Progress

Lots of appointments in the last month! First, we met with the Cochlear implant surgeon and he shared that if we can get all prerequisites done, that he would implant Molly's first cochlear as early as April! I'm really working to make sure this happens, because that means my baby would hear everything in three months! Next we met with the audiology department to get Molly fitted for hearing aids. I know it seems silly, but they assured us that she would at the very least have some sound awareness. Maybe she would even hear some low frequencies in the 50ish decibel range, which is about the volume of most conversations. We then went to the ophthalmologist and payed him money to tell us that Molly's vision was perfect, hello I could have told you that! That was our December.

This week we met on Monday with the auditory verbal center, where will be enrolling Molly for speech therapy. We are really excited and think that their program will be a great fit for us. They will basically teach me to do speech work at home via homework lessons taught to me once a week and then carried out at home. Then today was a big day, Molly got her sparkly purple hearing aids, picked out by Adam. We were hopeful that she would hear even just really loud sounds. The audiologist put on the aids and Molly looked curious, but didn't cry. She barely even messed with them and was her usual happy self. Then we took her into the booth, she sat on Aaron's lap and I watched from outside with the audiologist. Then the best moment came, they played a loud sound and Molly turned her head, they repeated all the way until 55/50 decibels and she turned every time! She was not able to hear high tones, but she can hear low conversational tones! Which means some of what I say she can hear. She doesn't really understand what she's hearing because she can't hear all the tones, but she can hear! We will start speech therapy this month and help begin to detect what's coming in, but today she went from a silent world to one with sound! Putting the hearing aids in is tricky and Molly tries to get them the whole time. Getting the right fit is essential so there is no feedback. It takes me a while to get them in, but I know in time I'll be a pro. Molly hasn't really messed with them too much as long as they are in properly and not flooding her with feedback. I really hope she continues to adjust with them and not try to pull them out and teeth on them.

So next steps... Begin therapy, get a formal speech eval, meet with the hospital social worker, write a letter of intent to Kaiser, follow up with audiologist and get another list. Phew. At least we are moving forward and that much closer to complete hearing!