I knew being married to a (future) endodontist would come in handy! My husband took Logan's implant up to his school tonight and was able to fix it with his dental tools! Yeah!

Sound-less...again!

On Friday, my youngest son, Chase, pulled off Logan's implant (as he often does) a bit forcefully. He detached the magnet part, so I just hooked it back on, thinking it was no big deal. After a while, I noticed that Logan was not responding to sounds that he normally recognizes. After determining that he was just not "ignoring" me, I knew something was wrong with the implant. I found out that there is a tool that is used to see if all the electrodes are connected properly, something we definitely should have! My husband figured out that the small prongs were bent so the magnet cord could not attach properly. Since it was now Friday evening, we would have to wait until Monday to submit for a replacement, which takes 2-3 days! I quickly remembered all of the frustration we had months ago when we had to chase Logan down, stomp our feet on the floor or throw something (soft, of course) at him--all to get his attention. The hard part has been his constant asking for the implant and having to tell him it is broke. Hopefully we get it fixed soon!

Tanner helping Logan count to ten...

(make sure to turn your volume up and pause the music, at the bottom of the page, to hear the audio.)

Florida schools...

We went to Florida this past week to look for a home and to check out schools for Logan. I knew there was a preschool program through the school district right in Gainesville, but I wasn't sure what kind of program it was. The other option was an auditory verbal program, Clarke, in Jacksonville, over 2 hours away. We visited Clarke school on our first day in town. It seemed to be a great program, very similar to John Tracy, and just what we were looking for, however, I was unsure of how I would make the commute everyday, especially with two other kids. We then visited the preschool program at the nearby elementary school. The teachers were fantastic, the school was beautiful and the program was very well organized, but...it was a total communication program (meaning both oral and signing).

When we decided to get Logan a Cochlear Implant, we also decided that we would go completely oral with him, since we are hearing family. We would love to bring his signing back once he is completely oral, we think it will be a great second language for him, but we feel we need to eliminate it right now, as he is learning to speak orally, to help him progress.

So, I was bummed. I was really hoping that program would work, and like I said, it was a great program. I was actually trying to convince myself that a total communication program would fit our needs just fine, but after further thought, I knew that Logan needed to be in an Auditory Verbal program.

I started to become slightly emotional with the decision we had made to come to Florida. Los Angeles had a wonderful school just a few miles away, and we were finding nothing in Gainesville. This next year is crucial for Logan's speech development and part of me felt like I'd be a bad mom if I didn't travel the 2 hours to put him in the school that would best suit his needs.

Just then, we found out of a women that was rumored to be starting an oral program right in Gainesville in the fall. We called her immediately and found that it was true! I was so thrilled that I began tearing up on the phone. She said that about 4-5 parents of cochlear implant children had gone to the school district and demanded that they provide this service. Oh the power of good parents...Thank you so much!

I'm It... I've been tagged!

10 years ago I was... A freshman at Utah State University dancing on the Aggiettes dance team!

Five Snacks I enjoy, in a perfect, non weight-gaining world:
1. oreo cookies
2. fudge
3. chips and guacamole
4. banana shakes
5. brownies

In the real world:
1. almonds
2. fruit salad
3. chips and salsa
4. apples and peanut butter
5. popcorn

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. donate to Charity, cliche, but true
2. start up Oral Deaf Education Centers in any state that doesn't already have one
3. Go on vacation with all my loved ones

5 jobs I've had:
1. Photographer at Kiddie Kandids
2. Dance Instructor
3. Dental Assistant
4. Substitute high school teacher
5. MOM!

3 of my habits:
1. make up in the car (only at stop lights, though!)
2. being obsessed with cleaning my kids ears (the audiologist told me that was bad)
3. going to bed too late

5 Places I've lived:
1. Las Vegas, NV
2. Logan, UT
3. Provo, UT
4. Los Angeles, CA
5. (starting in June) Gainesville, FL

Something most people don't know about me:
I competed in the Miss Nevada Pageant the summer before my Senior Year of high School

What is the one thing you would tell the parent of a child recently diagnosed with profound hearing loss?:
Take it one day at a time. There is so much to be grateful for, focus on that, instead of what is lacking. And very important...treat your hearing impaired child the same as you would a hearing child. Okay, so that was three things. :)

Too funny...

