Happy Hearing Birthday!!!

Kemper's Cochlear Implant Activation
February 11, 2010



Sorry it has taken me a while to post but we have been soo busy getting adjusted to K's new equipment and to now having a very mobile baby. Little K and his daddy also came down with colds, so I was on nursing duty as well.

In all K's activation went well. He had his huge entourage, my family, our ECI teacher, and even K's MeMe flew in from San Angelo. The activation began with the audiologist introducing tone bursts into K's implant through the computer while he played with some toys. K responded by becoming still, almost as if he was frozen. He couldn't quite figure out what was happening and wasn't sure if he should be happy or scared. Occasionally when he heard a sound he would tightly grab on to me and bury his head in my shirt. He became upset and cried once but then the audiologist immediately turned down the sounds and he was fine. When his processors were changed to hearing speech he once again became still but surprisingly did not get upset by it. As the session went on and more sounds were introduced he seemed to get use to them and a slight pause and a "what's that?" look was all he did to tell us he was hearing.
The goal is to gradually increase what K is hearing every couple of days by changing the programs set on his processors. They want him to gradually get use to sound and accept it as a good thing. So far he has done really well and seems to be taking a liking to sound.


My frozen stare


What was that??

Since K's activation we have noticed a huge difference in him. He has become way more active and very interested in his toys. He is now getting into everything, trying to stand, and climb on things. He is so much more curious about the world. It could just be a coincidence that he is now 10 months old and he's hitting those developmental milestones, or that now that he can hear some things and his toys are now more interesting and he wants to explore more. It's so crazy, it's like we flipped a switch and turned him "on", not just his ears.



K getting a little scared and seeking protection from mom.


Poor little guy when he started to get upset.

Here is the most recent video of K. He is responding to some noises and occasionally he will respond to his name. He found his CI storage cases and decided to use them as a jungle gym. His other new thing is that he loves to wave hello, I love it!! ( please excuse my annoying mommy voice! ;)