggy and blankie, a gift from Mrs. Blake and Mrs. Regina. She really loved this doggy and blanket. We say goodbye to Mimi and we were glad to see that the snow had held off for the moment. They did close school for Nate. We left not knowing if Madie would have school. Madie was very worried about her little sissy.
5:49 a.m. - arrive at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital (VCH). We left Mollie in her jammies as we figured she would go right to surgery. They have quite an operation going on at VCH. The large waiting area was very quiet - but we would soon learn that would not be the case for the day. Mollie ran around the waiting room very much unaware of what was coming.
7:30 a.m. - Pastor Mike and Pastor Catherine arrived to offer comfort and prayer for Mollie. This was so moving for us. They arrived just as they called Mollie back to the pre-op room. We realized quickly that a 7:30 a.m. surgery was not going to happen. We were told Mollie's surgery would not happen until 9:30 a.m. We did not want Mike and Catherine to have to sit around while we waited so we said - please go on with your day.
Once we got into the pre-op room Mollie started to become leary of all that was starting to happen. She was changed into her very own set of special blue VCH jammies. Nurses started to come in and out and introduce themselves, check her blood pressure, oxygen and ask us over and over again did we know what surgery Mollie was going to have. This was part of the procedure - of course we knew what surgery Mollie was going to have. Then Dr. Bennett came into the room to tell us what he expected for the surgery.
8:20 a.m. We met Jill the "gas doctor" she came to explain she would give Mollie a little drink that would make her "drunk" and then they would take her from us. Once she was to go to sleep they would insert a breathing tube down her throat to help her breathe. Jill said this type of surgery tends to make patients sick to their tummy so they would also give her medicine and iv for this to help avoid when she woke up.
8:40 a.m. - Time for her sleepy drink. Mollie did well we were told it tastes yucky.
9:22 a.m. - Mollie went off to surgery with her doggy and blankie and without a tear. Mommy however was not without a tear. Daddy was pretty worried himself. But we knew we were doing the right thing for Mollie.
10:02 a.m. - We were back out in the waiting area and told how the process would work for the day. As long as we told the concierge contact where we would be they would let us know about every hour from the operating room, just how Mollie was doing. Meanwhile they had an electronic screen which runs the patients names by and tells you exactly where your precious cargo is. By this time the waiting room was very full. Nobody talked to one another and nobody asked what you were there for. Just a lot of private whispered prayers I am sure.
10:16 a.m. - Mrs. Emily and Mrs. Angela (Mollie's teacher and her speech therapist) came to visit us and check on Mollie. It was so sweet that they took the time out of their day to come offer us comfort. It is just so amazing to us the people we have met at Mama Lear and the Bill Wilkerson Center. These folks are so invested in the future of the children they work with.
10:20 a.m. Ally Sissler arrived to go into surgery with Mollie. She is an Audiologist at the Bill Wilkerson center. She would be responsible for making sure the implants were working before they implanted them into Mollie's head. For those who do not know Ally has been the voice for us that has convinced us to do this for Mollie. She has two implants herself and as an adult has been able to give us so much insight into what it is like to wear implants and what it sounds like.
The Recovery & Visitors
Hello - I am finally finding some time to sit down and put to words the surgery and so far Mollie's recovery. It is Saturday and Wednesday was one week ago that Mollie was implanted.
I am going to add some pictures along the way so that the story will come together. It will take some time.
My Dad, aka "Grampy", decided to fly in as a last minute surprise this week. I think he just knew I needed his comfort. So he came in on Tuesday and we are glad to have him until Monday. Karen we miss you and sorry you were not able to make the trip with him.
This week has just been full of laughter and comfort food from neighborhood friends, church friends and my Dad's family recipes. (I think I am starting to learn his tricks of the trade). This is not easy as my Dad cooks like Rachel Ray, he has a dash of this, a dash of that, no measuring spoon just by looks and taste. That is a hard way to learn to follow a chef. The kids have been completely spoiled. First starting with "dunkies" for those of you who have not experienced Dunkin Donuts. Almost a daily routine of going to get "dunkies" and coffee is fun for them. Against Mommy's wishes and her new van, I have found sugar and powder donut crumb evidence all over the car. Grampy has now managed to order "no powder" munchkins in order to justify the eating in the car. Madie has enjoyed her riding to school in the morning and her special date with Grampy which included lunch, bowling and of course shopping for toys.
