Passing it on...

First...

 I had two great experiences in Oslo. On Sunday Lotte and I had a meeting people that I connected to via the blog and then the day after a woman stopped Lotte (at the hospital/hotel) recognizing her from the blog when she looked for information about her grandson that was born deaf.

So rewarding to meet people that benefit from the blog... A great feeling.

That said, this is my last entry. Well, the last one solo..

Lotte and I decided that Lotte will continue the blog. I will pass it on tho her, and she will keep you informed about herself. But obviously there will be some supervision.. We will see how it goes.

It's a good time to do this as it also marks that she received her upgrade from the Freedom processor to the newest Nucleus 6 last Monday 13. April 2015. A nice, actually.. great, milestone in her life.

We had to wait quite a while for the upgrade. After 10 years with the Freedom we felt it was her turn, but since it's the Norwegian government that provides the CI, and there are fewer funds available, we needed to be patient. Patience is all OK, but we weren't quiet. We did send some letters requesting the upgrade with arguments why Lotte should be chosen. Reasons ranging from participating in sport to starting a new school with equipment that needs to be in place before she makes that step.

A month or so ago we got the email where we were told the good news. Now Lotte can get used to the new and better sound. Get used to the remote control and any other additional add-ones that are compatible with the N6. 

 

Now, a week later, all is going fine. No hiccups, no surprises... The main difference is now that Lotte is using different programs. The remote makes it so much easier that she is actually using them. Before, with the Freedom, she only used 1 program, one volume.. There was no reason for her to change, or at least it was not worth the trouble.

Or, perhaps she was too young to actually do such technical things. Not physically, but there is a maturity required to realise you can control the way you hear.

In any case, the Freedom has done an excellent job getting her where she is now, and the N6 will allow her to confidently make the next step to the next school and the next phase in her life.

I hope Lotte will start informing all the readers about her journey. And perhaps she will change the audience from parents to children. Or just get more children in here.

Time will tell.

Milestones, Mountain-ranges and views

Milestones....
They happen all the time, and like I have said on the blog.. sometimes they fly by, and sometimes they stand up in your face... (well, I said something to that effect..)

Last Thursday was the yearly checkup for Lotte. A great day out since we (actually, this was the first time I couldn't be there..) have to fly to Oslo, then take a train & tram to the hospital where the center for the check-up is located. One of Lotte's teachers joined Lotte and her mum.

This time, for the first time, it was Lotte who was in charge. She has grown so much lately, that my wife had no problem just sitting back and let Lotte do all the talking. And the specialists were excellent at directing everything to Lotte.
It must have been a wonderful day for Lotte because she was 100% focused the hole time. While adjusting the settings on the CI/BTE's, when finding the noises that she doesn't like (flushing the toilet) and trying to do something with that, she got it, and gave excellent feedback.. While doing speech tests in noisy environments and while doing comprehension tests. she did great. Her teacher was very impressed with Lotte..
But it's a great day out. She loves to go there and thrives on the attention, but this time, at the same time she realises the importance of the day.

In all, this day marks a beginning of Lotte taking over the "CI business" from us. She can accurately give feedback about how and what she hears. She understands the tests they are doing. She understands that there are different programs on her BTE she can use, because she was mentally there when they made them.
Of course life goes back to normal for her as soon as she was back at school, and she won't be playing with the different proframs, but she knows they are there.
Also, with one of her teachers being there, there is someone at school that will recognise difficult situations and can tell Lotte to switch to another program.. or, she might identify that Lotte forgot to switch back to the default setting.

Anyway.. It's a huge milestone. It didn't fly by. We didn't bump into it. It was like the mountain range in the distance that we finally reached.. We knew it was there, and were cruising along towards it. Now, having reached it, we can enjoy the view forward, and back...
It's a great view...

(btw.. Lotes mom promised to post an account of the day as well.... so stay tuned..)

Audiograms pre-CI