Teletherapy and Cutting Teeth

Peter is now 11 months old. He cut his second tooth (the top tooth opposite the bottom one he already had) a week and a half ago, so I can say he had two teeth at 10 months. The third tooth- his other front bottom tooth cut on his 11 month birthday. I think that tooth contributed to a couple REALLY hard days for mommy.

We had gotten accepted for a pilot program of teletherapy out of Stanford, and notified on a Friday that they wanted to start the following Tuesday! I managed to rearrange my day, get everything ready for the French class I teach, and ask my mom to take Samantha to dance and bring the girls back to my house just in case I didn't make it back in time to meet the kids arriving for French. Peter was supposed to sleep in the car all the way to Stanford so he would get an hour-plus nap. Of course, he didn't sleep until JUST before we got there and woke up in the waiting room, cranky. That trend continued throughout the meeting :(

We met with a social worker to talk about how we approached Peter's deafness, and she offered to touch base as the surgery date approached, when I might be having more concerns. Then we met with J., Peter's Speech Therapist for the program. She talked to PJ for a while, then we filled out some assessment questionnaires to set the "Starting Point" benchmarks. Peter screamed. Peter cried. Peter threw toys. Peter was calmer when I held him upside down like a bat, but he was definitely tired and unhappy!  I felt bad that the team at Stanford was being screamed at, and I was getting stressed, too.  Finally she gave me my loaner iPad and I sort of ran out of there juggling the carseat, Peter, iPad and stand, and the diaper bag. Hopefully Teletherapy is smoother!

The next day that third tooth came in, and a couple more days and he got his 4th tooth! No wonder he was so cranky!!!

First time I feel a little left behind...

The Baby Center email just came. It's the one that tracks your pregnancy (This week your baby is as big as an avocado...) and the milestones through the first year. The email this week said: "Your baby's ability to vocalize is improving, and he may say his first word any time now." A friend whose baby was due the same day as Peter just posted on Facebook that her boy is saying "gog" for dog now. Peter is right there with all the physical development, if not ahead. And Peter has signed, and I know he understands many signs, but knowing that he IS behind his peers in spoken language and listening just kind of hit me. 

I am so glad surgery is already scheduled and I have a rough idea of the plan for next year. I know it will be a lot of work, and driving, and hopefully it will be worth it!

Nice Surprises

This last week had a few nice surprises for us- a gifted trip to Disneyland was a big one.  My parents were supposed to take my brother and his family, but my dad ended up needing surgery and was still recovering, so I got his tickets. My mom was generous enough to buy the girls tickets, too. Peter was free. Peter also slept through most rides, or was cranky that he could get out and scrabble around, so I'm glad he was free;). He did like the characters, though. I think it was the big eyes. They loved him back, too. I think he got some extra special attention with the hearing aids, but maybe it's just cause he's cute! We also got to practice lots of fun signs (ASL) like BOAT (the big ship Columbia) TRAIN (both the railroad and monorail were hits) and the big draft HORSE that pulls the trolley was a favorite. The Orange County airport was a great place to wait for our flight- we saw HELICOPTER landing, and several small AIRPLANE s practicing taking off and landing. That and all the TRUCKS!

Two days after we got back I got another surprise- the call to schedule Peter's first surgery! I had been grumpy because the surgery schedule wasn't open and wasn't open, and when I called on the 22nd (and the April schedule still wasn't open) I was told it would probably be a May surgery :( And of course the May schedule wouldn't be open until the end of March....But we got a date in April!!! Just two days after Peter's first birthday!!!

I am a planner. I can adjust to anything, as long as I have some time to plan. I felt like a lot of my life was on hold waiting for this surgery date. Why? Not because I am obsessing over Peter's ears, but because I need to get the logistics sorted out- Nana coming out, appointments to move, etc.  now that the date is fixed I can work the other pieces in around that, and go back to enjoying my little guy. His teeth are still making him cranky. He is now cruising and getting bruises as he wobbles over things. But the teeth and the walking will happen when they happen. I don't worry about schedules or planning for that kind of thing, because you can't ;)

A last little surprise this week was seeing a ton of daffodils all over my yard, and in a couple spots in the garden I had forgotten I had planted them. The bunches of happy yellow flowers match my mood now :)

Milestone Note: First Tooth and Cruising!

Peter is no longer toothless! Last Sunday he was cranky and had a slight fever, and lo and behold, that first bottom front tooth cut through! He was officially 9 months when he got that first tooth, but just barely. He is now 10 months, and the second bottom front tooth looks like it will make its appearance within a week of the first! Poor guy! He is drooling and cranky a lot right now :(

He is now also moving along the sofa, or the coffee table. Since he is still wobbly and only able to manage a couple steps, my heart is still in my throat when I watch these new explorations. Not too many new booboos yet- hope it stays that way!

Not yet...

We were hoping to be able to book Peter's April surgery date by now, but the schedule is not open yet. This is really the first time we haven't been able to schedule something immediately, so I really shouldn't complain (too much).

I had asked the surgeon whether there was a choice about morning or afternoon surgery. The fasting for the CT scan in the afternoon wasn't too bad, but I guess we will have to do the early morning thing for surgery: (Surgeon's response)

"In regards to your question about time of day, I prefer to have pediatric cochlear implant surgery as the first surgery of the day (8:30am) for several reasons, one of the most important ones being the availability of a fully staffed cochlear implant team (several staff members leave in the afternoon). You may want to double check with M., but I believe you may still nurse till 5 hours before surgery. Also, in the preoperative area, an anesthesiologist will give Peter some medication to make him comfortable and sleepy."

