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...

Swimming with both CI's on...

It's not easy to get them right, but when they finally sit... they sit...
After not wanting any CI under the swimming cap (pre-summer) she agreed (after we forced her) that hearing what the trainers said was kind of handy. So.. 1 CI was accepted. Then she came up with the idea of 2 CI's.. Who are we to disagree with that...

Anyway... We found out that when we first localise where the spool needs to go above the cap, then put the spool there - under the cap, and then push the processors under the cap (on the ear is really awkward..) it works well..

So.. Bilateral Swimming....

  

   

 

Airy plugs

Lotte's new earplugs... Working well....

Speaking & hearing & understanding for all..

Trying FM wasn't a big success. (See other posts..) The school had some meeting with the councel and got themself informed about the possibilities for making Lottes learningenvironment better.

One of the conclusions was that having a sound-system in the classroom would be of great benefit to Lotte, and the rest of the class.

So, last week, th school has installed a sound-system in Lotte's classroom. Speakers on the wall, a microphone for the teacher to have around her/his neck, and microphones for all the children.. (well, 1 for every 2 children) so that from now on everyone should be abe to hear and understand everyone else.

We haven't heard yet about how it's working. We understood that on the first day it was available, the teacher used the microphone, but not the kids. But all the kids liked it, and I'm sure they are all looking forward to using the microphone.

It's not just for Lotte, even though she's the reason it's installed. The other children will benefit from better sound, AND they will be trained in speaking in turns. 

Will keep you all informed....

Have a look here... (Norwegian)

Failure - and succes

Well,
one of the CI's broke down.
Lotte came home and complained about the left CI. It made a "bzzzz" sound, and she was not happy about that.
We checked with the earplugs, and indeed, the CI was not working...
Fortunately... we can call our supplier (Medisan in Oslo) where they have all the stuff they need to send a new one... and the next day it was in the mail. Excellent service...

But...
Lot's of learning come from such an event..
1: Sooo good to still have 1 "ear" left... It has been a couple of years since this happened, but again.. having a second CI to use is just PERFECT..

2: Lotte is at a stage where she will tell us when something is not working. It has happened before that she would not be bothered about a CI not being on... This time, the CI obviously made an awkward sound, so she got annoid.

3: She hears A LOT less with only 1 CI. More "huh"'s more misunderstandings....

4: With 1 CI, going to school, she is tired at the end of the day due to the intensity / concentration she needs in order to understand what's being said.... Another thing that shows how bi-lateral CI is helping Lotte tremendously..

So.. everything back to normal... Lotte was happy to get her new processor, and life is back to normal...

Hearing... with the shoulders, and the ears...

Lotte is doing great.
As previously, a vacation with 1 language is doing her good. Not that there are problems with her speaking Norwegian and Dutch when at school and home (besides... she loves to speak English as well..) but having people around her - especially children - that only speak Dutch helps her by focusing on 1 language.
The vacation went well. She understands much more, which gives her more security regarding upcoming events. Life makes sense when it's 7 days and then the plane, 10 days and then to Italy, 8 days and then a birthday.
The pictures here show Lotte in "Openluchtmuseum Arnhem", the outdoor museum in Arnhem. Lots of historical Dutch houses, trams, cars etc. A peek view into the past. One of the exhibitions was about the history of Holland and the "Molukken" in the second part of the 20th century. (1950's sounds closer by :-) ... btw... A sad, badly handled piece of Dutch history.)

Lotte wanted to listen to some information, and as you can see, she hears with the shoulders.
It was nice to see that for her it was an automatic, natural way to do it. With the phone we tend to put the BTE on the ear, and she can speak freely. Here, she went her own way, and put the speaker straight at the shoulders...

Even though we can see that Lotte is doing well with the BTE's on the shoulders, on her back, we were wondering what the real difference is between the that position and on the ears.
The Norwegian support group has alway been pushing for it, like anywhere else in the world, and supplied us with baby-worn stuff.

Clips to keep the BTE on the clothes. Worthless in our opinion. Far too bulky. Not an option to start using that. The pouches we are using now, with their different ways of attaching (clips or safety-pin) is working far too well.

In order to put the BTE on the ear, a clip (snugfit) is provided that holds the processor, and of which the end can be bent around the bottom of the ear. Since we have no desire to start using earplugs to secure the BTE, this seemed like a good thing.......