Having his companionship this week has been priceless.
I am going to add some pictures along the way so that the story will come together. It will take some time.
My Dad, aka "Grampy", decided to fly in as a last minute surprise this week. I think he just knew I needed his comfort. So he came in on Tuesday and we are glad to have him until Monday. Karen we miss you and sorry you were not able to make the trip with him.
This week has just been full of laughter and comfort food from neighborhood friends, church friends and my Dad's family recipes. (I think I am starting to learn his tricks of the trade). This is not easy as my Dad cooks like Rachel Ray, he has a dash of this, a dash of that, no measuring spoon just by looks and taste. That is a hard way to learn to follow a chef. The kids have been completely spoiled. First starting with "dunkies" for those of you who have not experienced Dunkin Donuts. Almost a daily routine of going to get "dunkies" and coffee is fun for them. Against Mommy's wishes and her new van, I have found sugar and powder donut crumb evidence all over the car. Grampy has now managed to order "no powder" munchkins in order to justify the eating in the car. Madie has enjoyed her riding to school in the morning and her special date with Grampy which included lunch, bowling and of course shopping for toys.
Having his companionship this week has been priceless.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
We Are Home
Hi All - Happy Valentine's Day
We are finally home after not really sleeping and getting up at 4:30 a.m. to arrive at VCH by 6:00 a.m. We left at 5:00 p.m. yesterday.
Mollie is recovering. I as a parent should not write anymore than that right now. I am still very emotional and wondering for myself just why in the world we inflicted this on this poor baby.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers for Mollie's recovery and strength for us. There is still so much more to go over the next few weeks and ongoing.
Thank you all soooo much for your prayers, your calls, your cards, your meals, and your coming to the hospital to keep us sane - Pastors Mike & Catherine, Regina, Emily and Angela. Mimi thank you for taking such good care of the home front and keeping everything as normal as possible for the rest of my precious kiddos. It meant the world to us. We cannot begin to tell you all how much the support was and is appreciated. We did not for once feel as if we were doing this alone. We feel so blessed because of you all.
Our love to you all!!
The Bowman Fam 5
We are finally home after not really sleeping and getting up at 4:30 a.m. to arrive at VCH by 6:00 a.m. We left at 5:00 p.m. yesterday.
Mollie is recovering. I as a parent should not write anymore than that right now. I am still very emotional and wondering for myself just why in the world we inflicted this on this poor baby.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers for Mollie's recovery and strength for us. There is still so much more to go over the next few weeks and ongoing.
Thank you all soooo much for your prayers, your calls, your cards, your meals, and your coming to the hospital to keep us sane - Pastors Mike & Catherine, Regina, Emily and Angela. Mimi thank you for taking such good care of the home front and keeping everything as normal as possible for the rest of my precious kiddos. It meant the world to us. We cannot begin to tell you all how much the support was and is appreciated. We did not for once feel as if we were doing this alone. We feel so blessed because of you all.
Our love to you all!!
The Bowman Fam 5
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Awaiting Surgery
I think I am caught up on most of what I want to document for Mollie for now. We are awaiting surgery and trying to keep Mollie virus free. Her surgery is scheduled for Wednesday, February 13, 2008 @ 7:30 a.m. at the Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital.
We simply ask that you all keep Mollie in your prayers. We ask that you pray for the gifted surgeon's hands to be steady, the medicine to not be dangerous for Mollie, the hands that guide and help her along the way be gentle and soothing. We ask for strength for us as her family. We ask for strength in the days after the surgery for Mollie and her caregivers. We ask for prayers for patience with her during her healing process and to help her understand the changes that have happened to her.
Thank you all.
We simply ask that you all keep Mollie in your prayers. We ask that you pray for the gifted surgeon's hands to be steady, the medicine to not be dangerous for Mollie, the hands that guide and help her along the way be gentle and soothing. We ask for strength for us as her family. We ask for strength in the days after the surgery for Mollie and her caregivers. We ask for prayers for patience with her during her healing process and to help her understand the changes that have happened to her.
Thank you all.
