Anna-Li prepping for surgery

Just before we rolled in, I tried really hard to braid the hair on her left side — the new implant side — as tightly as possible, hoping they wouldn’t shave the huge swath they took out last time. We chose the decadent bubble gum-scented anesthesia for her mask instead of strawberry or watermelon — who thought up scented anesthesia?

5 hours later: Anna-Li in Recovery

A complication occurred in surgery when the drill bit accidentally broke through the wall of her ear canal. The team was able to graft bone dust and fibrous tissue from the incision point to close the 3mm hole, which we’ll watch very carefully. Well, I won’t, as it’s inside her head, but THEY will be monitoring how well this heals. I don’t know how … but we’ll follow up later this week. Compared to last time around, so little swelling! No sad, tearful wake up this time: they used a local nerve block injected in her neck to stop any pain during those few hours after surgery, and she did so well!

She ate far too much frozen juice, and vomited it all up, which was so unpleasant for her, but they did a great job of managing her pain, and the discomfort of staying overnight: we had a private room this time and could watch Monsters Inc, Curious George, and Ice Age again and again and again … an all night slumber party with very little slumber until the 2am oxycodone kicked in! I might have liked a bit of that stuff to get me through my 66th viewing of Monsters Inc., but those nurses are so stingy with the drugs.

Anna-Li exploring Medicine

She’s gotten very good at checking vitals and putting bacitracin on her furry friends: both the stuffed ones and — poor sticky Grendel and Gryphon — the real live ones.

The incision

Gruesome, yet beautiful, healthy incision, although the dissolvable packing in the ear canal to manage the grafted area is resulting in a steady trickle of drainage that’s just nasty, but expected.

Less than 24 hours after surgery: Anna-Li is back at home!

A little bit of whining, managed by lots of love and hugs and Tylenol and antibiotic, but otherwise, back to normal!

Even without the good drugs, she's flying!

Li-Li on the anchor at Mystic Seaport

Li-Li, weighing down the anchor

Li-Li away!

We were sidetracked on the way home by ships and boats and anchors and cannolis.

Li-Li in the stocks

Li-Li with the Harris Cousins in Colonial Williamsburg

Li-Li at Busch Gardens

Update: Despite the seemingly wary approach to these rides, she loved it! But her face was all ecstasy once we arrived at Water Country: sadly no camera on hand because of the constant immersion.

Red Sox vs. Oakland at Fenway Park

See the video of Li-Li’s first ‘evah’ Red Sox game at Fenway (double click to launch it within YouTube, where you can select the watch in high quality option):

“All I need is my butt and I …”

She was rapt throughout a 1.5 hour  long play, sitting at the very back of the large theater, with a live orchestra in the pit in front of us.  And yet she attended to the dialogue, looking around for new voices as they piped up, clapping as each song finished, and standing in her seat to join in when the dancing got wild.  My favorite moments were when Li-Li felt the need to join in the chorus of kids who had come out into the audience and were very near our seats (conveniently close to the back exits for easy getaway in case of toddler or mama meltdown), she was standing up on the seat and chanting key lyrics. At one point, they were singing “Sold, Sold” while Li-Li was calling out “Dog, Dog.” Hey, it sounded like “Dog” to me too, at first.

Li-Li then joined the director onstage after the show for a chat:

She looks innocent, but last week, while safely in her carseat, she bit her ear mold off the processor, chewed and swallowed. John nearly swerved off the road to stop the horror, but too late. She smugly pointed down her throat when his search proved fruitless (or ear mold-less).

After much discussion about what an ear mold is, her doctor’s office said that this is small potatoes in the world of swallowed objects and all systems are go, although I’ve not verified categorically that the ear mold has moved on. I take that on faith.

I’ve failed a critical mom test, haven’t I?

Anna, Li-Li, and Shui Li fall off the hammock — as planned!

John, Anna, Li-Li, and Shui Li (and Grendel) on the bridal path outside our back gate

Li-Li’s playhouse is in disrepair: next weekend!

Li-Li has never seen anyone hold a hen quite the way Shui does it

Anna and Shui at Li-Li’s playhouse

See all photos from Anna and Shui Li’s visit.

We had a full schedule and still there was no nap to be had!

• Li-Li and I met with Dr. Terrell Clark to discuss going bilateral
• We met our wonderful new audiologist, Jennifer Harris (We’ll miss Jill, but Jennifer is GREAT and came from working at Li-Li’s school some years ago: TLC! And I can’t believe I forgot to take photos)
• Jennifer conducted booth testing without processor and then with hearing aid in left (unimplanted) ear
• Jennifer checked our equipment and found which of our 3 cords is the horrible faulty babyworn cable that trashed two lovely processors in a month and contacted Cochlear Americas for replacement of the cable and a lost magnet
• Li-Li received a brand new mapping:
  1. Everyday listening program with ADRO: for home, classrooms, music
     makes seamless adjustments as the sounds around her change. The individual channels representing quiet sounds (like a soft violin) are turned up, while loud sounds (like a car horn) are softened, so Li-Li can enjoy a comfortable listening level in any situation.
  2. Noise program (with AutoSensitivity): for noisy environments, crowds, restaurants
     Microphone sensitivity is automatically adjusted based on the “noise floor” of the surrounding environment. The noise floor is the level to which sound decreases during breaks in speech. This softens the background noise making it easier to participate in conversations in noisy environments.
  3. Everyday listening program with ADRO (same program as #1, just easy to cycle to)
  4. Quiet listening program with ADRO + Whisper: for bedtime stories, hiking outside, watching TV
     Whisper boosts softer sounds, such as crickets chirping or someone speaking in the distance that would otherwise be too quiet to distinguish—like a pair of binoculars zooming in on a small object, making it larger and easier to see. It brings the softer sound “closer” so that Li-Li can hear it better, while other louder sounds remain moderated as with her everyday listening program.

Some really interesting results (although I have to ask for the results and the new audiogram for specifics): her implanted right ear has retained much of its residual hearing and remained close to her levels tested last August — a huge surprise to us as we’d heard she would likely lose this as a result of the surgery itself or the body’s defensive reaction (ossifying bone) shortly after! And even more surprising: hearing in her unimplanted left ear has deteriorated significantly in a year, so she likely no longer hears jet engines without a hearing aid.

More on our very complicated and difficult bilateral discussion/decision later, but I think we’re OK to go according to the CI team and planning for surgery this summer!