EARLY IDENTIFICATION

Both children were identified with hearing loss in the hospital, before we left to come home. I can't say enough about the infant hearing screening. We would not have known for some time about John's hearing loss since it was moderate at first. By the time he was 19 or 20 months, John's hearing had progressed rapidly to severe/profound. We were devastated. My husband and I had just come to terms with the hearing aids...now they were providing little or no benefit. Our speech therapist had been suggesting that we look into the cochlear implant. Oh my gosh...those words just scared the daylights out of me. Are you kidding?? I had researched the cochlear implant on the web....yikes...surgery for my little child??? I knew I had to get this ball rolling. John was losing precious language development time. I made the call to the Children's HEAR center in Birmingham. We met with our audiologist, and did several months worth of testing. John's hearing loss was not only progressive, but also fluctuating...this made the audiogram more difficult to pin down. Finally John qualified as a candidate for an implant. The next step was to ensure precert from our insurance company. I really can't say enough good things about that initial process. The preauthorization came back relatively quickly. John's surgery date was scheduled for July 2002, two months right after the birth our daughter, Emily. Talk about a crazy time in our lives!!

John's surgery was successful. He was implanted with the CII from Advanced Bionics. We were on our way home in less than 24 hours. In fact, we had to stop on the way home for french fries! I wish someone had told me that "walking" would probably not be back to normal for a couple of days. I remember really getting upset that John couldn't walk. I thought, Oh, great...first he's deaf, now he can't walk. Naturally, his balance came back and he was running within a few days.

Emily's story is a bit different. We called Emily our "jet engine baby." Her audiogram was off the chart (120+ db). We knew she would qualify for an implant immediately. She did. Before she was six weeks old, she was aided just like John was. I knew the aides were providing very little benefit, but I wanted to give her access to any sound at all. My husband and I decided that we wanted to push the envelope on the FDA 12 month suggestion. The surgeon had already implanted another baby at 8 months, so that became our goal as well. In January 2003, Emily was implanted with the Advanced Bionics, CII. Emily's surgery was much different from John's. Emily has a cochlear malformation called Mondini's dysplasia, which means she only has 1.5 turns of her cochlea. The normal cochlea has 2.5 turns. Because of Emily's age and the Mondini's dysplasia, Advanced Bionics sent out a surgical representative to be present during the surgery. That was an incredible reassurance knowing an extra set of eyes and hands was able and ready if necessary. Our surgeon was amazing. He was able to get a full insertion of the electrode array. Because of Emily's cochlear malformation, she had what's known as a "gusher." It was a big one!! She leaked cerebral spinal fluid from her cochlea which caused her hospital stay to be extended - a week. We watcher her very closely once she got home. She did great...what a trooper!

My next post will tell of our remarkable experience with initial stimulation - "turn on." Get ready...it's quite amazing.