The batteries can be on the back due to a special cable... So, the weight of the battery is removed from the ears... but there is still a cable down the back... or front, wherever preferred.... (armpit.. Hmm..) .

We were still not convinced, or motivated.... so we thought about finding someone to experiment for us... To see how much difference there was..
The idea was that we would send long coils (We understand they are very expensive..) and two little bags to a Bi-lateral Freedom CI -user that would be willing to try it out and give us feedback about the difference between the BTE on the ears and on the shoulders...
Via some people from messageboards we came across Laurie Pullins. (See her blog entry here..) She was very willing to give it a try, so we send her Lottes old "bags" (we have plenty of them thanks to Kylie) and some used coils that we keep as spare.

This was before the holidays, and the result was in when we came back..


Laurie indicated that there was a difference. Here's part of her experience..

===============================

.... .....I did notice that when I put my CI's on my shoulders with the little pouches you gave me, that my voice sounded distant and "nasal" like I was in a swimming pool. This did not change after a few days. But, the brain is amazing and would probably have adjusted just fine over time if I kept them that way.

When I was Lotte's age, I wore a body aid and my microphones were on my chest. I never knew anything different until I went to the BTE's (Behind the Ear) in my 20's. And I adjusted.
Also, I am an adult and the distance from my ears to my shoulders and the pouches between my shoulders is probably greater than a child like Lotte. Her CI's are probably closer to her ears from her shoulders than mine were.
Because I use the phone and have to change my batteries regularly, it was not easy having my CI's on my shoulders. I had to hang the CI on my ear so I could use the phone and take them off (out of the pouches) to change the batteries. You probably do all that for your daughter.
As for "surround sound" with the bilaterals, no difference.

That is all I can think of. If I think of anything else, I will let you know. .........

===============================

Needless to say, this was great information, and we decided that we would start testing the BTE on the ear.
Our main worry is if the BTE stays on. We never needed to worry about losing it.
So, last weekend we did the test.

Converted the BTE+AccuLong Coil to Earhook+BTE+Short Coil+Accu. Required the magnets to be moved between the coils.. but OK...
Then for putting it on the ears.
We realised.... Lotte doesn't have an indentation on the bottom of the ear. No earlobe.... Whatever it's called, the hook has nothing to hook around. (Take a peek..)
Lotte's mom doesn't have it either. I do, and Lotte's brother and sister both do... without ever using it.. :-)

Still.... it was "hanging in there"... and Lotte didn't mind the change.
It was pretty obvious that having the Accu's on the back is no real improvement compared to the BTE's on the back.
So..... the complete BTE on the ear. Again, same problem, but the weight actually helps pinning it down. So.... forward with that contraption..
It was great to see her use it immediately... Picking up a phone at will (without us needing to adjust the BTE from the back to the ear), and when asked if the sound was different, she acknowledged that. However.... I'm not sure if she understood the question.... I think it's one of the moments that she guesses the right answer....
All well, until the next morning.... She came to us, crying, upset, because her "ear" was broken.
Turned out it dropped from her ear, and the connection between the Battery/Accu-holder and the processor was damaged. (A bayonet-type connection where three lips hook into the other side. 2 lips were broken off)
Some tape keeping the two pieces together fixed the problem until the new processor arrives...

So.... we went back to the BTE on the shoulder... We do keep it up much higher, and closer to the neck instead of low on the back. This is a bit more awkward when carrying the schoolbag, but who knows, perhaps it makes a difference.

What we did find out is that (if) any reduction in sound Lotte is perceiving does not weigh up to the ease of using the BTE on the shoulders. Not worrying about losing it, getting sand in it etc.
We also found out that for Lotte it makes no difference.
Another thing is - which we realised when we put the BTE's on the front instead on the back, is that when people see Lotte, they see her first, and then they will see a BTE or a coil. Not the other way around.
With girls, a BTE is easily covered by long hair, but with boys, a BTE on the ears is very obvious... Not a reason to remove it from the ears, but when we were experimenting, this was one of the realisations..

So, we're requesting a new processor, and continue with the BTE's on the shoulders. A bit more conscious about where on the shoulders, but still.... on the shoulders..