So I am sitting on the couch with Logan and my older son, Tanner, watching a movie when Logan heard Tanner "toot"! Logan looked at me and pointed at his ear with a puzzled look on his face, telling me that he had heard that, but was unfamiliar with the sound. If only there had been a video camera in the room as Tanner and I tried to explain to Logan what a toot was. He starred at us confused as if we weren't making any sense. I guess I never realized that he was unaware that that funny feeling in his tummy/bum, made a sound. Tanner proceeded to tell him that it was stinky and that we only do it in the bathroom. Logan walked in the bathroom and told us that he didn't smell anything...he wasn't getting it! :) By this time Tanner and I were laughing so hard which made it difficult for us to be serious so that we could relay the message to Logan that it wasn't nice to toot.

About an hour later Tanner accidentally dropped a box of crackers on the kitchen floor. Logan looked at me and began holding his nose and "waving" his bottom thinking he had heard a toot. Maybe we'll try this again in a few weeks! :-)

First week of preschool at JTC!

Logan started the preschool at John Tracy this week. He will start full days next week, until 3:30! He loved it and did great, but each day I picked him up I walked down the hall and out to the car holding back the tears. This place is what we've been looking for for so long and we only have 5 more weeks to absorb as much as we can. When we had the decision to make between doing Jake's residency in Florida or staying here, we had a hard time choosing. We wanted the best place for Logan, and for the family. At the time, we had not yet found the John Tracy Clinic. I feel like if we had, we may have spent the next two years here in LA instead. I have to be careful not to say "what if," and look more to what lies ahead, but those thoughts won't seem to leave. Logan is at a crucial stage for language development, he is on the right track and just needs a good head start. My husband has reminded me that the purpose of John Tracy was to educate me to be the best teacher for Logan, and I know that, I just feel like there is still so much to learn from them and I'm angry that we did not have the opportunity to take full advantage of them. I see parents there with their newborn babies that were just diagnosed and wonder why that wasn't us, why the doctors and audiologists didn't tell us that this was out there, I feel like that should've been part of their job.

I don't mean to be negative, we are making a lot of progress with Logan and he is trying so hard. His receptive language is now up to 31 words!! We are so proud of him.

His teacher, Megan

His Auditory Verbal Therapist, Jenny (she was giving him his tattoo!)

Logan found this note in his lunchbox on his first day and wanted me to take a picture of him with it! :)

The best sound ever!

He said, it...finally! My little Logan said "Ma-Ma" for the first time! For the past few months, both my husband and I were both just, "ba-ba." I never thought hearing it would sound so sweet. When he first said it, I kind of freaked him out at how much excitement I showed. He looked at me like I was crazy. What's funny is that he said it after hearing my 16 month old say it, he was mimicking him. I knew that Tanner, my 5 year old would be a speech model for Logan, but I never thought that baby Chase would be one as well. :-)

Kaci Koala Can hear...

Logan was so excited to get Kaci's Implant in the mail today. The next day, he was practicing speech with him and kept pointing at his ear, telling Kaci that he wanted to hear him speak!

We'll just have to wait...

Well, we cannot appeal the decision made by UCLA to not do the second implant since they know "what's best". And besides, since the insurance approving the second CI would determine a lot on the recommendation of our audiologist, I figured that it would be better to just wait until we get to Florida, since (if she doesn't agree with getting it done) her letter would be of no help to us anyhow....I am trying to be positive, am I convincing? :-) Besides, I have heard that UCLA is one of the more conservative clinics with doing a second CI, so hopefully we'll have more luck back east.

Sometimes I just get tired of "fighting" the professionals, especially since the things I fight for seem so obvious. I guess I figured I wanted to get all of that out of the way before we move. There will be so many other things to get done with a big move like that and I was hoping this would be one last thing on my plate, but one of the big reasons, is because of the amazing support I have here in LA. I am afraid I won't have that in Florida and as much as I hate to admit it, I need that. I have the most wonderful people living around me that go out of their way to lend a hand to me and my family, even when I try to push it away. I am a member of the LDS (Mormon) church and the women here, in the church, have rendered so much service. When Logan had his surgery I had several women insist on taking my other two children for the day and had several others bring over dinner so that I could just focus on Logan. I always have a willing babysitter for my other boys when Logan has one of his many appointments and none of them want anything in return. I will really miss their great friendship, I don't know how I'd do it without them.

UGHHHHHH!

