Thank You Lord

I didn't expect much from Carter's hearing aid.

In fact, I expected him to be very upset about it and not tolerate it.

I was WAY wrong.

I just played with Carter for the first time since we've been home, and he is a COMPLETELY different kid.  He's actually looking at me when I talk to him and not looking all around me.  He's smiling easily at everything I say.  I am floored.  Seriously, floored.  We are very thankful today.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

It's here!  It's here!  Now, Carter can hear!

The headband isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It ended up being all denim without stripes (thank goodness!)  He looks a little like a pirate to me.  I'm definitely ordering some different colors, and Grandma Sherie needs to get hard at work sewing him some new ones as well.

Carter reacted much better than I thought he would.  He just sat very still and tried to figure out what was going on.  He's been very happy since we've been home and just seems to be adjusting to his new sense well.  We got to try out the bone oscillator, and it just sounds like he's listening to stuff through a radio.  I'm actually pretty impressed with how well it works. 

I'm hoping that this really opens up a new world for him.  I'm patiently waiting to see what happens.

Notice the guitar shirt in celebration of being able to hear music and Bon Jovi's new album.

Mikey had his parent teacher conference today.  His teacher says that he's doing great.  She noted that he's a very hard working and shy little boy.  I'm not sure that we were talking about the same kid.  *sigh*

Orton Hears A Who...

Strange title for a post huh.

We're watching the Broncos game while Michael paces back and forth yelling at Kyle Orton to put a drive together. It brought to mind the fantasy football team name that Michael came up with and hence the title of my post was born.

I found it a little ironic since tomorrow Carter *should* be getting his hearing aid.   I just might lose it if the Audiologist calls to postpone.  I'm ready for our two month break from doctors and appointments to begin.  Only therapies at home for the next couple of months once we get this one under our belt.

Mikey is feeling much better.  In fact, he's been driving me crazy today with all of his energy.  Thank goodness he can return to school tomorrow.

Wish us luck tomorrow, and hopefully I'll have some pics to post of the denim and white headband!

Hearing Aid

We've had a couple of busy days .  Yesterday, Carter had a repeat of his hearing test.  We found out that he has no hearing in the right side (which is no surprise), and still a moderate hearing loss on the left.  We did find out that the BAHA hearing aid actually would work very well for him. We decided to not go with the actual BAHA, but a similar product that is literally about 5 times cheaper but works just as well. It's called a bone conduction hearing aid.  The problem with the traditional hearing aid is that it didn't seem to fit in his tiny ear very well.  This bone conduction hearing aid is a little device that will sit behind his left ear.  It is connected to a small microphone that will pick up the sound which will vibrate the little device and make Carter hear.  Obviously this is the very basic explanation of it because quite honestly I don't really get how it works.  The really cool thing about it is that it will give him normal hearing in the left ear and a mild hearing loss in the right even though he'll only wear it on one side.  Again, I really don't get how it works but it does so that's all that matters. The only negative (and honestly... it doesn't matter), is that he'll have to wear a headband to keep it on.  Here's a link that shows an example: Head Band .  Hopefully Carter will look a little happier with it on then that model.  So...to all of you sewing/crafting friends out there, you need to help me come up with some cute ideas for the little guy.  The band that he's getting is denim which could be cute except that it has white stripes on it too. That's just a little too much for me. We're already thinking that some hats would work.  Now, he won't have to wear the headband forever.  Just until he's five when he'll get a BAHA surgically implanted.  That's probably about the time that he'll get his prosthetic ear as well. Did I mention that he's getting his hearing aid on November 3rd?!  Yeah!!

We also had a visit with Opthalmology today.  It was just to check his right eye to be sure that it wasn't being compromised from being open all of the time.  The doc said that it looked wonderful.  He also said that he thinks it's a great idea to have the eyelid weight put in during his next surgery.  Hooray for that too!

I'm so happy to say that today was our last appointment at the children's hospital until January.  Keep your fingers crossed that we can keep Carter healthy through the Winter. We do have a sleep study tomorrow, but that's at the doc's office.  He has his follow-up for that on November 5th when we'll find out what the plan is for Carter's O2 needs. Then we are done until January...unless the doc wants another follow up after that. 

Carter's been such a stud lately.  He's smiling at EVERYTHING.  He's so aware of his surroundings and munching on his hands.  I love watching him grow.  It's exciting to think about what it will be like after he gets his hearing aid.  Here's a few pics that show off his little smile.  This kid cracks me up!

ABR

Carter had his hearing test today.  He was supposed to be asleep for this test, but of course refused to cooperate, so they started out trying to do it while he was awake.  Since everything took a long time with him being awake, we were only able to do the left ear.  We found out that his hearing hasn't changed much since the last test meaning that the fluid in his ear wasn't a factor in his hearing loss.  The Audiologist tried a version of the BAHA on him, and we found that Carter's type of hearing loss wouldn't be helped by it so it's out the window.  Basically, the plan is to try the test again in two weeks when we can do the right ear as well and then get him fitted for a hearing aid.  Michael and I are ready to get him into one so we can see what kind of progress he'll make once he can start to hear a little better. 

Tomorrow is an appointment with the Dysphagia clinic.  It is a team of doctors including a dietician and feeding specialist to help Carter progress even further with his feeding.  It all seems a little overwhelming to me, so I'll be glad to have this one over with.

Welcome To Our New Blog

Thanks for checking out Carter's new blog!  We wanted to shine his little light throughout the world and this seemed like the easiest way.

Carter's had a good couple of days. I weighed him today and he's up to 11 lbs! He had an appointment with his Occupational Therapist who was pleased with his progress. He wants us to concentrate on strengthening Carter's tummy muscles so he can roll onto his belly. We're also still working on getting him to bat at toys. Later in the day we had an appointment with Audiology. Unfortunately, we didn't learn anything new. We just scheduled an appointment to get another thorough hearing test called an ABR done on October 6th.