End of the bags....??? Not yet..

Typical !
I'm explaining to people about Lotte's CI-bags, how she doesn't want them any other way, and then it happens..

She comes to me and says "Daddy, can the CI on the ears? I want to have a fat tummy."
She means - "a naked tummy" - no shirt. It's warm outside, and her sister goes without shirt, so obviously, Lotte wants to go like that as well.
However, she realizes the BTE's cannot be on her shoulders. But, being shirtless is an OK excuse to allow the BTE's on the ears.

So, to prevent changing the long for short cables, I made a pony-tail and put the cables through the elastic band as well... This way, they will not just fall off...

We'll see how Lotte likes it. Seems to be OK... Putting them back herself is not working for her. She has to ask someone else. No surprise there, she's never had them on the ears for more than 5 minutes, if that much at all.

And now no hassle with calling anymore on the phone. With the BTE's on the shoulder, when she wanted to use the telephone, we would transfer the BTE to her ear - with her permission of course.

Update:
She wore them continuously in the house, until we had to go out to the store. Then, she wanted to get a shirt on and hence, BTE's on the shoulder..

Oh boy..... what to do with little girls that know what they want ??

FM-equipment

Lotte is getting close to going to school - in august.
One of the things we never considered is FM equipment. Lotte is hearing very well, and we are actually afraid that using the FM equipment would drop her focus..

But, we were invited to try one, and took Lotte with us (duh... obviously the best way to try..). After a brief introduction, the FM was added to the BTE. (See pictures) and I went out of the room to test it.
Lotte loved it.!! No problems with her father being in her head without being seen. (Then again... that happens often as we often call her from other rooms... But then, she can talk back.)
To her it's a great game.

For us, it's mixed. Obviously, it really is working well, and Lotte will benefit from it in some cases. In fact, my wife said that she needed two more... for the other kids..
But, there's something unethical to just get inside someones head un-announced.
Also, we don't want Lotte to change from the rechargeable batteries, to FM and back during the day. (The FM-part is using the cell-batteries..)

So, we know it works, we know Lotte has no problem with using it - on the contrairy - and we just need to find a way to test them out for real...

There was a great opportunity when Lotte was cycling and my wife was following her by foot. She did great. Stopped at intersections, waiting for her mom, could hear her at a good distance etc....
FM would have been ideal to instruct Lotte.
Only problem was - we forgot the FM-equipment..
Maybe next time...

We'll keep you all posted...



ps.. (09-2008)

Lotte showed that even in traffic, she can hear us. It shows she's tuned in on listening to us.
Having FM-equipment would make that unnecessary. She would not have to filter out the traffic-noise in order to hear us, and perhaps lose that ability.
Better to make her use the ears that she has.

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

BTE's - behind the ear?

As most readers of Lotte's blog know, Lotte has nothing hanging on the ear.
Her processors - the BTE's, we never used the body-worn) are on her shoulders in two little bags, and they go straight to the coil on the head.

It has never been a problem for Lotte, or us. There's no problems in windy environment. The processor will be below the jacket. Free of wind and rain, and she will still be able to hear us. Probably better then when they would be on the ear.... wind will make a lot of noise.

The only time when she has it behind the ears is just before she goes to bed, or straight from the shower or bathtub, when she's naked.
And she's fine with that. BUT.... not when she is dressed.
She'll happily "allow" the BTE to be hanged on the ear when reading a book in bed (she slept with only her undy during the summer) but if there's any clothing on her, as in T-shirt, PJ's etc, she will refuse.

She's so comfortable with (and used to) the BTE's on the shoulders, that I sometimes wonder when she will want them on the ears.
I guess when she goes to school, becomes more aware of other children... who knows. Perhaps she will continue like this...

For the moment, we just continue with this system. Lotte wants to, and we like it as well.
No CI's falling on the ground. No CI's that need to be dug up from the sand-pit, from a pool, etc.... no processor getting wet, no harness, no lumps on her back,....
It's great!

Lotte puts on her CI

Some time ago, actually, below this post, I posted about how Lotte is wearing out the coil-thread due to the stretching when she put's it back herself.
I finally put it on video....

Oeps...

This one below is when she puts on one CI...

This one is looking from the back, putting on both CI's..