I'm so done with all of this! I received a call from the audiologist yesterday stating that the team of audiologists at UCLA have decided that they are not going to submit to insurance to do the second implant. I was shocked. I didn't understand why we didn't have a say in the matter, especially when, according to his latest audiogram, he really could go either way with getting the surgery done. When I asked why they decided not to go ahead with it she said it was because they believed he would not benefit from the second Implant...WHAT? That makes no sense, of course he would benefit from it. Right now the sole purpose of having just a hearing aid in that ear is to help with localization and to help with what is called the "cocktail setting" (meaning, being able to focus on a conversation and localize in a crowded/noisy environment, like a cocktail party). I witnessed Logan in that type of situation just last week and he wasn't hearing a thing. I was a foot away from him and he couldn't hear me call his name. I feel like I need to try to appeal this, seeing him at home, I know that he needs more.

When Logan had first lost the remaining of his hearing, at 18 months old, I tried and tried to convince the doctors that he had become worse. It took them a year to even consider that that could have happened. Looking back now I wished I had done more, been more persistent, been more demanding. I feel like Logan missed out on a crucial time for language development because I wasn't "mean" enough. Because of this, I feel like this time I need to go with my gut and get done what I feel my son needs.

I'm not sure how to do this, or if I even can. I thought I was going to have to convince the insurance company to do this, not my audiologist. I feel as though I am up against a wall.

Logan's first week at the "Dolphin School"

Logan is loving his "Dolphin School" (they have dolphins painted on the walls). He's even had a hard time sleeping at night due to all the excitement. I'm still a little unsure it's the best thing for him, the teachers are a little harsh with the kids I guess they see it as "tough love"!

The first day he had on his "Crocs" and the teacher signed to him that he was wearing bad shoes that were not aloud at school. He now will not wear them at all, anywhere! Then they proceeded to play a game that they play on a daily basis, since this was Logan's first day he was not aware of how the game was played. When he did not do the game exactly correct, one of the teachers said sarcastically, "Well, I guess someone is new today." I'm actually glad that he doesn't have a full concept of language yet. However, he loves it and it's only for 2 1/2 more weeks (then we start at John Tracy Full time!!)

The heartbeat bear

My mom gave me this bear when I was pregnant with my first son. It's a bear that makes the sound of a heartbeat to soothe the baby and remind him of sounds in the womb. It took Logan 3 years to enjoy it, but now he loves it. :)

The second test

So, we had a second hearing test at Logan's school, The John Tracy Clinic, on Friday. The good news is that the test results came out that his loss was slightly worse than the previous test, the bad news is that it's still not bad enough to be a shoe-in for a second implant. After watching him function with his hearing aid this week I know that he is not getting what he needs from it. I told my husband that I was going to fight hard to get this approved. The audiologist also feels that the second implant is what is best for him and is willing to write a letter to the insurance company explaining why he needs this.

On a second note, Logan is starting a Deaf and Hard of Hearing program through the school district tomorrow (until he can get into John Tracy full time). He is excited to start and is ready for a full time program.

Simple Pleasures...

One of Logan's favorite things to do now is dance to music. He gets so excited when he hears it. His signature move? Rolling his arms! :)

What...No Implant??

I'm frustrated, confused and emotionally drained. So, we have been trying to rush this process of getting the second implant done and all that was needed before we could submit the request to the insurance, was an aided test (a hearing test with just a hearing aid on). The reason they do this is to prove that the patient is not hearing the necessary speech sounds with just a hearing aid. They told me on Monday that they would not be able to get us in for that until early April--which would really not help our plan to get this all done in May. But Tuesday night they called and said that they had a cancellation, which by the way, has never happened in three years. I was thrilled, but the problem was that a new ear mold (the part of the aid that goes in the ear) was needed and to have one made would be another 2-3 weeks. Well, later that night Jake and I went to our parent class and when I opened my change holder in the car there was his old ear mold! Things couldn't be working out better and all of these small details were confirming my decision of going forward with a second implant.
Well, to make a long story short(er) after the aided test, we found out that Logan was not technically eligible for the second implant because his hearing loss is not "bad enough". This was new news to us, our last audiologist told us he was profoundly deaf in both ears (the same audiologist who told me I was crazy, for over a year, when I told her I felt Logan's loss had become worse and it had). According to Wednesday's test, he is "Severe to Profoundly" deaf in that ear, which means he is barely ineligible to receive the surgery-according to the insurance company, who approves it. I should have been thrilled, his loss is not as bad as we thought, but I wasn't--I was disappointed. Being that he's so close, I wish that we could do the implant, especially since we know his hearing loss is progressive-which means it will get worse. I just don't get it, it took me 2 months of sleepless, prayerful nights to come to a decision that I knew was right, only to not even have that choice anymore.
We came home that day and let him wear just the hearing aid all day and I "tested" him to see what he was hearing. I called his name from three feet away...nothing. The telephone rang from about 2 feet away...nothing. I even turned the blender on and nothing! According to this test he should have heard all of that. We are going to get another test done tomorrow at John Tracy to see if we get the same results. I think we are going to submit the request to the insurance with a letter from the audiologist stating why he needs this.
I feel like my thoughts are kind of scattered in this post, sorry for being all over the place.

