Mapping is All Greek to Me!

Drew had his third mapping appointment yesterday. Before they began to update his map they put Drew in the sound booth to see what he was hearing currently. Depending on the frequency, he was hearing somewhere between 25 - 40 db! Can you believe it? Just one month ago a jet engine could be roaring right next to him and he would not have heard it. Now he is hearing within the speech range. Unbelievable! I sat in the sound booth with him ready to cry each time he would turn and look in the direction of the sound. I held it together, but I can't help to get emotional when he hears things that he has never heard before!

There was a audiologist from Cochlear at his mapping yesterday. It was simply coincidence, but nonetheless, very exciting. She looked over his map and made some suggestions to his audiologist on how to tweak his map. We are working to make sure that each of the 22 electrodes is programed for optimal hearing on all frequencies at about 15-20 db.

One thing that has been really interesting/perplexing to his audiologist is that his right ear requires a much more powerful map than his left ear. This can happen as a result of scaring in the ear, normally from repeated ear infections. The reason it is so perplexing is that Drew has never had an ear infection and does not have fluid in his ear. It was nice to have the Cochlear audiologist recommend turning up the power on the right ear to ensure he is hearing all frequencies the same. I think it made our audiologist more comfortable with her decision to turn up the power on his right ear again. It also made me feel better about his map in general. It is really nice to have a "second opinion," especially in an area that is so complicated.

During the whole appointment the audiologists (there were three total) were talking about NPT's, hugging the "T" line, impedance levels, the list goes on and on. I felt like I was in a room where everyone was speaking a foreign language. It makes it really hard on a parent when you want to know everything that is being done to your child so you can understand what you need to do to help, but everyone except you speaks a different language. As far as I was concerned, it was like they were all speaking in Chinese and I only understood English! I think I need to go back to college and take some classes on this stuff so I can understand it better! Now if I only had TIME to do that...

Drew is now on his most powerful map ever and is responding to just about every sound around him. Last night the most amazing thing happened. We were all four playing together, working on language and doing some of our "homework" from therapy. Drew crawled over to his sister's table and chair set and was trying to pull up on the chair. He is getting really close to being able to pull up on his own, so I watched him and then helped him just a bit. Once up, he was able to stand and hold on to the chair all by himself. That's not the amazing part. He stood there for a while not moving his legs or struggling to remain standing. It took me a minute to figure out what he was doing. Drew had found that there is texture on the seat of the chair. He was standing, raking his nails over the texture and LISTENING to the sound his fingernails made when he drug them across the texture. Can you believe it? It was the most amazing moment and made me cry. Even Drew's Dad had a little sniffle at that one!