It was funny, because I told her to take them off, and turn to the door, so I could film her.
She understood fine... except that, with both coils loose, she couldn't hear me saying that she could put them on. Patiently waiting....


It's great to see how she hears so well with CI, but just as important, how she is fine without any sound.

Wear on the coils..

With the way Lotte is wearing her CI, the BTE's on her shoulders, there's quite some stretching involved when she puts them on herself when they fall off. (Have to make a video of it... here it is)

Here are some pictures of the damage that is done to the coils. Mind you, they last
quite long. What you see is the result of 4 to 6 months.

The first picture shows a torn outer "casing" that protects the wires running inside. The second picture shows twisting due to the constant handling by Lotte. (This actually doesn't happen any more. It was from quite some time ago.)

BTW.. the coils shown still work fine. We only replaced them to make sure Lotte will not "lose sound" because the coil would fail during the day. I think this happened only once or twice in the time Lotte used CI. (3 years almost.)

Help.. it rains...

Yesterday, all three kids were playing outside in the garden. They had been in all day due to the rain, so they were eager to go.

But the rain came back, and Lotte's sister said to Lotte that she had to go inside because otherwise the CI would get wet.

Normally this message would have triggered the "injustice" botton on Lotte since she had to go in and the rest could stay out.
But this time, she was upset because the CI might break!!!

This is a first! Until now, she realized that she needs the CI to hear, but a malfunction was never in her mind.
Perhaps it is connected with the loss of hearing when the batteries run out. This in combination with a couple of weeks ago when 1 of the processors failed and Lotte had 1 CI for 3-4 days.

Anyway, she was upset, and came crying inside. We assured her that it was OK, and that a little water was not a problem.
That took care of the little crisis....

BTE or Bodyworn...??

This will allways be a question when the child starts with CI, and even more so when the child has bilateral CI.

When Lotte was one of the first to be implanted bilaterally, the Freedom had just been developed and even though she got "Freedom" on the inside, the outside was the old Nucleus. So the only bodyworns available to us (Lotte) were the "big" cases, and two of them would have been massive.

(I believe the one on the right is the bodyworn at the time....)

So, the Ci-team proposed to use the BTE's, but after picking them up 15 times an hour (per ear...), we decided that on the ear would not work. 2 coils and 2 BTE's that can loosen and fall off is too much to handle....

(Also, Lotte allways pulled off the HA's and we were not looking forward to a similar behaviour with the CI's'. In retrospect, she has never taken off the CI's. We have been fortunate with that..)

Being the engineer in the family, I clipped off the fingers of an old wollen glove, put the BTE's in the fingers, a safetypin through it and pinned them on the shoulders of Lotte...

That worked fine, without too much falling off of the coils. Plus, no need to hang the BTE on the ear.... That is allways secured (and can allways be found..)

We tried a couple of time times to put it behind the ear, but the combination of earsize and BTE-size is not compatible. Doublesided tape etc. could work, but Lotte really disliked that solution. After all, she is used to the ears on the shoulder, so why bother?

To give an impression of the difference, here are two pictures. One with the bodyworn, one with the BTE's on the shoulder..

....... vs .......

Coil+Earhanger+Bodyworn ....... vs ....... Coil+BTE (click to enlarge)

So, for the last 2-1/2 years she has worn them on her shoulders and without any problems. This includes playing outside in the sand 50% of the time when she's at the kindergarten, and the BTE never failed and was never lost. Also, the staff there can just put the coil on when Lotte for some reason cannot do it herself or simply forgets (in the beginning she would just not bother. Nowaday, she immediately puts them on..). There's no hastle with tape, glue, ear-hangers that go in the ear or caps.

As mentioned, the only thing that can fall off is the coil-piece, but soon she figured out how to put that back. Actually, that is a small disadvantage. By putting them back herself, she is putting some tension on the coil-cable, but the are pretty strong.

Remember, there's nothing on her ear, nothing in the ear, nothing on the head, except for the coil. The BTE's are safe on her shoulders.

We were worried about the BTE's under the coat for example (scratching sounds), but she has no problems with hearing when they are under the coat. Guess the coat id holding the BTE's steady so there is no scratching.)

