"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.
