No pictures this time, just updates.
So Lola has had her implant turned on for a week now and she has already accomplished so much! She is making many word-like sounds now -- much more than she ever did before. Her magnet is constantly falling off, and one time she signed "where" and "sound" when it fell. So she has already made the connection between the implant and hearing -- remarkable! That usually takes months, the therapist told us. She now turns when called from behind -- something she has never done before.
Stay tuned for more updates!
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Activation Day! (or, Lola Gets Turned On)
Today was the big day! We caravaned to the doctor's office for Lola's implant activation. Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Justin and Uncle John were in attendance.
Our audiologist Dr. Windmill attached the magnet to test the electrodes for the first time:
Why, whatever could this be? Lola wondered:
A series of beeps sounded while Dr. Windmill adjusted the levels. Lola seemed very interested:
The doctor adjusted four of the sixteen electrodes today. This is what Lola's face looked like most of the time:
Then she decided it would be more fun to play and wave:
The audiologist then officially "switched her on." Lola was hearing live sound for the first time! She didn't react strongly, but seemed to be concentrating very hard on everything. She was very interested when Uncle John clapped his hands:
After a while of playing and banging on everything in sight, they fitted Lola with a not-so-stylish harness to hold her processor while she's still little:
After that, we went home and crammed lots of sound into that little girl! We go back to the audiologist every couple weeks so she can fine-tune the program. Every couple days until then we turn the volume up a little so as to not scare her.
Stay tuned for more -- possibly a video, if I can figure out how to put it up.
Our audiologist Dr. Windmill attached the magnet to test the electrodes for the first time:
Why, whatever could this be? Lola wondered:
A series of beeps sounded while Dr. Windmill adjusted the levels. Lola seemed very interested:
The doctor adjusted four of the sixteen electrodes today. This is what Lola's face looked like most of the time:
Then she decided it would be more fun to play and wave:
The audiologist then officially "switched her on." Lola was hearing live sound for the first time! She didn't react strongly, but seemed to be concentrating very hard on everything. She was very interested when Uncle John clapped his hands:
After a while of playing and banging on everything in sight, they fitted Lola with a not-so-stylish harness to hold her processor while she's still little:
After that, we went home and crammed lots of sound into that little girl! We go back to the audiologist every couple weeks so she can fine-tune the program. Every couple days until then we turn the volume up a little so as to not scare her.Stay tuned for more -- possibly a video, if I can figure out how to put it up.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
The Gash
So we've given everybody two weeks for it to heal, but it's time for a closeup of the incision:
It looks much better than it did last week and we go to the surgeon's today to see if it's healed enough to turn her on! The activation session is scheduled for next Wednesday, the 20th. We also received the bill from the hospital -- Lola's new robot ear is officially worth more than our house! Our favorite part is the last line.
It looks much better than it did last week and we go to the surgeon's today to see if it's healed enough to turn her on! The activation session is scheduled for next Wednesday, the 20th. We also received the bill from the hospital -- Lola's new robot ear is officially worth more than our house! Our favorite part is the last line.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
The Reveal
On Sunday, we took off Lola's bandage per doctor's orders and were quite surprised at the size of the incision. We'll spare you the gory close-ups:
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