Time flies..

..
Suddenly it is year#12 with CI's and as one can see from the frequency of the updates on this blog... it is going good.
So good that there is not much to tell. And then again, that little fact implies that there is so much going on..
Let's see. Finished her first year on the new school.
That meant letting go of the security of the teachers that stood with her for 7 years, and taking her own control, with still help from the new teachers.

That has gone well. The sound system has been transferred from one school to the other so children new to her class needed to get the hang of speaking in a microphone.
She is still reluctant to use the FM equipment.

With the Cochlear equipment she "got" a year ago she has many opportunities but she can't be bothered. Still.. we will start pushing more..
The experts that guide Lotte end her teachers, Cochletten from Oslo, are also pushing for it. They know it will help Lotte a lot. We just need to make sure Lotte will get an "A H" moment and start using it.. One can hope..

That reminds me of an incident where she messaged me at work telling that both CI's didn't work. OK - both, that can't be a electronic problem in the CI. Two at the same time is VERY unlikely.. Batteries...
So I asked.. "Are the batteries charged? Did you try the backup." Answer: "Yes. Same problem."
Hmm.. None of the batteries charged? The charger must be broken.. So I asked "Can you put the FM - Mini-Mic - on. Does it work now..??
Lotte tried... No. Didn't work..
I had no idea. The professionals had no idea. Why would both CI's stop at the same time. I got to know from Lotte's brother and sister that she did hear a bit..
Then, The provider of the CI's and equipment had a great idea.. "When is the last time the filters on the mic's were changed out.."..
Uhhhh. long time ago.. Lotte's mom changed the filters.. and ... BACK IN BUSINESS..
Turned out that she had worn a wig at school. Dust must have clogged the filters up the day before....
NOW, she should have been able with the  mini-mic, but guess what. She hadn't charged them So they didn't work... Had they worked, I would have concluded that it would have been the microphones...
So.. We used Lotte's panic due to the situation to show how important it is to have her equipment ready. Keep them charged, have backups ready or change them out in good time..
"If you don't you might end up not being able to hear...".
(Which did happen later in the month... At the theatre the batteries ran dead.. Tough luck..)

Otherwise we went to the USA in 2015. Visiting NYC and in the process meeting up with some "CI-" friends. Meeting in NY and visiting in their home town.
Great to see Lotte be at ease with those lovely people and their children. Of course a bit hesitant at first, but after a warming up period she had no problem chatting with her new friends in English..
This year Lotte promised she would be our German guide. She learned German at school and can use it this vacation when we go to the castle that stood model for Disney.

More to come...

I can't hear... !! :-(

This morning Lotte was talking about having a sleepover with the neighbours downstairs, and how her friend was not allowed to wake her..

"But.. you can't hear, so he can't wake you.." we said to her... "And... you're normally awake first..." we added.

Lotte replied... "Nooooo"
"Yes..." we said... "You wake us up every morning to put on the CI. You knock on our bedroom door.."
"Yes, but I need my ears..".. Lotte replied.

I made a little joke.. "You should knock and then wait 'til you hear us say "come in".."

"But I can't hear she said. " and turned sad... It was a big thing for her...
The first time we see her express sadness that she can't hear. At least.. that's how it looked. Perhaps the sadness came from her needing us to ask in order to be able to hear..
Anyway, the first time that her deafness was cause for sadness with her..

It's inevitable that that moment comes, that your child realises it is lacking something. And as a parent you want to prevent that moment, push it into the future, and soften it..
In our case, it's softened I believe..
It seems that the "problem" is not that she can't hear. The "problem" is probably that in this phase of looking for independence she needs us to start hearing.. and that means waking us up..

It's probably time to teach her to pin the BTE-pouches on her clothes herself.
She has no problem putting the batteries in and starting the system up.. Since she doesn't want them on the ears, she needs help to do this..
Today, we'll teach her that. We'll go through the whole process for her to start hearing. From getting the batteries (rechargeable) and putting them in the BTE, turning them on, and more importently putting the BTE's on a shirt before she puts it on...

Think her "independence streak" will love it....

p.s.
She learned... Costs.. 5 drops of blood from her thumb due to "safety"-pin.

Hearing and speaking....

Wonderful "happening" this morning..
Woke up late, and were listening to Lotte playing with Lego outside our bedroom. Lotte would have been up since 7:30, and she comes to us to have the batteries (rechargeable) put in her processors and have the pouches pinned on her clothes.
So... listening we were wondering if she had a friend with her, since she was engaged in role-play. There was definitely an alternate voice, and it sounded like one of her friends from down the road was with her.. So, Lotte's mum got up, dressed and had a look, only to find Lotte engaged in a wonderful play.. just by herself.

Many times, people will talk about how CI would sound completely different compared to normal hearing... and fine, who can argue with that, except that here's a girl that is doing two different characters, in two different voices, communicating in a make-believe conversation...
Pretty amazing, and far, far away from the simulations you can find on the net.
The mind is an amazing tool, and apparently is able to discriminate sounds very well... even with "only" 22 or 24 electrodes..

A peek in Lotte's world...

Imaging this....
Early in the morning... Kids got up and the discussion is about being able to sleep, or about waking up.. Not sure..

But suddenly Lotte says "I can't sleep because I can hear Jelle speak when I try to sleep, he wakes me up..."
So we smile and say "You cannot hear when you are in bed because you have no CI on. You cannot hear."
Long silence, and then a big smile. She realized that she needs the CI in order to hear.

This morning a similar incident.
When she wakes up, she needs to come to us in order to have the batteries inserted (rechargeable) and the BTE pinned to her shirt.
She knocks... and waits.. (for nothing.. she's deaf) and then comes in.. We pretended to be asleep... She goes out, knocks again (harder) and comes in again...
Then she tells us: "I knocked, and then you should say "come in" !.."

She is tuned in for hearing.. With or without CI...

Rechargeable batteries

In July 2007 we discovered from other parents that there were rechargeable batteries available.... just not in Norway.
We did find them in Holland and ordered them. We have been using them since they arrived, about january.

The way we do it:
Lotte can use them the whole day. When she goes to sleep, we start recharging the batteries and when we go to bed, 4-5 hours later, they are mostly recharged.
So, we put them back in the processor, ready to be used the following day.

No more counting days. ("was it 3 days ago we put in new ones, or 2 ???")

Currently, may 2008, 1 of the rechargeable batteries is not working properly and is sent to the distributor to be checked. Fortunately, we just change back to the old ones...

Reference - more info: Cochlear Freedom Battery Model: z60839