The Day After Surgery

What a day this has been! Last night Isaac woke up a few times (probably from pain). I think that the whole surgery was tougher on us than Isaac. Mommy couldn't sleep that well worrying about Isaac. But amazingly at 6:30 AM, Isaac woke up and began playing like his normal self! It was a shock to me! He started pulling out all of his toys and signing and asking for milk. He really didn't want to eat that much other than crackers and milk. Other than that, he was pushing his toy lawnmower around and acting like his energetic self! I wanted to wait a while before taking off his bandage, but Isaac had other plans!


9-26-06
This is Isaac's bandage on the day after surgery. After he got up from the sofa, he took the bandage off his head, handed it to me and signed, "thank you!"
9-26-06
We couldn't get a really good picture of the scar, it is barely noticeable!

Day of the Implant!

This is the day we were waiting for! Isaac woke up at 6:00 AM and got dressed. Then mommy and daddy let the dogs out one last time before we left for Gramps and Granny's house. We got in the Explorer and drove to meet Gramps, Granny and Aunt Lydia so we could begin the drive to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. When we got to their house, Granny gave Isaac a freeze pop since he was only allowed to have that or apple juice before surgery. Then we began the drive. It took about 3 hours to get to Philadelphia with the traffic. We checked in at 10:00 AM and Isaac played with the cool toys in the waiting room until the nurse called his name.

We took Isaac to a room where they could update his medical record and we got him dressed in the surgery gown. Granny showed Isaac his special book while we were waiting. That seemed to keep him busy. Then daddy, mommy and Isaac went into the pre-operating room where the nurse gave Isaac some giggle juice. This is a special medicine that is supposed to relax Isaac and make him happy. At first we didn't think it was working, but all of a sudden Isaac couldn't move very much. He was really happy and acted like he was drunk. Dr. Kazahaya asked if we had any questions. We gave our last kisses and Isaac was off to the operating room.

The procedure began at about 11:39 AM and was over by 1:45 PM. It was much quicker than we all expected. Gramps, Granny, Aunt Lydia, Daddy and Mommy all ate lunch at the hospital cafeteria and waited. It seemed like everyone took their turns sleeping. The nurse updated us a few times and finally Kevin Franck the Director of Audiology came in and told us the great news! They tested all the electrodes on the implant before they closed the incision and they got a great response. We were all so relieved because we knew then that Isaac's hearing nerve was fine and that the cochlear implant would work. We made our choice on the external parts of the implant and the Cochlear Corporation gave us a cute stuffed koala bear with a bandage on his head for Isaac.

Mommy was the first one to see Isaac after surgery. His cheeks were flushed and he was sleeping. He had a bandage on his head and was connected to an IV, and a heart moniter. Mommy sat with Isaac for a while rocking him until he he was well enough to go to the recovery room. There everyone took their turns holding him while he slept and woke up. Granny handed him the koala bear and he held it as he slept on Gramps. We could tell he was not happy after the surgery because every time he woke up he cried until he fell back asleep. It seemed like he knew that something happened to his head.

We got him dressed, gave him his pacifier and headed home. At home all Isaac wanted to do was sleep on Mommy's lap. He didn't want to be put down....which everyone knows is not normal for Isaac. Daddy went to the drugstore to pick up the pain medicine and antibiotics for Isaac. We then got Isaac dressed for bed and laid him in his crib.

Signs That Isaac Knows!

I know I am missing some. I tried counting all the signs that Isaac knows up to this point, and I think I have a pretty good list. There are 131 on the list. If you can think of any that I missed, please let me know!

mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle, boy, girl, baby, dog, cat, sheep, bear, horse, cow, pig, dinosaur, elephant, duck, bird, Elmo, worm, fish, bug, frog, snake, penguin, gorilla, monkey, turkey, car, boat, bike, airplane, please, thank you, more, eat, drink, milk, juice, water, soda, broccoli, meat, cracker, cookie, freeze pop, apple, orange, toast, noodle, ice cream, candy, grapes, cheese, cheese puffs, chips, up, outside, ocean, flower, tree, rock, sand, grass, leaf, sun, cloud, wind, rain, bubbles, color, crayons, book, paper, ball, shirt, hat, pants, diaper, socks, shoes, jacket, off, on, stinky diaper, toilet, bath, tattoo, nice, Jesus, pray, light, fan, Isaac, wash hands, brush teeth, sleep, bed, pacifier, jump, fall down, stand, sit, throw, hit, swings, slide, turn around, do a somersault, phone, tv, walk, open, bye, hello, kiss, go, come, ready, where, strong, money, ears, eyes, nose, feet, hair, cochlear implant, candle

Introduction

Hello all,
I am a hearing mother of an 18 month old deaf son named Isaac. Isaac passed his newborn hearing screening but my husband and I noticed that he was not reacting to any noise. I would sing to him in his crib in the morning and he wouldn't awaken unless I touched him. So one day, I started singing louder and louder until I was screaming.....there was no response from him. I told the pediatrician my concerns so she held an electronic device over Isaac's head to see if he would react to these silly electronic sounds. He blinked his eyes a few times, so she said he was ok. She told me that newborns blink as a reaction to sound. I still had my doubts.

We finally took him to get an ABR test when he was 4 months old. We had to have him re-tested because he was awake for the first test. Finally when he was 6 months old we learned that Isaac was profoundly deaf. We applied for medical assistance to get hearing aids for him and finally got approved when he was about a year old.

Hearing aids did not provide any benefit for him, so we looked into a cochlear implant. After many tests and visits to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) we learned that Isaac was a candidate for a Cochlear Implant. We decided to implant him with the Cochlear Corporation's Nucleus Freedom model. We chose the color blue. Isaac will be implanted on September 25th, 2006.