We Love Sound Bingo

I bought this game when Logan was 6 months old and have been waiting until he would be able to play it. My older son really loved it when he was Logan's age. We pulled it out last week and were amazed at the sounds that Logan recognized, some of which he has never actually heard. It has quickly become his favorite game and asks to play it any chance he gets. Even after watching him play it over and over again I still love to watch him get so excited when he hears a sound...he points to his ear and opens his mouth wide. So fun!

The IEP

Ahhh...the dreaded IEP (Individualized Education Plan). It shouldn't be "dreaded", but with the lack of the school district's funds and deaf educators, it is! Each public school child who receives special education and related services must have an IEP. The IEP creates an opportunity for teachers, parents, school administrators, related services personnel to work together to improve educational results for children with disabilities.
The night before, Jake and I wrote out our "wants", our short term goals for Logan and our long term goals for him. I was really prepared and eager to get what I felt was needed for Logan to get the best education possible. When I arrived I sat down at a round table with 6 other women starring right at me. They consisted of an audiologist, a deaf education speech therapist, a psychologist, another speech therapist, a deaf education teacher and Logan's in home therapist that he's had for about 2 years. They all went around the table and gave their report about Logan (an assessment of him was done 3 weeks earlier by each person there...very stressful for a 3 year old :) ) They then proceeded to tell me his short term and long term goals...wait a minute, I don't get an opinion? I don't get to express what I think the goals should be regarding MY son? After 30 minutes of that, they handed me the document and asked me to sign it stating that I agreed with it. I proceeded to pull out my (very nicely typed) paper of what Jake and I had come up with the night before. I was stating the services that I wanted to fight to get for Logan (such as more therapy sessions, a home FM system, etc.) when one of the women proceeded to say, "what's the use, you are just moving in June anyway." I then understood why the meeting had gone the way it had. The school district was unwilling to invest time in Logan since he was not going to be a student in their district permanently, only the next three months. It broke my heart. I understood (a little) where they were coming from but I tried to explain that this IEP would be carried over to Florida when we get there and that was the reason for the requests...something they should have already known. Well, hopefully it works out in our favor!

So, I needed an extra day to come to a decision. Jake has always felt good about doing a second implant, but I wanted to be sure for myself before we went ahead with the surgery. So many things have been going through my head. Right now when you look at Logan you see "Logan", I was afraid that with two implants you'd look at him and see the implants instead of him. I didn't want to take that away from him, but I would hate myself if I didn't give him the chance to be his best self. I also didn't want him to have to sit in the front of the class room just to do well in school. I wanted him to have the chance to be as "normal" as possible. I actually told a friend of mine that I felt like a bad mother because I couldn't come to a decision on something that should be so obvious. Thursday night Jake and I knelt down and asked for a feeling of peace with going through with the second surgery. Friday morning was "Sibling Day" at Logan's school so Tanner was able to miss school and come with us. Jake also had his patient cancel, so he came along too. Tanner attended a class for siblings of deaf children. They taught them a lot about the disability and things to do to help their brothers/sisters learn to speak. After the class, Tanner asked me if Logan had two implants would it help him talk better and if so, he really wanted him to have two. . .and that's when the peace came. I knew then that the right decision was to have the surgery done. We are going to try to rush the process, so hopefully we can get a surgery date soon. I’m still a little nervous, the last surgery is still too fresh on my mind, but he’s such a brave little boy, I have no doubt he’ll do great.

Another surgery?

