Like a girl robot

Our audiologist is a man.  That is important to know because when he turned the implant on for the first time and asked what our son heard, he was told he sounded like a robot.

The audiologist then asked,"Do I sound like a boy or a girl robot?"

Our little son sat with his new gleaming brown implant attached to his head as he leaned across the table and said, "A girl robot."

The audiologist explained that this was normal and that we all may sound like robots for the next few days.

The family was all there for the big moment, except ironically Chance.  Normally I would not have a problem at all checking Chance out of school so that he could see his brother get his implant turned on, but Chance was in the middle of a special assignment at school that lasted for about 3 weeks.  He would have missed two days since we had our appointment over two days. Chance was at the hospital and nursed his brother there, so I don't feel too bad.  Besides, Chance will be joining his brother for many appointments in the future, not exactly the same, but scheduled together to make for a single 5 hour round-trip, rather than two separate round-trips.  (Of course, add the 3-hour appointment, for each boy, to the 5 hour trip, and it makes for a very long day.)

Raising his hand when he hears sounds

Shaved head where the surgery was.

Learning to find the magnet on his head so he can attach the implant.  This process is harder than it looks.

A boy concentrating on sound.

Notice the cute boy on the left.  Notice the computer screen displaying his t-levels

What a face! He took to the implant right off the bat.  Notice the dangling hearing aid...we were concentrating only on what he could hear with the implant. 

Since our appointments spanned two days, and it was  long way to drive home just to get up and drive back again, we got a hotel.

The kids were delighted.  We made sure the hotel had a pool, and from the first time he hit the water, our son had on his Cochlear Aqua+  covers. on. He was excited to be swimming with his new implant.  It was a great sign that he was immediately attached to his implant.

He took immediate ownership as well, carefully finding a plug for his battery charger in the hotel room and wanting to take his briefcase full of implant goodies with him wherever he went.

Unlike Chance, this implant activation was not quite as dramatic.  It was wonderful, but where Chance had these incredible expressions when his implant went on for the first time, our other son was more chill.  Part of this is the difference in their personalities.  Part of it was that Chance had gone without being able to hear many sounds for years, and turning his implant on, gave him access to things he was hearing for the first time and he was surprised/delighted/astonished.  Chance's brother was delighted as you can see by his little smile in the pictures, he just wasn't as expressive. And the audiologist purposely just turned the implant on while he was watching a cartoon to see if he would notice over his interest in the cartoon.  He did.  The whole family was excited for him and glad to be part of the process.

Implants are amazing. They have been a miracle for our two boys and we are so very grateful for the surgeon, the nurses, the anesthesiologist, the audiologist, and everyone else involved in the process.

Thank you.