My Cochlear Kid

  Yesterday was activation day! E received the external portion of his processor and began receiving sound input in his left ear. We filmed his reaction, but we have to edit the video before it is ready to be posted and we haven't had time yet. I would have never imagined all of the equipment we would have when we returned home. That little implant comes with a LOT of equipment and information. As I lay in bed last night, I turned to my husband and asked, "Did you ever imagine that our lives would revolve so much around batteries?!" Let me introduce you to our new cochlear life:

  This is E's brown processor. He has two. One is brown and the other (the back-up) is gray. E is wearing a special "Ear Huggie" to help the processor stay on this active toddler. The part behind the ear is the processor and the battery. The battery is actually the largest part of the processor. The processor is attached by a cable to the "coil." The coil connects by a magnet to the internal portion of the implant. The coil transmits the sound information to the internal component through the skin. When his hair is over it, you cannot really see the coil. There is of course no way to hide this thing and we do not intend to try. Skinit now makes designed covers for the processors and we look forward to getting him a nice, bright design to wear after Christmas :-)

The processor also comes with a "remote assistant." That's right...my baby is remote controlled! This device communicates with the behind-the-ear processor to let us know that everything is working properly. It allows us to control the processor without touching it and notifies us of any issues. This is a big deal since E is too young to properly communicate to us that something is not functioning as it should.

We have a special charger that we plug his batteries into each night. We have four rechargeable batteries. The short ones last about 14 - 16 hours. The big ones last longer, but add a lot of bulk behind the ear. We also have a few disposables for emergency back-up. We are finding ourselves VERY reliant on batteries these days.

Every night, we put his equipment into a special electric drying box. Moisture is the great enemy of hearing devices. These things are basically tiny computers and as you can imagine, moisture can really build up from body heat and condensation. We place his devices in this little baby every night and they get sucked dry :-)

The processor seems kind of big when you see it sitting behind E's ear until you consider all that it does. It's pretty amazing that something that size can compute and process sound and transmit it to my son's brain. That little bitty thing comes with a TON of information and accessories. We were sent home with this suitcase of stuff. There are replacement parts galore, manuals, stickers, trouble shooting guides, mp3 cables, etc. Each one of the little boxes at the top is another part or accessory. Yeah. You can probably imagine the look on our faces as we looked through all of this. As another CI parent once told me, "it's like putting a diamond tennis bracelet on your toddler and sending them off to play." I now have terrifying thoughts of combing through my back yard searching frantically for CI pieces.

There are other things we have to consider now. Static electricity is also an enemy for a CI wearer. E will not be able to play on plastic slides unless he takes off his processor. I joke that we will spray him down with anti-static spray and put Bounce sheets in his pockets. I keep telling myself that I am really only joking, but I'm not sure. A green light blinks on the processor indicating that it is working and receiving sound. We are having to get used to the idea that our kid blinks. I guess if the processor ever falls off outside, we can just wait until dark and look for the blink. I look forward to letting you all know how E progresses with his cochlear. He will be wearing his cochlear on the left ear and a hearing aid on his right ear. I'm sure we will be in for quite an adventure!