Day 2


This is Ecrissa today!!! She is such a trooper!  Look at that smile!  This is a smile that I've never really seen on her before.  I don't know how to describe it, but this smile is different!  This is her "sound" smile!  She seems so delighted by these noises!!! 

So, I'm sorry for the delay, but here is the basic run down of what happened yesterday!



Ecrissa knows the audiologist and the office and was quite comfortable to get out all of the toys!  This picture shows her taking out her left hearing aid, preparing for the testing.  She's such a big girl, she knows how to take it out and shut it off!  She's learning so much.


This is the device, at this point the wire that you see is hooking the device to a computer, allowing the audiologist to program the processor.  There are alot of technical terms and I'm not up on all of my Cochlear Implant terminology yet, so please bear with me!!! :)

THEN......the BEEPS
That was Ecrissa's face when she heard the first beeps......Quickly followed by.......

This amazing smile that shows how awesome she thinks this input is!!!!  Just look at it!!!!!  I could stare at this face all day!!! She's so interested and intrigued and excited!!!!!!  She then, immitated the beeps that she heard with her voice!  We were AMAZED!!!!!  Usually children HATE these first sounds, they cry, they are afraid, and they often freak out.  Not Ecrissa!  She thought it was awesome!!!!!!  She smiled and smiled and smiled!  She played with a toy zylophone and smiled and smiled and smiled.  A few times, the audiologist would shut off the device to see what Ecrissa would do.  Ecrissa would be hitting the toy and smiling, and then all of a sudden (when she didn't get the feedback) she'd make a funny face, shrug her shoulders and put the toy down and move onto something else, with a look of "well, that doesn't work anymore".  By the end of the session, she was actually looking for the device to be on and would make gestures to tell the audiologist that it wasn't working and that she wanted it back on.  This is a MIRACLE!!!!!


Today she has tolerated the implant on now for 8.5 hours and it's only 3pm.  She's doing AWESOME.  She has been banging on drums with that awesome new smile of hers and she's been much noisier in her play overall.  Each day is a new gift and I'm so grateful for this opportunity for her!!!!  We have a long way to go in terms of her understanding the sounds that she's getting, interpreting those sounds, learning how to listen and then eventually being able to make use of those sounds and speaking herself.  But, she is one step closer!!!

Ecrissa modeling her very stylish Cochlear Implant!!!!!!!

Comments

coby de blaeij said…
Wow, Cheri Kay, this is so awesome!! I love that smile on her face too!! What a miracle!!
Thank you God for Good things!!!!
love and miss you.
coby
February 13, 2010 at 7:01 PM
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