Starting School @ Mama Lere - a typical day @ school
Wow - what a new world for all of us at Mama Lear. It is a school for children who are hearing impaired and may have other disabilities as well. Mama Lear is not a typical developmental school. Meaning that you will not most likely be with typically developing children. The classes are smaller and the teachers specialize in working more closely towards the needs of the children in the class Parents can chose to put a typically developing child at Mama Lear and the other children can benefit from the pace at which a typically developing child would work at. I won't say much more as I don't know all the ins and outs of the school and would hate to be incorrect - this is just what I understand from my experience of being there.
Mollie has two teachers Mrs. Emily and Ms. Carrie. Both are so great at what they do and so caring. I cannot begin to imagine how exhausted they must be at the end of the day when working with the kids. They are so patient and so kind and really work hard to teach the toddlers language and every day skills. This can be a chore some days as there are five kids in Mollie's class. Mollie will be one of two who have the cochlear implants. The other children have various hearing devices.
On a typical day in the classroom we sing the good morning song and the children have a picture of themselves on the board and they are learning to find the picture of themselves and move it to school from home. Sounds simple enough but this is a real chore to get Mollie to understand that the picture is "me". Meaning she has to understand the concept of me. We work on pointing to pictures and saying "that's me". Pronouns are very challenging for hearing impaired children to learn. As any preschool class would be, they have new concepts to learn each month. For example in January we are working on simple words such as hat, help, cold, etc. This month they are reading about Froggy and how he wants to go outside in the cold weather. The children are read the same story every class and the goal is to help them learn to identify and dress froggy in shoes, pants, hat, scarf, shirt. The goal is to offer the kids three choices and ask them to pick out the item the teacher asks for. So for example this month Mollie has learned shoes really well. She does not know pants, shirt, socks, scarf or even hat (still working hard on this). After this is completed the parents leave and go into a viewing room in which we can watch the children without them seeing us and we can hear them. On any given day their therapy will be cooking in the kitchen, arts and crafts and using large motor skills.
I am proud to say that Mollie really enjoys cooking and there are lots of words and skills there that she has learned. One of her first words was "more" and more can be used in so many ways. She also can say "stir, turn, round and round, shake, shake, shake, cut, pour and open" As they say this is an area of play and work that is rich with vocabulary words.
Mollie has also learned to ride a tricycle in the halls of the school. There is so much room and such great toys to learn large motor skills with. She is such a champ and loves to ride her bike around at home. Thank goodness for rubber wheels I say. She has completed this skill faster than Madie did and Nate. Spring shall be fun with everyone finally riding bikes.
By the end of two hours at school the kids are worn out and ready to go home. Parents come back into the classroom and sing the "Bye Bye Song" in which we learn to say our names and the concept of going home. It also teaches the children to sit and be attentive and prepare them for age 3 schooling.
Each month we receive a progress report of what words Mollie has a concept of, can say and then what she knows spontaneously without being prompted. This is the most important because it means she really gets it! I think the best word she has learned this month alone is "help". This has cut down on so much of her frustration when she cannot do something by herself. She has learned to come to us and ask for help to put on her jacket, put on her tutu, just any number of things. Wow, help is a powerful word.
Mollie also has a therapist with whom she meets on Mondays for one hour of private therapy. Mrs. Angela is Mollie's buddy and biggest cheerleader. At the same time Mollie is most frustrated with her because Mrs. Angela makes her work. There is no rest for the weary on Mondays and Mollie learns so much in this one hour. The concepts she learns are in tune to her classroom learning just more in depth and this really helps Mollie to hit home with her words.
I think Mrs. Angela is a good therapist for me as well sometimes. She is so great about talking to me and helping me to understand this all. She is great about answering our questions and prompting us to ask questions. She is also our biggest cheerleader and never hesitates to tell us how good we are doing with Mollie. She really attributes Mollie's progress to us. How she can say this I don't know, we would have no clue how to go about teaching Mollie if it were not for these gifted women. They are so compassionate and are really doing the work they love and it shows.
If they should read this blog - kudos to you gals because you are making a difference in Mollie's world and our world. Thank you!
Mollie has two teachers Mrs. Emily and Ms. Carrie. Both are so great at what they do and so caring. I cannot begin to imagine how exhausted they must be at the end of the day when working with the kids. They are so patient and so kind and really work hard to teach the toddlers language and every day skills. This can be a chore some days as there are five kids in Mollie's class. Mollie will be one of two who have the cochlear implants. The other children have various hearing devices.
