November 21 - One Day Post Switch On

Aiden had a really fantastic day for his first 'real' day of hearing! Last night he had a terrible night's sleep - I think he slept for about 20 minutes from 2:30 am until 6:00 am when he decided it was time to get up. So, I was a bit apprehensive about putting the Implant on him when he was tired and cranky - but we gave it a go anyway (okay, maybe I was a bit excited too! :>). It was only about 5 minutes after he was up that I put it on. And, even though the volume was turned way down, Aiden cried a bit when I first put the implant on. However, the crying didn't last, and I was able to distract him pretty quickly. And, after that he had NO trouble with it at all! In fact, he generally left it alone (which is AMAZING given the nightmare that keeping hearing aids on him was). In very short order, we had the volume his first "map" up to 9 (the highest volume of this level), and it didn't seem to bother him in the least.

We made lots of sounds all morning - in fact if anything we might have overdone it - we all wanted him to hear EVERYTHING (including Noah!), so it was a bit of a noisy environment. Now, there weren't very many occasions when I thought that Aiden was responding to sound - but it's still pretty early yet for that from what I understand. The most amazing thing that happened all day was that this morning the microphone fell off of Aiden's ear - and he PUT IT BACK ON HIMSELF!!!!! This is really nothing short of incredible!!!

The most annoying thing about this implant is that the ear level microphone (the piece that looks like a hearing aid) doesn't stay on very well. In fact, it seemed like everytime Aiden moved his head it fell off. We were able to put a "huggy" around it later in the morning and that helped a bit - but it's still a bit of a pain to have to keep putting it back on every time you turn around. I'm sure this will sort itself out in time though.

Noah was very, very good with today with Aiden. He really worked hard at trying to get him to hear different sounds. He kept saying, "can you hear that Aiden" or "Yeah, you can hear me (and pointing to his ear like we were taught to do)!" and even, "can you hear me now?" Aiden's Implant package came with a toy implant that is meant for a teddy bear - but it is now Noah's implant to play with. First thing this morning he actually wanted us to put tape on his head to hold it in place like Aiden's. So we did :>. Then, just before lunch, Noah held "Implant Clinics" (his words!!) in his bedroom. One by one he called Ric, Aiden and I into his room to see the doctor. We were tickled with a feather, brushed with a luggage tag, and then fitted with the toy implant. "Does that help you to hear?" he asked. Too cute :>

This afternoon we took Noah and Aiden to get some groceries at Loblaws. I think this was the best trip we had to Loblaws so far. It was so amazing to actually be able to TELL Aiden about everything that he was seeing. Loblaws had balloons everywhere today and Aiden was fascinated by them. I'm half surprised that he can't say ballon already for the number of times we said, "b..b..b...ballon!" to him!

People's reaction to Aiden was pretty interesting. No one said anything - but they sure gave him a second and third look. It must seem pretty strange to people that haven't seen an Implant before. I guess we better get used to it! It was kind of shades of the reactions we got when we had Aiden out in the stroller with his oxygen prongs and tank. At least Aiden was happy and laughing for most of the trip.

After the grocery store we took Noah and Aiden to see "Auntie" at a job site she was working on so that Noah could ride in the Excavator. He loved that :>

Aiden's Implant didn't work out so well in the car. If Aiden looked to his right, the magnet and microphone got knocked off really easily. I am hoping we can remedy that soon.

By the time we got home, Aiden was pretty tired. We were able to keep the implant on all though dinner (so it now has a bit of sweet and sour chicken sauce on it!). But, shorly after, he decided that he had had enough and took it off as soon as we could get it back on. So, we deduced that he was done for the day.

All in all, he had a fantastic first day. Although we didn't see much reaction to sound, we are thrilled that the crying seems to have stopped, that he wore the implant for almost the entire day and that he really didn't bother with it. Can't wait to see what tomorrow holds! We have an appointment at CHEO at 2:15 and I'll let you know how it goes...