This week we packed our little family up and went to Indianapolis Riley Children's Hospital for a two day Cochlear Implant (CI) evaluation. We meet with the whole team from Indiana University and Riley Children's Hospital. To say in was amazing is an understatement.
Our girl totally rocked! Tuesday we had 3 hours of booth testing. Basically she sat on my lap, and played while the audiologist talked, and put sounds in the booth. She smiled, opened her eyes BIG, or turned when she heard sounds. She did this for 3 hours without a peep. She didn't cry, she just sat there, looking pretty. The audiologists were so impressed by her and how good she was...yup, that's my baby!
The results were inclusive. She is profound in both ears, which means her hearing is getting worse. Below is the speech banana that states what she can and can not hear.
This diagram explains what Riley can hear. Without her hearing aids she is hearing at around 100 decibles which is in the profound range. With her hearing aids she is hearing in the 80-70 decibles. Anything above that decible, the dog barking, baby crying, watch, water...etc., she can NOT hear. She can't hear all those letters in the "banana" which means she will not be able to detect speech and more importantly develop speech.
This day was just a reminder that Riley is deaf, she can't hear, even if I think she can. I trust these audiologists and trust the team.
Wednesday was the big day! We had a CT scan at 8am, met with the surgeon and had a 3 hour CI orientation with the audiology team ( I so shouldve been an audiologist). The CT scan was great. She didn't move a lick and we didn't even have to sedate her. God she is so good!
Dr. Yates says her CT scan shows her cochlea is in tact and the CI should have a positive outcome. He also noticed something in her CT that may have caused her hearing loss. I don't know all the medical terms so after I meet with Jeannie tonight I'll have more information.
He was excited to get moving and scheduled her surgery for May 14! May 14 this year. Ponder that for a moment. In almost one month our baby will have her implants (they won't be activated yet) but she will have them. She will be 7 months, the second youngest at Riley Hospital to get them. I am over the moon with excitement! I was happy with 10 months....by 7. Holy Moly:)
Then we met with the audiologist to do our orientation and pick our CI company. We decided on Advanced Bionics to be our CI provider. One because they have the only water proof device, and two, they are coming out with a new processor that is skinny and sort of looks like her hearing aids.
Josh and I felt that this company was more "sporty" and had some great things to offer. Now all 3 companies are good and very competitive with each other. However AB is the only company with the full gone waterproof device. Josh's parents have an inground pool and I love the water so I would want her to hear the splashing, to be able to swim, and most importantly dance in the rain!
So our Riley trip couldn't have gone better. Next time we visit we will be staying for surgery. Here's our little Riley baby.....
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