2 weeks post-activation

Lucas has been "hearing" for 2 weeks now. He's not doing so badly with his processor either! He will even let it alone for up to an hour. It's most challenging when he's in his high chair or car seat, because it gets knocked off when his head brushes against the back of the seat. I'm SOOOO glad that he's not constantly yanking at it! He's doing pretty well with the babyworn option right now too. So far so good.

I haven't posted in a while, because I really haven't had anything spectacular to report. We do get him to turn his head when he hears loud sounds (drum, clapping, etc.). We're also working with "meow" right now, as we have 3 meows to meow at in the house. I swear the other day I meowed and he looked up and pointed to one of our cats. I'm a really big skeptic too, but it really looked like he did! He's learning about the presence and absence of sound. Don't forget that he's like a newborn again in terms of his hearing.

Today we had another mapping at CHOP. He's tolerating the volume really well, so we came home with 4 new programs to work through until our next mapping in 2 more weeks. He now has more volume, which gives him more access to sound, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what he will do in the next 2 weeks. Today at the appointment, his audi was again really impressed by his reactions (especially for having only been activated for 2 weeks, and only being 13 months old), so we did some booth testing. He gave us the impression that he typically doesn't do booth testing so soon, but thought Lucas might do well. Now, although Lucas wasn't responding perfectly (partly because he was really into his toys probably), he still was responding at 50 dB!!!!!!!!!! I mean, that's not really something to write home about, except for the fact that we couldn't even get him to react at 120 dB previously!!! His audi expects that next time we test him in the booth, he will react between 15 & 20 dB. Keep in mind that Lucas is hearing beeps and buzzes right now, and that's it, but it's still more than 15 days ago! His audi pointed out to us that it will soon be much less about what he does in terms of the mapping and much more about what Lucas's brain will do to interpret the beeps and buzzes. That's why therapy and constant reinforcement of the therapy is SOOO important. He still has a long way to go. But we're definitely on the way, no doubt about it!!!!!

Today marks the first day of my 8 month stint as a stay-at-home mom/full time therapist :), and I am thrilled. It doesn't feel like it yet, because of being at CHOP today, followed by my nephew's birthday party tomorrow, and a crazy week of appointments next week... another CHOP follow-up (too bad we couldn't do that today too, but I did try), a dentist appointment for me, a consult with a physical therapist (we are discontinuing occupational therapy, because when Lucas was assessed at 12 months he scored at 15m for fine motor skills, 14m for adaptive skills and 10m for gross motor skills... so we're going to see whether it would be beneficial for him to work with a PT to bring his gross motor up to par... mostly walking and balance issues), therapy with TOD, therapy with SLP and his bi-annual cardiology visit. We're praying that his heart condition will have improved a bit, and that he will continue to not need medication or surgery. It has taken a back-seat to Lucas's hearing loss, and we pray that it can continue to do so. It still worries me though, of course.

It snowed a little bit last Monday... enough to get out Lucas's sled and walk around the block. Here's a picture of him all bundled up in the cute outfit that Laurie sent him from California for Christmas!!! (Thanks Lou!!!).