Advantages:

* You will never loose the BTE. It's secured,

* Only the coil can fall off. The child can put it back her/him-self,

* Much lighter than the bodyworn,

* Still accessable (sp?) for the parent to change programs,

* BTE's are spaced out wider than the ears, so (I think) perception where sound comes from is better,

* We use a safetypin to attach it to the clothes so it can easily be changed from one piece to another,

* No need to buy/make special pockets in clothing, just 2 little bags with safetypins,

* When raining the BTE's will be under the clothes. (and as said, she'll still hear without problems), when there's much wind, it will also be protected from that, not causing weird sounds,

* ...... I'll think of some more - to be added later
* ...... You'll think of some more - Put it in a comment, and I'll add it.

Disadvantages:

* Possibly: Sound has to be picked up from the shoulders, (but that does not seem to affect her hearing capability. She hears a pin drop on the table... literally!),

* Possibly: Scratching sound when a coat is worn over the BTE's but we have not seen any problems,

* Cannot use rechargable batteries,

WRONG! - got info (See comments) that they are available.... only in Canada and USA??? Not here, but we will be working on it !!

* There's strain on the coil-wire when the child puts it back her/him-self, (but in the last 2-1/2 year only 1 failed.),

* There will be holes in the clothes when the fabric is thin, (but how long do these cloths last anyway..),

* ...... I'll think of some more - to be added later* Possibly: Localising sound after hearing it, initially cannot be done by turning head. The shoulders would need to turn. But like with us, we allready know where it comes from when we turn our head...

* ...... You'll think of some more - Put it in a comment, and I'll add it.

Do want to mention, that recently we started to use the BTE on the ear.

We have a feeling, call it a hunch, that Lotte wouldn't like to have the BTE's pinned on her bare skin, so at bedtime, straight out of the bath-tub or from the shower, we put the coils with the short wires on the BTE and hang them on the ears. She's OK with that but still prefers to wear them on the shoulders. But she needs to get used to it anyway.

Bi-lateral CI... YES !!

About a week ago, one of Lotte's processors broke down. It was the actual microphone part of the processor... So using the bodyworn (which for us is a backup) wasn't an option.
Of course, this happened on a holiday, so it took a while to send it off to the company that replaces the item.

Fortunately, Lotte still has the other CI, and she just keeps on chatting away as she allways does.
For her, understanding what the rest of the world is saying is the challenge.
It was straightforward noticed in the kindergarden. Normally, she has little problems following what's going on, but with only 1 CI it's difficult for her to follow or to get her attention...

Also in an amusement park we noticed the difference. (Of course we know, but it's nice to see it happen..)
Lotte was playing and her sister called her. We could all see Lotte (we were a level higher up) and although she could hear us, she had no idea where the sound came from.
Her sister kept on shouting, not understanding that Lotte could not hear where the sound came from, so we had to explain it to her (Lotte's sister is 8+ years old..)

At one of the speech-therapy sessions in the kindergarden, Lotte told her therapist that her "ear" was in Oslo. And when we told her the ears had come back again, her face lit up. She understood the difference and was eager to get back to normal...

The day after, at the next "speech-session" she proudly showed her new CI....

It all shows that a second CI is not just a little advantage. There's a big difference. Granted, the first CI makes a huge difference, obviously from no sound to sound, but the second CI makes the sound go from 2D to 3D... From cartoon to movie... (and let's assume normal hearing is high-definition TV)
SO, for all parents out there that are considering a second CI for their child....
GO FOR IT.!

New batteries!!

Funny thing today, showing how in one way CI is part of life, in another, how we are focused on keeping her hearing....

Lotte came to us and said "new batteries" so we went straight for the batteries for her CI....
I asked her, "which ear", and she showed me ..... her toy..... !!!

Normally we change out the batteries on both BTE's at the same time (once every 3 to 4 days) but last time we forgot to put the used ones away before opening the new packet. There we were. Two times 3 batteries, and we forgot which one were new... (Tested the voltage... all 1.5V, tested the amps, all 0 mA)
Needless to say, they got mixed up on one of the BTE's.
Therefore, a "lack of power" was anticipated. (Hence, me asking what ear was not working.... just to make sure.)

Listning in before bedtime..