This question has been eating at me for the past 3 months. Do we get another implant for Logan in his left ear? The question seems obvious, since he's deaf in both ears, wouldn't you have implants in both ears? I wish the answer was that simple. There are pros and cons to both situations. The research out there on a child with one implant verses a child with two really isn't that different. It seems that the main advantage he would have would be localization, being able to distinguish where sounds are coming from. I have been losing A LOT of sleep over this (hence the 1:00 am post) and can't seem to know what is best. We have seen more progress than we ever expected in this short amount of time with just the one implant, so part of me wonders if he needs two. I asked Logan tonight if he wanted another "ear" on his other ear. His face lit up and he shook his head. If only he fully comprehended all that that would entail...or maybe he does. The ideal situation would be to see how he's progressing in 5 years and decide then, but that isn't practical. If we are going to do it, we'd like to do it before we move in June. I really want to make the right decision for him. Part of me remembers his surgery day and the horror of it all. I can't bear to see him go through that again, although I realize that is a small price to pay for the reward in the end. Jake and I have decided to make a decision by Thursday night and take that decision to the Lord.

"The Beauty of Holland"

I was given this today in the parent class of Logan's school. I loved it and had to share...

"I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability-- to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...

"When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous trip--to Italy! You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelango David. The gondolas in Venice. You even learn some handy phrases in italian. It's all very exciting.

"After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The flight attendant comes in and says, 'Welcome to Holland.' 'Holland?!?', you say. 'What do you mean Holland? I signed up for Italy. I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy.'

"But there has been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

"So you must go out and buy new guide books and learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you never would have met. It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills. Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

"But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all talking about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, 'Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned.'

"But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't go to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland"

--Emily Perl Kingsley

Logan's update

I have received a lot of emails and phone calls wanting updates about our little Logan and his new Cochlear Implant. Thank you so much. It will make him so happy one day to know how loved he is! Well, things are going very well. He is getting used to all the "noise" and the only time he has become really irritated was on Christmas morning! :) With 9 cousins and all the mayhem, there was just too much sound and he asked me if he could take it off. "too much, too much" is what he kept signing to me.












We have started attending the John Tracy Clinic for the deaf and we just LOVE it. He has actually started recognizing certain words by their name...without reading lips. But this past week was very emotional for me as Logan not only heard a knock at the door, but knew what it was that he was hearing. We jumped around and cheered, we couldn't contain our excitement. That is going to be the struggle, teaching him to recognize what all these new sounds are. We are so proud of him and his willingness to work so hard. I just stare at him sometimes to see his reactions to sound. How blessed we have been. I will do better at updating on his progress. :)

Do you hear what I hear?...

Yesterday, Logan's world changed. He is hearing! We went in this morning to have his CI turned on. They first, hooked the device up to a computer to activate it and he was just hearing clicks and beeps. It was a great experience to see his little eyebrows raise when that first little bit of sound entered in. Once the audiologist turned it on she told us to go ahead and speak. I was slightly emotional and motioned to Jake to go first. He called Logan's name and his head turned towards Jake. After a while he began to ignore the noise and our voices. To Logan, it was no big deal and he just continued on playing with his puzzle. What?! That was it? Just a simple turn of the head? What about jumping up & down with excitement, asking for more sound, running into my arms? Well, I guess he is only 2 1/2, and actually, all that noise is probably not as pleasant as you might think.
So, he kept the implant on until about 2:00 (only because we were consistently bribing him to do so). He was playing in his room when I went in to check on him and noticed that he was not wearing it. I gave him a look and he signed, "Where? Where? I don't know." He was obviously guilty. So after 20 minutes of searching the playroom, I found it hidden under his mattress in his bedroom! He signed that he was all done with it and didn't like his new ear. I started to cry and left the room. He didn't like it? He didn't want to hear all these wonderful sounds? It broke my heart. My husband had to remind me that this is going to be a marathon, not a sprint and that it's okay to take it slow. I want so much for him to say "Mommy" that I guess I may be pushing him too much. All in all it was a good day. This device is pretty complex for such a little guy, but I'm sure he'll adjust. He watched a movie today and started dancing when he heard the music...loved it! Sorry for all the video, it's a lot of us yelling Logan's name and him turning his head:) )
CLICK ON PICTURE TO WATCH VIDEO

Logan's activation day

The Morning of Surgery...

The Morning of Surgery...

(sorry they're sideways)

We made it through the day!