On a typical day in the classroom we sing the good morning song and the children have a picture of themselves on the board and they are learning to find the picture of themselves and move it to school from home. Sounds simple enough but this is a real chore to get Mollie to understand that the picture is "me". Meaning she has to understand the concept of me. We work on pointing to pictures and saying "that's me". Pronouns are very challenging for hearing impaired children to learn. As any preschool class would be, they have new concepts to learn each month. For example in January we are working on simple words such as hat, help, cold, etc. This month they are reading about Froggy and how he wants to go outside in the cold weather. The children are read the same story every class and the goal is to help them learn to identify and dress froggy in shoes, pants, hat, scarf, shirt. The goal is to offer the kids three choices and ask them to pick out the item the teacher asks for. So for example this month Mollie has learned shoes really well. She does not know pants, shirt, socks, scarf or even hat (still working hard on this). After this is completed the parents leave and go into a viewing room in which we can watch the children without them seeing us and we can hear them. On any given day their therapy will be cooking in the kitchen, arts and crafts and using large motor skills.
I am proud to say that Mollie really enjoys cooking and there are lots of words and skills there that she has learned. One of her first words was "more" and more can be used in so many ways. She also can say "stir, turn, round and round, shake, shake, shake, cut, pour and open" As they say this is an area of play and work that is rich with vocabulary words.
Mollie has also learned to ride a tricycle in the halls of the school. There is so much room and such great toys to learn large motor skills with. She is such a champ and loves to ride her bike around at home. Thank goodness for rubber wheels I say. She has completed this skill faster than Madie did and Nate. Spring shall be fun with everyone finally riding bikes.
By the end of two hours at school the kids are worn out and ready to go home. Parents come back into the classroom and sing the "Bye Bye Song" in which we learn to say our names and the concept of going home. It also teaches the children to sit and be attentive and prepare them for age 3 schooling.
Each month we receive a progress report of what words Mollie has a concept of, can say and then what she knows spontaneously without being prompted. This is the most important because it means she really gets it! I think the best word she has learned this month alone is "help". This has cut down on so much of her frustration when she cannot do something by herself. She has learned to come to us and ask for help to put on her jacket, put on her tutu, just any number of things. Wow, help is a powerful word.
Mollie also has a therapist with whom she meets on Mondays for one hour of private therapy. Mrs. Angela is Mollie's buddy and biggest cheerleader. At the same time Mollie is most frustrated with her because Mrs. Angela makes her work. There is no rest for the weary on Mondays and Mollie learns so much in this one hour. The concepts she learns are in tune to her classroom learning just more in depth and this really helps Mollie to hit home with her words.
I think Mrs. Angela is a good therapist for me as well sometimes. She is so great about talking to me and helping me to understand this all. She is great about answering our questions and prompting us to ask questions. She is also our biggest cheerleader and never hesitates to tell us how good we are doing with Mollie. She really attributes Mollie's progress to us. How she can say this I don't know, we would have no clue how to go about teaching Mollie if it were not for these gifted women. They are so compassionate and are really doing the work they love and it shows.
If they should read this blog - kudos to you gals because you are making a difference in Mollie's world and our world. Thank you!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Part 2
Okay, I think I am starting to get the hang of this now and I actually have been able to download a picture. I am so excited!! I think I like this new technology.
For those who decide to read this, I am going to revert back to my hand written journal. Please know that if this seems repetitive or not all that you really want to get into, you can just skip to the archive you would like to read about. Just please know that I am doing this for Mollie and know that she will have this as her own personal story to refer to .
June 10, 2007 - We found out this week that Mollie has severe hearing loss. We are just beginning to process and understand some of what we will be facing as a family. There is so much to learn and understand. The important thing to remember is that Mollie is still who she is and still developing into a funny, fun, little girl. She will do just fine through this process. She has been living with this and making her own little adjustments w/o even realizing she cannot hear. I am just so thankful that we are getting this now while she is so young and we can start to help her so that she can learn to talk.
From June 6 - September 12, 2007 - we had about 15 different doctors appointments to get Mollie diagnosed and try and determine what may have caused her hearing loss and when it could have all started. June 13th she had her first visit to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital for a CT Scan for which they had to sedate her to stay still. We learned that we would need to meet with a geneticist and an ENT to get a diagnosis. I really did wonder if all these appointments were that necessary. It wasn't until after we went through all the hearing tests that we met with the doctor again to learn that Mollie did have all the bones in her ears. Yes, we have bones in our ears and we have tiny hairs in our ears that help with the vibration to carry sound. We learned that if those hairs die off they are not replaced and hearing loss occurs. After all the appointments we still don't really know what caused the loss but it has been labeled as "sensorineural hearing loss" .
