Pages

Thursday, June 08, 2006

A name is a name is a name....

Yesterday Chance had his second visit with the audiologist. Chance had gotten to program 4. He did complain a bit when we changed the programs from 1 to 2 saying that it was too loud, but the next day we put the implant on at program 2 and he didn't say anything. Today the audiologist set the programs again with the old number 4 program now being program 1, and going up from there. We'll give him a few days with each program and then move up to the next one. The idea is to get the auditory nerve and brain used to this new hearing and be able to decipher what it is.

Exciting news today!! Chance's dad covered his mouth and asked Chance where each member of the family was. Chance would point to each person as their name was said. He did mix up daddy and one of the names twice. But both end in the "ee" sound so that may have thrown him off a little. This is great! This means that he is beginning to sort through language sounds as well as environmental sounds.

Chance has requested that he wear the body worn battery pack tomorrow. Some of his friends at school wear the body unit so I think Chance wants to give it a whirl. Plus, I think Chance just realized that he had the body unit battery pack as he was going through the box of stuff they gave us when we got the implant turned on. We are also thinking that the body unit will be good for Chance to wear while he is playing baseball. The over the ear piece is smaller when you use the body battery back. The battery pack is smaller than a deck of cards, similar to an mp3 player, and just attaches to your belt or whatever else you can hook it to. Then a coil runs from the pack to the implant behind the ear. What Chance has been wearing is just an over the ear piece including the battery pack making it heavier and larger.

We are really grateful that Chance is adapting well and is not refusing to wear the implant. He has not asked to wear his hearing aid once. Today he said " I love my implant!"

No comments: