Our appointment was at 9 this morning, which for us means leaving the house at 7 (Yuck) because we must leave time for Starbucks! We got there and saw a box big enough for me to fit inside of sitting outside the 'Mapping' room. Could that seriously be our device, or rather, all the stuff that came with it? Yep... it was our box, very big box of stuff!
So they began the MAP by attaching the device to his ear and the computer ran a test to make sure all of the internal pieces were working properly. Once that was done they turned it on! They started at a very low volume. Since Cade has had such great success with his hearing aid, we knew he would respond well to sound. Often times with little kiddos who have been profoundly deaf their whole life they will get frightened when hearing for the first time. By far my favorite moment was when she turned the volume up on the device and he immediately responded to sound. His daddy was holding him and he turned and buried his head in his chest. Daddy kissed him as if to say, "It's okay buddy!" ...and after that, he was great!
Sarah, the Cochlear Implant Audiologist went over our 'case' of stuff that came with the device as well as the remote. There are 4 settings on the remote that as he gets older, he can make as specific as he wants. For now they are just basically soft to loud. We will keep him on 1-2 for the next few days and gradually work him up to the louder volumes. We will go back on Tuesday for them to do another MAP to turn it up a bit more. They don't want to overwhelm him or he will constantly pull it off.
We have noticed so far that with his implant he responds similar to how he does with his aid on. Understandably, that is with it on the lowest setting. Plus, it's a bit difficult to know what he can and can't hear since when he is playing, he is much more into whatever he is playing with. :-)
It has already been such an incredible experience and we are excited to see all that is to come! God is so good!