The day that Mollie was given her hearing aids we were told that she was a possible candidate for the Cochlear implants. She was severely hearing impaired in both ears. Sounds that you and I might take for granted were not things that she heard. She did not hear water running, birds chirping , people talking, a dog barking. There is a very good graph called an Audiogram it shows the "banana" of hearing - this is how a typical healthy person would hear. You and I would hear at a level of 20 decibels. Mollie could not hear it unless it was at a level of 70 decibels or higher. So to give you an idea she could hear it if it were a lawnmower, airplane, drums or jackhammer.
They diagnosed Mollie as being a newborn as far as her hearing and speech and language development but physically she was 2 years old. We were told we would be working very hard and getting her a lot of therapy. She had to learn to start wearing her hearing aids at all waking hours. Boy that was fun! Mollie did not want to wear them and it took some control from Mommy and Daddy to have her learn that this gadget on her head was not going away. I think Daddy and I were just as frustrated as she was. There were definitely some tears shed. We did learn however that M&M's were a good reward for Mollie if she would put them in. Let's just say we consumed a lot of chocolate for awhile. Thankfully Mollie is motivated by food! On 6/25 I wrote in my journal - "Day four with hearing aids. She is making progress and wearing them for longer periods. We have started using M&M's to reward her for wearing them. This works! Aron w/ TEIS is working on the financial plan to get Mollie qualified for speech and language therapy at BWC. "
Journal entry 7/18/2007 - Met w/ Dr. Goudy and referred to Dr. Kaylee for evaluation on CI. Dr. Kaylee was the original surgeon we were to work with. 7/25/07 Mollie is a good candidate structurally for implants. We will need to wait for Cathy Hayes and team meat for Mollie's approval for CI's.
It was during this time that we started to prepare for the possibility of Mollie receiving implants. We flooded ourselves with information and started attending the parent support group at Bill Wilkerson. It was also during this time I learned about the Toddler Group offered 3 days a week at the Mama Lere Hearing School. I knew in my heart this is what Mollie needed to be doing because all the research we read and what we had been told was that the most imperative time for developing speech and language is before the age of 5. We knew we were already very late to this party.
All summer I worked the phone and appointments, talked to anyone that I could and I think just through pure effort was able to get Mollie a place in the toddler group. I felt as if I had run a marathon. But there was success as she started school on September 12th. She also started her individual therapy.
For those who decide to read this, I am going to revert back to my hand written journal. Please know that if this seems repetitive or not all that you really want to get into, you can just skip to the archive you would like to read about. Just please know that I am doing this for Mollie and know that she will have this as her own personal story to refer to .
June 10, 2007 - We found out this week that Mollie has severe hearing loss. We are just beginning to process and understand some of what we will be facing as a family. There is so much to learn and understand. The important thing to remember is that Mollie is still who she is and still developing into a funny, fun, little girl. She will do just fine through this process. She has been living with this and making her own little adjustments w/o even realizing she cannot hear. I am just so thankful that we are getting this now while she is so young and we can start to help her so that she can learn to talk.
From June 6 - September 12, 2007 - we had about 15 different doctors appointments to get Mollie diagnosed and try and determine what may have caused her hearing loss and when it could have all started. June 13th she had her first visit to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital for a CT Scan for which they had to sedate her to stay still. We learned that we would need to meet with a geneticist and an ENT to get a diagnosis. I really did wonder if all these appointments were that necessary. It wasn't until after we went through all the hearing tests that we met with the doctor again to learn that Mollie did have all the bones in her ears. Yes, we have bones in our ears and we have tiny hairs in our ears that help with the vibration to carry sound. We learned that if those hairs die off they are not replaced and hearing loss occurs. After all the appointments we still don't really know what caused the loss but it has been labeled as "sensorineural hearing loss" .
The day that Mollie was given her hearing aids we were told that she was a possible candidate for the Cochlear implants. She was severely hearing impaired in both ears. Sounds that you and I might take for granted were not things that she heard. She did not hear water running, birds chirping , people talking, a dog barking. There is a very good graph called an Audiogram it shows the "banana" of hearing - this is how a typical healthy person would hear. You and I would hear at a level of 20 decibels. Mollie could not hear it unless it was at a level of 70 decibels or higher. So to give you an idea she could hear it if it were a lawnmower, airplane, drums or jackhammer.
