Kaiden's Cochlea Implant Switch On *December 9, 2011*

Kaiden was born 6wks prem by emergency c-section due to CONGENITAL CYTOMEGALOVIRUS (stopcmv.com if you would like to know more). When he eventually left the hospital after 2wks in NICU and 6wks in SCBU (not to mention he was never expected to live...), we had his hearing tested... He had been too sick in hospital to have the Newborn Screening so this was the very first time he had been tested...

We knew that hearing loss was one of the main complications of cCMV so we had pretty much come to the realisation that Kaiden likely had some degree of hearing loss... But let me tell you, you can NEVER prepare yourself to actually hear those words being spoken to you.

He was around 16wks old when we were sitting in a little sound proof room and after testing both ears, she turned to us and told us something that litterally shattered my world, i sat there crying and feeling like the pain i felt was going to kill me... The first thought i had was: he will never reach up to me and say 'I love you Mummy'... Kaiden had respon ded with his left ear so it was estimated his loss was mild-moderate and the right had no response so was diagnosed profound.

Kaiden got his very first hearing aids around 17-19wks and im ashamed to say i wanted to hide them from peoples rude stares... :( I was scared of him being teased and i was also upset because my idea of :normal" had been smashed into a thousand pieces and i also feared people thought i was a bad mother and had done drugs though my pregnancy or something that caused his hearing loss...

Kaiden had further testing that confirmed a hearing loss of moderate-severe in his left and profound in his right. Kaiden's speech was very slow and never reached its appropriate developmental stage... He never strung sentences together, wouldnt try to repeat words- he had a few words but for the most part, used gestures to communicate his needs.

Unfortunately, we were never approached about a Cochlea Implant until Kaiden's current Speech Therapist, Sharon bought uo the subject with us after seeing his Audiograms. After meeting with Kaiden's Audiologist, more testing was done and they FINALLY agreed that he was a candidate for a CI in the right.

April 29, 2010 Kaiden had his first CI surgery- it was a complete success and it was switched on 2wks later with the most incredible response from Kaiden which let us know we had definately made the right decision :)
Here's the link to that switch on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBlV1QHJCuM

Kaiden's speech has come along in leaps and bounds since then, he can talk in sentences and will try to repeat anything we ask him to- he even repeats things he hears out of nowhere! While his speech is still not at the correct developmental stage, it IS getting better everyday :) Where once he only said things like "Da da da", now he tells me "Im not naughty Mummy!".

So, since that CI, Kaiden's brain at some point has stopped using his left ear because the right is now the "better ear". Unfortunately this meant that the hearing aid was no longer in use and he wasnt acquiring any sound at all anymore in his left ear- the only natural sound he had ever had access to...

So, the decision was made to implant again. As his Mother, the thought of another surgery and having to see him like that again was nerve wracking but we knew it was whats best for him.

November 24, 2011 he was again successfully implanted and his switch on was December 9, 2011.

PLEASE NOTE:
At the end of the video you can hear our disappointment with the surgeons placement of Kaiden's left implant. Now, before anyone goes banging on about something they likely have NO EXPERIENCE in, this is something that Kaiden will have FOR LIFE. Its not something that can just be moved at a whim- it is implanted on top of his skull bone, beneath his scalp and there is a small hole drilled into his skull that allows 2 wires to pass through- one into his cochlea.

Kaiden's father and i are both EXTREMELY angry that Kaiden's surgeon has failed to line them up. We never felt the need to broach this subject with her as forgive us but we thought it would be COMMON SENSE to make them symmetrical. We will be talking to Kaiden's Audiologist about what the reason was for her to place them so drastically different and go from there...

While we are thrilled he now has access to sound from both sides and will better be able to localise, we were and are very disappointed that the joy of this has been marred by the surgeon whom we already dislike, placing the implant so differently than the right which she also implanted.

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[amishhorse]

Kaiden is such a beautiful, precious little boy! So happy this implant has worked well for him! I too would love to know why they couldn't do the implants symmetrical! There must be a reason?

[AussieMummySince07]

@amishhorse Thank you :) He see's his Audiologist on Friday so i hope i find out then... :/

[hprc7]

This is amazing (especially as a speech therapist!!). I'd be very interested to know about why they're so uneven when you find out.

[AussieMummySince07]

@hprc7 Im very interested to find out myself... :/

[xashleyandleex]

Was the surgeon the lady that was talking throughout the video??? What did she have to say about the comments you and his Dad made about them being uneven???

[AussieMummySince07]

@xashleyandleex No, the surgeon is (or, WAS now...) Kaiden's ENT, the lady who switched on his implant is his Audiologist (we are thinking about switching her too...). Well she heard what Christian and i were saying about it, how pissed off we are and she said there may have been a reason why it was placed there so im going to find out if there is or not. But regardless- if there WAS reason, she should have told us.

[AussieMummySince07]

@NWGandee Yeah- it was a bit of a downer on what was supposed to be such a happy day... :( Oh well, we cant change it now but i am going to find out why she did it and we will not be letting her see Kaiden again. We didnt like her from the start.

[AussieMummySince07]

@Zamia777 Yeah, he loves being able to hear :) Makes life easier for us too- i know many kids take their hearing aids/cochlea implants off all the time where as Kaiden actually asks to wear them and gets distressed when they go flat :(

[NWGandee]

Aw! I love this! I'm sorry about the uneven CI I hope you get to the bottom of it!

That picture of you two in the article is so beautiful!!

[Zamia777]

Sorry about the idiot surgeon. But so happy for Kaiden! He is so pleased that he can hear, you can see that in his smile. He is precious :)