I know we will survive, but Peter I bet will be grumpy that morning!

This Thursday we made a bunch of Valentines, all copied from ideas on Pinterest or other blogs. Peter got his first Valentine from his sisters :)

 Sorry it is sideways!

One more Booth Test

Today (Wednesday) I had yet another appointment at the Hearing Aid center. The Front Desk people laughed as they asked me the standard question, "has your address changed since last time? ". No, I didn't move last night ;).
Poor, tired Peter had  JUST fallen asleep as we were driving there. I guess riding in the cart at Target for the first time (instead of being worn) was so exciting it wore him out;).  I didn't want to wake him,  but they really wanted one last booth test before surgery.  Luckily we had a little time to nurse while T., the hearing aid audiologist, put on his new ear molds and adjusted his hearing aids. Peter woke up,  tried to figure out where he was, then got all happy about all the cars he could see driving past.

In the sound boothPeter was jumping up and trying to get to the robot dog in front of us, and when the animals on the side lit up he really wanted to play with them, too. He was having fun, but he was so tuned in to what might happen he was quickly looking left, then right, to see if the animals were lit up.  Sometimes he clearly reacted to sound, but other times I think he just happened to turn his head in the right direction, hoping to see the animals light up!  Thank goodness he wasn't all cranky!

T. said se was able to see some reaction as low as 45 dB, when she used voice, but that Peter wouldn't  react to the noises that she tried to get more frequency data points. I heard the beeps and whooshing noises, but Peter didn't care about them if he did hear them.  T. praised Peter for being so cooperative, and we set a follow up for April Fool's Day.  Hopefully that gets cancelled because of CI surgery! That might be a bit too optimistic, but one can hope :)

No date yet, but we chose the stuff....

I am still waiting to get a surgery date for Peter's first CI, but Tuesday we ordered the device and accessories! We decided to go with Advanced Bionics, and we will be getting the Neptune to start off with, and the next generation BTE (Behind the Ear) processor when they are available. We knew we liked AB because of the ability to upgrade the software for a while without maxing out the internal devices' capabilities, and a lot of their technology. AB recently came out with a smaller BTE device,  too, so that is just icing on the cake. All of the companies are good, and you will read good things about all of them, because CI 's are a modern day miracle to a lot of people, and whatever device a person chooses gives that person amazing things.

  We chose AB despite the larger BTE (at the time), despite the lack of handy dandy remote, and now their next gen BTE will be smaller AND have a remote, AND they have a waterproof device!  So I ordered Peter processer covers in blue and red and beige, and various cable lengths....Trying to measure a fast-crawling baby and imagine how long of a cable he will need to connect his head to a device...and then projecting those measurements through the next five years (which is how long most insurance companies say an external device should last)...my head was kind of spinning, but we can always exchange cables, and colors were easy decisions ;).

The CI audiologist, Dr. M., said some people fuss and take forever to decide about chrome or brushed nickel, what color wire, what color headpiece...I figured that we might as well go bold.  I chose blue, and red as some of the colors, with beige as our "blend in" color. We got to choose one waterproof color, and 2 regular colors.  Then we had to choose wire colors, and whether we wanted a band, a pouch, a headband, a swim cap, a harness, and on and on...there was a limit to the number of items, of course!  I can't imagine using one of my choices to choose a swim cap that just had "AB" printed on it! Peter, I love you, and I hope when you are five that you still like having blue and red CI's!

So Dr. M. said she would suggest April as a surgery date, and that three weeks post-op was the "stim date". I said that I'd be so happy if Peter could have his surgery April 1, and be activated April 21, the day after his first birthday!  But I know that might not happen. Kaiser considers CI surgeries "elective", so they are lower down on the scheduling priority. I hope I get a scheduling call tomorrow, or I will take Dr. K (ENT) up on her request to email her directly.  I also asked Dr. M. how long the procedures were, and she said four hours, for one ear!!! She then said that was including prep and recovery, and doing a very careful, cautious surgery. Ok. I guess I can go along with the careful part. Bur after hearing that the CI surgeries for the McBrides took one hour (!) four hours seems so long!

And that was it. I had to drive to this appointment, stress out about making it back to teach French in time, all to fill out an order form.  I could have done that online, or at least the preferences, and submitted measurements. It was nice to see Dr. M. again, but I could have used that couple hours of my life for a lot of things! Dr. M. called afterwards to ask if I had an ear preference. I guess they successfully steered me to sequential surgeries, and I didn't object...

Random stuff- Peter is still toothless at 9 1/2 months! But he is pulling up on everything and has even balanced on his own for a few seconds :). He has moved from one pulled-up spot to another, but only one step so far. I know cruising and walking will come soon enough. The cutest thing? When I sign NO (first two fingers snapping down on the thumb) Peter looks at me, shakes his head "no", then smiles and/or laughs! (This is a common occurrence when he tries to: eat plants, climb stairs, eat paper,climb down stairs, eat ....you get the picture!)  He also shakes his head when Daddy is going to take him!  OMG, I love this kid! But Trouble might become his middle name ;)!

http://youtu.be/fhW2R5yHPbk