They diagnosed Mollie as being a newborn as far as her hearing and speech and language development but physically she was 2 years old. We were told we would be working very hard and getting her a lot of therapy. She had to learn to start wearing her hearing aids at all waking hours. Boy that was fun! Mollie did not want to wear them and it took some control from Mommy and Daddy to have her learn that this gadget on her head was not going away. I think Daddy and I were just as frustrated as she was. There were definitely some tears shed. We did learn however that M&M's were a good reward for Mollie if she would put them in. Let's just say we consumed a lot of chocolate for awhile. Thankfully Mollie is motivated by food! On 6/25 I wrote in my journal - "Day four with hearing aids. She is making progress and wearing them for longer periods. We have started using M&M's to reward her for wearing them. This works! Aron w/ TEIS is working on the financial plan to get Mollie qualified for speech and language therapy at BWC. "
Journal entry 7/18/2007 - Met w/ Dr. Goudy and referred to Dr. Kaylee for evaluation on CI. Dr. Kaylee was the original surgeon we were to work with. 7/25/07 Mollie is a good candidate structurally for implants. We will need to wait for Cathy Hayes and team meat for Mollie's approval for CI's.
It was during this time that we started to prepare for the possibility of Mollie receiving implants. We flooded ourselves with information and started attending the parent support group at Bill Wilkerson. It was also during this time I learned about the Toddler Group offered 3 days a week at the Mama Lere Hearing School. I knew in my heart this is what Mollie needed to be doing because all the research we read and what we had been told was that the most imperative time for developing speech and language is before the age of 5. We knew we were already very late to this party.
All summer I worked the phone and appointments, talked to anyone that I could and I think just through pure effort was able to get Mollie a place in the toddler group. I felt as if I had run a marathon. But there was success as she started school on September 12th. She also started her individual therapy.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Mollie's Story
Mollie Jane Bowman was born May 25, 2005 @ 4lbs 14 oz. She as you all know is the twin sister to Nathaniel Ture Bowman and baby sister to Madison.
Mollie is like all of our children a person unto her own. Her actions in the womb gave us a hint of who she would be in our future. She exercised her right to space in the womb and promptly sat on her brother's head most of the pregnancy. Poor, sweet, Nate the giving soul that he is was given the opportunity to wear a helmet for most of his babyhood due to Mollie cramming him into such a small space. His skull had to be reshaped by wearing the helmet 23 hours out of day. Ha! Mollie did get her fair share a few months later and was given a pretty pink helmet to wear as well. A syndrome the doctor's call Plagiocephalus. (I think I spelled that correctly?)
Bobby and I look back and reflect that maybe it was a good thing we did not know about Mollie's hearing loss as we don't know how we would have managed putting hearing aids and a helmet on her head.
As a baby we were not aware that Mollie was not hearing. I would receive comments while walking through stores about her ability to "sing loudly" from complete strangers. I really did not think much of it - I was by that time used to Mollie hollering and being "very loud" to get attention. I assumed (unfortunately) that this was just part of her gifted personality.
I started to suspect that the twins were behind (expected because they were preemies) in their speech and language at about 20 months of age. We knew from information to start looking for the developmental signs at about age 2. It was in comparing them to some of their playmates that I was getting concerned and started having some more serious conversations with Dr. Hain. One night while having dinner with some POM friends, I asked the question of 5 mom's, "how many of your twins have speech problems?" Out of all 6 of us, one if not both sets of twins had speech delays. This concerned me for sure...did I see a pattern here?
Shortly there after, my mother-in-law stated that she strongly felt that Mollie was not hearing, that she did not turn when you called her name. This of course was the start of that sickening feeling in your stomach as a parent. Could there really be something wrong here? So, at dinner one night we asked Madie to go upstairs and call/yell/holler Mollie's name. Needless to say, Mollie did not hear a thing, did not even turn
her head. This was the beginning of something much bigger than we could imagine.
