A Little Silliness-Three Days Before Activation

So, we're waiting VERY IMPATIENTLY for Amanda's CI activation in three days, and a little silliness came over us.  Here is Amanda wearing her Advanced Bionics Monkey's CI processor.  The headpiece is attached with velcro to her hair.

To add to the silliness, Amanda's miniature monkey, Harmony's magnet is attached to her internal magnet.  THREE DAYS.  THREE DAYS and Amanda will have her own behind the ear speech processor after waiting THREE YEARS!  

Amanda's pre-op video clip with Dr. DiTirro

Here is a 1 min. and 44 sec. video clip from Amanda's pre-op appointment July 9, 2008. 

Faithful readers may remember that this was the day we spent 3 1/2 hours finalizing everything for Amanda's CI surgery to discover that our van had been towed.  (See post dated Thursday, July 10, 2008 Amanda's Surgery is Scheduled!)

This clip was taken right before I got downright silly insisting that I was getting a cochlear implant and not Amanda so that I would get the monkey. (See post dated Sunday, July 13, 2008 A Little "Monkey" Business.)  

I post this clip to show our FABULOUS no hair cutting, dissolvable stitch using, monkey tracking downing ENT surgeon, Dr. Frederic DiTirro.  Everyone would be fortunate to have a surgeon such as Dr. DiTirro!

We appreciate Dr. DiTirro more than we can put into words.  But if we had to narrow it down to several words, they would have to include SENSITIVITY, SINCERITY and COMPASSION.   

Enjoy the video clip.

Amanda's Monkey, HR talks to Amanda's Dad, Gonzálo

Here's an impromptu conversation between Amanda's monkey, HR and Amanda's dad, Gonzálo the day after Amanda's CI surgery.  My voicing was a little off as it is challenging to voice for a signing monkey whose fingers are fused together.

Amanda's first day after Cochlear Implant Surgery

Amanda had a great first day after her CI surgery!  Since she'll be 14 this month, usually the first thing out of her hands is, "My birthday is next week!"  However, this morning the first thing was, "It's almost August!"  Her activation is August 12th and none of us can wait!

She let us take these photos although she did not want us to take any of the removal of the pressure bandage.  She named her monkey, which she deemed a girl, HR, as these initials are on her shirt. This comes from HiResolution Bionic Ear System from Advanced Bionics.  Each child receiving an Advanced Bionics HiRes cochlear implant receives a monkey with a removable velcro cochlear implant processor, coil and magnet.  (See a video clip in A Little "Monkey" Business post dated Sunday, July 13, 2008.)

Amanda with HR  August 12th they will have matching CI's when Amanda is activated and receives her behind the ear (BTE) processor.  This will be the start of the process to see just how much benefit a motivated prelingual deaf 14 year old with a bilateral profound hearing loss will receive from a cochlear implant, and how she will incorporate sound into her life.

Amanda's incision  Her surgeon did a fabulous job with everything and really took his time to make sure everything went just right, which is why the procedure took 4 1/2 hours.  He cut NO HAIR and used dissolvable stitches on her incisions as well as on two ear tags he removed.

Goldy is enjoying the afternoon floating around on a raft.  Sadly, Amanda can't swim for 10 days, so she was watching from the sidelines but didn't complain at all.

Gonzálo and Jennifer are posing for a photo taken by Amanda.  

Her doctor wanted us to call him today to let him know how she's doing.  Together we made up a rough list of what we'd say to him:

How Amanda is doing: Surgeon's Response:

She has some pain and is taking Tylenol regularly  

Normal-will ease up

Her throat is a little sore from the breathing tube  

Normal-will ease up

Her ear is numb  

Common-may take a few months

She is a bit dizzy at times  

Normal-will ease up

Thank the doctor for removing her ear tags  

It was his pleasure

The doctor is a nice man  

Genuinely touched

We can't say enough great things about her surgeon.  He gave us his cell phone number and said we can call him any time!  We don't have anything to compare with regarding ENT surgeons, but I'm guessing this isn't common.

Here's hoping Amanda will continue to do well with the recovery process this week. She gets to wash her hair the day after tomorrow!!