Bedtime again,

Lotte got orders to get upstairs and put on her pyjama's. We remove the little BTE-bags from her shoulders so that she can take her sweater etc. off, and up she goes.
Up she goes, and - after a while - down she comes down stark-naked. Talking on the stairs to us about reading. (remember, she cannot hear anything now)
We tell her to go back upstairs and get dressed... of course she comes down and comes to us... what parent can resist their little (naked) angel.... we can't..

So, we explain again what she should do. She tries to read our lips but realises she's missing too much.
Then, she picks up the CI (BTE in the bag and the coil) that we left on the table after we took it off, and puts it on. Now she can hear again.. !!
Imagine this... this little angel with the coil on her head, and the BTE dangling from it on a 6" wire. It was great and she enjoyed it as well. Picked up the second one and there she was, with a big smile...

It is the first time she has done this. Normally, in the morning, she cannot reach the BTE's and even if she does, someone has to pin them on her colothes.
Now, she just took them and "put them on"....

Self-help.... with CI....

When Lotte started with her CI, it was obvious that even though she liked wearing them, putting them on was not a necessity. She could be walking around without sound, not being bothered about the silence. After all, it's part of her life....

Gradually, she became more aware of this, and she would be quick to put them on..
(I recall an episode where she had a tantrum, let herself fall on the floor, crying, and when the CI came off, she made sure it was put on again.... I guess part of crying is hearing yourself...) But she could still go around a while with dead batteries without telling us. We use to normally change them every 3 days. But it seemed that if the sound was gone, and the coils were still there.... Ah, well, she just continued in silence....

About a month ago the next phase started. She notices when the batteries are dead. She'll alert us, and we will change them. Not long after that, she showed that she couldn't wait for us... ....
I was sitting at the table, and Lotte indicated that the "ears" didn't work. I wanted to check the display, and told her to come to me. First with my voice - she refused..., then voice and sign, but she had still no intention of coming to me. She wanted to go upstairs and get the batteries herself.... No time to loose!!!

I love to see her enjoying the CI, enjoying the sounds around her. And I also enjoy how she is perfectly comfortable without the sound. Sure, during the day, she wants to hear and will insist on new batteries. There's too much to miss I guess.
But when we take her to bed, take off the CI (pinned to her cloths on her shoulder..) she continues as if nothing happened.
And I guess she's lucky that she has absolutely no negative experience with putting them on either. She just does it and is up and running...

Hair Do!

With Lotte, the coils of the CI can be "integrated" in her hair. We let it grow long for this purpose. (And because it looks good on her..)
We never hide the coils, and most of the time the CI is on top of her hair.

 

But sometimes - when the patience is there - it is possible to hide the coils below the hair.
Once, we actually put the coil-wire in there but this was not a succes. The coil-wire will entangle in her hair and will hurt her.

HERE'S TROUBLE -- BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL TROUBLE

Pressing the little button and Yes .... Sound !!

Over the last two years, since the activation of Lotte's CI, Lotte has gradually realised that her working ears are on her shoulder... or at least, they need to be attatched above her ear.
This realisation has slowly grown.
In the beginning she would be happy to run around with her coils loose on her back . A BTE that stopped functioning (e.g. low batteries) would not be a problem. A soundless environment has never bothered her, and it still doesn't.
Later on, especially the last half year, the lack of sound, or perhaps better said, communication with her surroundings, does bother her, and we never see her with 2 loose coils. Sometimes one falls off and she won't notice, but normally she puts them on herself quickly.

IN the last month, in the morning (Lotte being awake before us... ), she will pluck them from the medicine-cabinet (which is steel, so the CI's stick on it due to the magnets in the coils) and comes to us to have them put on.
The way to do this was to switch them on, check the program, then the "volume" and then pin them on her shoulders (don't worry, by that time she wears some sort of clothing. :-) and finally attach the coil on her head. Only then sound would come in.

This weekend I changed that routine, and actually showed her for the first time that her CI gave her sound.
I first attatched the coil, and she realised that that did not help.... no sound.
Then I showed her how I pushed the button to turn the BTE on... and her face lit up..

YES !!! sound !

Only then I put the BTE in the bag on her shoulder, after checking the program and volume.

The other BTE, I had her turn it on herself, and again it was great to see her face light up with excitement. The realisation that it was her, by pushing that little button, that gave her sound...

In a way this is a new era, where Lotte realises that sound is something that comes through a thing that needs to be turned on.