Hey there all you faithful TND-ers! I have become such a bad "blogger"! I am sure, those of you who try to keep updated with us, are tired of coming to the site and seeing the same old post as two weeks ago. My New Year's resolution (ok so it's my Jan.21, 2009 resolution) is to post at least once a week. How's that? I will dedicate my time to unloading my thoughts, stresses, worries and boredoms on to all you fine people! God love ya!
Anyway, Nate News:
So, Nate is doing amazing! His surgery went very, very smoothly. Once he woke up and was "with it" again, I was able to feed him his dinner and then a bottle. The nurse had come in and asked me if I wanted him to have any pain meds since he was eating, and I said, "Sure." So, she comes back and starts to squirt the medicine in his mouth, which he dutifully swallowed, and I asked what it was. She said Tylenol.... with codine. Ha, ha... I didn't know they even gave one year olds codine! I wasn't opposed to it, I didn't want him to hurt, but I was surprised at the medicine. I guess I figured they would give him Motrin or just straight Tylenol. Then I was glad that I HAD fed him, because I know what codine can do to an empty stomach. He felt asleeeeeeeeeeeeep (emphasis on that word, of course) around 7pm and was out!
The night nurse and Care assistant would check on him every few hours, not that there was anything to check, he hadn't even moved. But at around 2:30 am the night nurse woke me up and said she would like to suction him out. He had a bit of a cold with a tiny cough, which we were used to and honestly, not terribly concerned about. He has had this type of cold/cough thing before and even though we do EVERYTHING that you can do at home to alleviate the symtoms, nothing ever seemed to make it that much better. Just time. We had even been given a nebulizer and Albuterol once. (again, that never seemed to be the ticket either) So, I was a bit pleasantly relieved when she said she wanted to do a little tube suction. Poor guy, as asleep as he was, we had to wake him up gingerly then she sticks this tiny tube down his throat and up both nostrils-not at the same time mind you- and I would say.... THAT woke him up! But it did clear him pretty good and then he was WIDE awake. So much for a good nights sleep, for him or myself. I decided to feed him another bottle, simply since the only time he ate on Thursday was his dinner and a bottle at around 5:30 pm. Well, he had a bottle and promptly fell back asleep. That's ma boy!
We woke up the next morning and ordered him a feast of baby foods, oatmeal, pancakes, scrambled eggs... I figured we might as well try, since we were there and the food was "free". He ate like a Zeller man eats. He seemed to like (or not hate is easier to tell) all his fun new foods.
We got discharged around noon and have been home ever since.
The swelling is pretty much gone and he doesn't seem to be in any pain. We go back to the ENT on Friday to have the incision checked. I think it looks good, but what do I know? All I can tell is there's no redness or oozing from the incision and he doesn't seem to be bothered by it. Sooooo, I think that's a good sign.
Then at the end of next week, we will go to the Midwest Ear Institute and have his initial stimulation/programming done for the outside part of the cochlear implant. If you have no idea what I'm saying, then you must realize that the implant has an inside part and also an outside part. One doesn't work without the other. The outside part is the "computer", the thinking part of the implant. This will consist of a magnet that will be placed over where the implant is in his head. The magnet has a wire that comes from it to the computer. That will either be body worn or over his ear (like a hearing aid). I think we are gonna go with the body worn for a while, simply because he doesn't sit up. Nate's always reclined or laying down, so having it around his ear, plus the hearing aid on the other side could be a little much.
Well, here's where it gets tricky. I think I've said before that this is not a gaurantee that Nate will "hear". He will have "nerve response". Now, if his brain was perfectly healthy and had no damage, then that "nerve response: would be all he'd need. Of course that is not our little Nater Tot. So, fingers crossed that his brain can interpret the sound accordingly. He will have a few stimulation programmings, and then we will do some auditory training to teach him to hear. I have faith though, that even if it's not right away, that he WILL eventually benefit from this. I hope he can experience this world through sound.
Nate has gotten very mobile with his arms lately. He's also been opening his hands all the way. He used to always be clamping down on his thumb with his other four fingers. Now, he has an opposible thumb! HA HA! He's still my little monkey though.
He also looks as though he could roll over. He cranks his head back when he's laying on the floor and brings his arms to that side. All he would have to do after that significant (for him anyway) move, is get his legs over. We're working on it.
Nate is also trying to cut about 6 teeth right now. Since he doesn't chew, he's not cutting the teeth though on his own. His poor little gums have been swollen for weeks if not months. I will use a cold wash cloth to rub his gums and it's absolutely heart breaking to see his look of pain. It's the ONLY time that he has looked like he was in pain since May 10, 2008. I keep thinking maybe it will trigger a cry, but I'm trying not to be sadistic about rubbing his gums or anything. So, anyway, he has his two bottom teeth in and now the ones trying to move through are the top two (one has broken the surface), then the two on either side of the top and the other two on either side of the bottom. I imagine what that feels like for a kid who's not brain damaged and I guess in a way both relieved and sad that he doesn't seem to feel it (unless I'm scrubing a rough wet wash cloth on his terribly sensitive gums).
Well, today is Wednesday and I'm going to be running like a crazy person for the next 7 hours. Wish me luck! And I promise to be better about postings and keeping up to date!
Love you ALL!
xoxoxo
Carolyn
