As we left the audiologist's office Miss Kat was still very unhappy. She was leaving the processor alone but she didn't want us to talk or even make much noise. So we loaded up and head home.
We stopped an hour from home at Nana's (Hubby's mom) for lunch. Miss Kat was so proud of her implant (all of a sudden!) Nana took her all around the office and showed Miss Kat off. We headed over to get lunch and Miss Kat had to go potty. The audiologist had warned us that toilet flushing is something that is often very scary to newly implanted children. So, as I left her in the bathroom, I warned her about the flushing. When she came out she was so excited! She told us she heard the toilet flush. That was the moment everything changed...
Miss Kat suddenly started to be totally interested in all the sound around her. She heard the doors hit each other, she started to knocking on every surface she could find. She heard her feet on the ground, she even heard the ice in her drink!!
After lunch we headed over to the Treehouse Museum (http://www.treehousemuseum.org/home.html) and played. We went over to the music section and played the instruments and she loved it. We were able to slowly turn her volume up and when the headpiece fell off she immediately walked over and asked us to put it on (after she tried herself a couple times).
After a long drive home, we went and visited Grammy (my mom). Miss Kat was very excited to show off her processor again. Grammy has a little toy guitar and keyboard so she pulled them out and Miss Kat started to play with them. Normally, she just bangs around on them and then moves on. This time playing with it was very different. She very slowly played each note and listened very carefully. She was very interested and was noticing the differences in pitch. It was incredible to watch!
Miss Kat wore her implant every waking moment from the time she was activated. She made it through all three programs on her processor that first day. We are already blown away by her progress. It feels so meant to be!
3 comments:
When you said "It feels so meant to be!"....
That's exactly how we feel when we see the everyday magic of Lotte and her CI..!!
Yay!!! That is SO good that she showed such interest and attempt at understanding "new" sounds. Kat seems like she's a very bright and inquisitive little girl.
I was implanted 5 months ago, after being born profoundly deaf in both ears. I'm 19 years old and I have to say if I could've had the choice, I would've gotten my CI YEARS AGO and speech therapy. It is so hard not to be able to go to a drive-through or to have a simple friendly conversation with a stranger in the elevator. You have given Kat the WORLD and probably haven't realized the full impact of it yet.
Definitely keep it up- there will be frustrating days but there will also be wonderful, good days. Even on my most frustrating days, I am so glad I have a CI.
her reaction is like mine was when I was activated. I am also an ASL user, after activation I was very interested in sound... we went to lunch and i played with the sounds of the metal touching the table, the toilette flushing, the water running. I know this is a VERY old post, but i'm starting from the beginning so I can see the progression.
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