Great news! As a 'recent' implantee myself, I'd just like to
mention a few things. For one, don't expect miracles, okay,
granted, he's a child and he'll probably make bigger leaps and
bounds than us adult implantees, but it is a slow process with huge
leaps here and there. Everyone has a different way of reacting to
an implant and there is a small group that, despite these great
advances, an implant just doesn't work for them.

Do realize that suddenly hearing 'everything' is a huge shock to the
system - even now, a year later, I still find the world to be an
immensely noisy place and there are times when it is just too
overwhelming and I need to take it off in order to regain my sanity.

And it's not fair that children get a small incision while adults
end up with half their heads shaved and at least a 6" fish hook
scar! ;-) Again, everyone heals differently and make sure you
follow instructions closely (i.e. keep it clean, dry, etc.) so Brian
doesn't get an infection. There are risks involved, such as the
facial nerve being damaged, some people have a taste factor (nothing
tastes the same for a few weeks afterwards or there is a metallic
taste to things), and last but not least, there is a risk of
rejection. I don't want to scare you or anything but these are
normal risks and they shouldn't be minimized make sure you've talked
about all these and are aware of them.

Be patient, let things progress at their own rate. I know you're
excited about Brian hearing but it will proceed at its own pace and
nothing you do is going to change it. Keep facing him when speaking
to him until he finally understands that it's your face with your
voice. I found this to be hard - my husband's voice was a lot
deeper than I originally thought it was and it took me several weeks
to get the identification pegged. I can't remember how much
residual hearing Brian has (don't post often but I constantly lurk)
but my audiologist once told me that in HoH people, the area of the
brain that deciphers sounds is so screwed up. Usually about 2/3 of
the area is used for pigeonholing sounds (ah, that's an airplane)
and the rest is for understanding. With us HoHs (actually I'm a
deafie now if you want to get technical about it)it's the other way
around - the area of our brain uses that 2/3 power not for
identification but for understanding. It takes a while to rewire
it.

Last but not least, love the kid. He's going to need lots of hugs
and reassurance during this procedure which can be scary (even for
an adult). His head is going to hurt, his ear is going to hurt, or
it might not. But give him a hug for me, would you? Best of luck
to both of you!

Jo

--- In deafnessandhearingloss@yahoogroups.com, "lauraandmyson"
<lauraandmyson@...> wrote:
>
> Very exciting news. We met with the surgeon yesterday and he says
> that Brian's cochlea is perfect. Nothing wrong there so we can go
> ahead and have the surgery without complications (hopefully).
He's
> seemed like a very nice guy. He said that the person who had a
baby
> was ahead of us and had just had the surgery last week. If he
would
> have known we were in the waiting room, he would have let us see
the
> incision he made on the other baby to show us there is no scarring
> behind the ear. Anyways, our surgery is set for June 9. The pre-
opt
> is June 1. We will meet with the anasthesiologist that day as
well as
> the rest of the other physicians that will be monitoring Brian in
the
> room. They monitor the facial nerve to make sure there is no
facial
> paralysis. As the doctor was describing all that was going to
happen,
> I was about to break down and cry all over again. I just want to
get
> this over with so I can have a "hearing" child again.
>