Well, It is now almost 11:00 and we think Logan is out for the night and since so many of you have called inquiring about our day (thanks so much), I thought I'd give a brief summary of today's events before getting some much needed sleep myself. He was awesome at the hospital before the surgery. All of the preparing, that we thought wouldn't do much good, was a big help. We have been using "Donkey" as the patient and Logan as the doctor to show Logan what would happen the day of surgery--don't worry, we left out the details of the actual surgery! :) The nurses said that when it was time to put on the oxygen mask, to put him to sleep, he knew just what to do and wasn't scared. The surgery went great but when he woke up, he was quite upset with everyone who came within 5 feet of him! He proceeded to rip off anything that was attached to his body including his IV in his hand, which left Dad in a shirt covered in blood! I had a weak moment as a mother and couldn't take the sight of my brave little boy in so much pain and had to leave. I felt like I had just done this with Chase and wasn't ready to do it again. I had a quick meltdown in the elevator, got my composure back and went back to be with Jake and Logan. He came home around 3:00 and it has been a rough night, but he is doing well. I have been thinking about the end result of all of this and can hardly tame my excitement. He will be hooked up on December 4th--that is when the hearing will begin. I have made a list of all the things I want my baby boy to hear; the voices of his family, me telling him I love him, an airplane, a train, the beach, music, Disneyland rides, making his baby brother laugh...the list goes on and on. I know I'll need to take it slow and not expose him to all those things at once, how frightening, don't you think? :) Anyway, sorry for the long post tonight and for all of the photos. We are very proud and excited of our strong little boy. Thanks for sharing our excitement.

This is Logan and his WONDERFUL speech therapist, Jessica, practicing for the surgery.

This is "Dr. Logan" and his "patient", Donkey. He has his head bandaged and the oxygen mask on!

...checking his heartbeat.

Logan and Donkey ready for surgery.
The aftermath...


Donkey got to go into surgery with Logan and the nurses dressed him up like the doctors.


Finally at home.

After having two doses of his medication, he laid like this for about 30 minutes determined to not let any more medicine get in!

He gets very dizzy when he walks around, so he crawls around instead!

Good Night...finally!

I can't sleep...

I can't sleep...I'm extremely nervous for Logan's surgery in the morning. I have vacuumed 6 six times today, washed the knives by hand twice, organized the towel closet and folded the dirty clothes in the hamper (those are just the odd things that were done) all to keep me busy today. I have packed and re-packed his hospital bag and am afraid that I will forget something important, like his favorite car or toy dinosaur. Why am I freaking out? What a dummy I am. Jake is no better, he is in the front room switching the TV back and forth between music videos on VH1 and a soccer game commentated in Spanish. It is now 2 am and I am going to try get some shut eye before we have to leave for the hospital at 7 :15 am. Thanks for all your sweet comments and prayers. It always amazes me what great friends we have. I love you all. I will post again after the big day...

THREE MORE DAYS!!

Only three more days until Logan's life-changing surgery. We are excited, but extremely nervous. I've been doing some more research on the cochlear implants and found these simulations on what speech sounds like to an implanted person. It's kind of interesting!

click on www.pbs.org/saf/1205/features/Interactive/channel22.htm and click on listen to 22 channels.

While listening to this one, www.hei.org/research/aip/decrease_channels.mp3 , you'll first hear the phrase as a normal hearing person hears it, then the second one is at 22 channels-what Logan will hear. The phrase will repeat at 18 channels, 12 channels, and so forth.

We finally have a surgery date for Logan...
November 7th!
YEAH!!

Logan's CT Scan

One of the steps needed before getting Logan's surgery done is a CT scan. We had it done on Thursday and he did great. They had to sedate him to do the procedure, so he couldn't eat anything after 6am. I woke him up at 5:30 and let him eat a big pancake and eggs breakfast. He was so tired, that he could barely lift the fork, but I didn't want him to have to go all night and day without eating. After the test, he was groggy after waking up, but perked right up when the nurse offered him a lollipop. He became a little loopy as we walked to the car, it was quite entertaining!!

Logan's new ears

When Logan sees someone singing or dancing on the TV, he knows that there is music, and he puts his ear and hands on the speaker to feel the vibrations. The first time I saw this, it broke my heart.
Many of you have asked about Logan's upcoming surgery for the Cochlear Implants. We are still in the process. It is usually a 8-10 month process that we are trying to do in 3 months! We were hoping to have both ears done simultaneously, but that could postpone the process even longer, because it is harder for the insurance to approve that. So we will probably just do one ear at a time. The longer we wait, the more his speech will be delayed, so we need to get it done as soon as possible. I am very nervous about the surgery and worried how Logan will react to all this new sound. It can't be half bad living in a world of silence! :) They say many children take a long time to adjust to the implants because they don't like all the noise that they are not use to hearing. He was given more powerful hearing aids, while he waits for the surgery, which give him a little bit of sound. He has not enjoyed that too much. The first week of having the new "ears" (that's what we call them) I found them in the garbage 4 different times!