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...

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...

TAg For En SE i

(For the non-Norwegians.... It should be "Takk for en CI"... "Thank you for a CI".)

Lotte made a drawing for the two persons she knows from the Oslo Hospital, that

do the technical- & speech- checking..

Her right processor was damaged (fell to the floor..), so Medisan (provider for the Freedom system), sent a new one.. For Lotte, anything regarding CI comes from Tove and Ole. The two of them will get the credits.. :-)

The drawing will be in the box being returned to Medisan..... Perhaps it will make it to the hospital, but I hope the people from Medisan will find a nice place for it....

Here it says

"Til Ole og Tove"

"TAg For E" & "n SE i"

Eg har lagtteteg teinn

og TAG for en Sei

Se på en lagentent teinn te teg

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

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....

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.!