Chance's Chances

Chance's wound is healing

nicely. 10 days post-op.

Chance's wound now looks muuuuuch better! He does not even seem to mind that he got a surgery. Today Chance went to school for a full day for the first time since the surgery. Chance felt just fine last week, but his sense of adventure and undaunted spirit made us a little nervous. Chance is sometimes on the playground at school with the 5th and 6th graders who are not thinking of a kindergartner who may have just had surgery as they push past to get to the slide. Combine that with the fact that Chance now only has one hearing aid, so he does not hear as well, and we thought it best to keep him home. Here at home, Chance was trying to climb over fences, and jump around with other kids in a blow-up jumping pad that our neighbors have. Chance was really good at not doing things once we told him that he could hurt his head. He would just ask us how many more days until he could jump, or climb over the fence. The thing is, Chance was not regulating himself because he does not seem to feel the need to. That is why God made mothers :)

Maybe it helps Chance that he can not actually see the wound like the rest of us can, so he does not see as much of a need to slow down. :)

Chance has been going to school with the same kids for 3 years now as they all went to preschool together so they are all good little buddies. As Chance got on the bus this morning, I heard the shouts of greetings from his friends clear over to the porch where I was standing.

There are indications that Chance has retained his residual hearing in the ear that had surgery. When a cochlear implant surgery is performed, some people retain what hearing they had in the ear, and others lose even that. We were praying that Chance would keep whatever hearing he had and there are indications that he still has some hearing in the right ear. Tonight, Chance put on some headphones and pointed to his right ear and said that the earphone was not working. When Chance's dad inspected the headphones, he found that they were not plugged in all the way and when the plug was tightened, Chance nodded and said that it was working now. This is an exciting development. It looks like Chance may have retained hearing in that right ear after all. We'll have to experiment some more to find out! Keeping the hearing that he already had, could benefit Chance in a couple of ways; number one, he will at least have some hearing as the implant can not get wet, and you do not sleep with it on. Also, if any new medical advances come along in Chance's lifetime, he will have some natural hearing to work with.