By June of 2007 we were able to get into the Bill Wilkerson Center. A facility at Vanderbilt University Medical Center for the hearing and speech impaired. It was there that we first met Dr. Danielle Rose and Dr. K. Rigsby. We were introduced to the sound booth and started testing Mollie's hearing. It was in this room sitting behind my husband in a chair while he held Mollie that we discovered she was severely to profoundly hearing impaired. I remember saying to myself as my ears were throbbing from the sound vibrations, "for the love of God Mollie do you not hear that?" The end result was no, she did not hear that and it was a truly sobering moment for Bobby and I as parents. It is a hard thing to wrap your brain around. For losing your hearing as a child is not some ailment that you can physically see, it was not something at such an early age of life that you could pick up on, it was not something she could tell us, she didn't know any better.
I have to say that the doctors did not waste any time. Not only are they excellent in their field but they are empathetic and care so much about what you as a parent are experiencing as well your child.
By June 21, 2007 - Mollie was fitted with loaner hearing aids. It was in a small room with about 6 of us that Mollie was first turned on to sound - she just stared at all of us in wonder and pointed out the window to a crane that was working on a new building outside. Then she promptly wanted to be held by one of the interns that was with us - a sweet college girl of course - Mollie always is happy to snuggle up to someone new. I can say there was not a dry eye in that room including the doctors.
Mollie is like all of our children a person unto her own. Her actions in the womb gave us a hint of who she would be in our future. She exercised her right to space in the womb and promptly sat on her brother's head most of the pregnancy. Poor, sweet, Nate the giving soul that he is was given the opportunity to wear a helmet for most of his babyhood due to Mollie cramming him into such a small space. His skull had to be reshaped by wearing the helmet 23 hours out of day. Ha! Mollie did get her fair share a few months later and was given a pretty pink helmet to wear as well. A syndrome the doctor's call Plagiocephalus. (I think I spelled that correctly?)
Bobby and I look back and reflect that maybe it was a good thing we did not know about Mollie's hearing loss as we don't know how we would have managed putting hearing aids and a helmet on her head.
As a baby we were not aware that Mollie was not hearing. I would receive comments while walking through stores about her ability to "sing loudly" from complete strangers. I really did not think much of it - I was by that time used to Mollie hollering and being "very loud" to get attention. I assumed (unfortunately) that this was just part of her gifted personality.
I started to suspect that the twins were behind (expected because they were preemies) in their speech and language at about 20 months of age. We knew from information to start looking for the developmental signs at about age 2. It was in comparing them to some of their playmates that I was getting concerned and started having some more serious conversations with Dr. Hain. One night while having dinner with some POM friends, I asked the question of 5 mom's, "how many of your twins have speech problems?" Out of all 6 of us, one if not both sets of twins had speech delays. This concerned me for sure...did I see a pattern here?
Shortly there after, my mother-in-law stated that she strongly felt that Mollie was not hearing, that she did not turn when you called her name. This of course was the start of that sickening feeling in your stomach as a parent. Could there really be something wrong here? So, at dinner one night we asked Madie to go upstairs and call/yell/holler Mollie's name. Needless to say, Mollie did not hear a thing, did not even turn
her head. This was the beginning of something much bigger than we could imagine.
By June of 2007 we were able to get into the Bill Wilkerson Center. A facility at Vanderbilt University Medical Center for the hearing and speech impaired. It was there that we first met Dr. Danielle Rose and Dr. K. Rigsby. We were introduced to the sound booth and started testing Mollie's hearing. It was in this room sitting behind my husband in a chair while he held Mollie that we discovered she was severely to profoundly hearing impaired. I remember saying to myself as my ears were throbbing from the sound vibrations, "for the love of God Mollie do you not hear that?" The end result was no, she did not hear that and it was a truly sobering moment for Bobby and I as parents. It is a hard thing to wrap your brain around. For losing your hearing as a child is not some ailment that you can physically see, it was not something at such an early age of life that you could pick up on, it was not something she could tell us, she didn't know any better.
I have to say that the doctors did not waste any time. Not only are they excellent in their field but they are empathetic and care so much about what you as a parent are experiencing as well your child.
By June 21, 2007 - Mollie was fitted with loaner hearing aids. It was in a small room with about 6 of us that Mollie was first turned on to sound - she just stared at all of us in wonder and pointed out the window to a crane that was working on a new building outside. Then she promptly wanted to be held by one of the interns that was with us - a sweet college girl of course - Mollie always is happy to snuggle up to someone new. I can say there was not a dry eye in that room including the doctors.
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