Friday, February 20, 2009

Healing Beautifully

Aiden's done a wonderful job with recovering from his surgery. He was still down a bit the day after surgery but by day three (last Friday), he was 100% Aiden again. For about four days though he slept very little throughout the night. All we could attribute it to is the pain from the magnet and the incision. I remember when my grandpa got his pacemaker, we could see it protruding quite a bit from his chest and everytime he raised his arms it would hurt him. I'm sure it was similar for Aiden when he was trying to sleep.

Surprisingly, Aiden left his bandage on the whole two days! I couldn't wait to wash his head! I was so nervous to take the bandage off, yet anxious to see how it all looked. He was still pretty swollen and his poor little ears were sticking out from it all! I couldn't believe how much the magnets protruded and hoped that it was more swelling than anything. They made an incision a little over an inch behind each ear. Here are some pictures from the day I took his bandage off (last Friday - two days after surgery).

Left ear - the incision/stitching was done more behind the ear, but the magnet definitely protrudes more on this ear.

Right ear - the incision was further out and bigger. You can barely see the magnet on this ear, even just two days after surgery.
Here he is playing with a balloon his TOD brought by. Look at those ears!Just another ear shot and a great messy face!
Now a week later, his incisions are healing quite well and the swelling has really gone down. As Dr. Niparko told us the day of surgery, he was able to fit the magnet on the right side snug into place, so it doesn't protrude too much. But the left side is a different story. The doctor said he had a harder time finding a snug place. He didn't want the magnets at totally different levels on each side, so the magnet on the left protrudes quite a bit. But when Aiden gets some more hair, you won't be able to see it as much.
These pictures are from last night - one week and one day from his surgery.

Right ear - can barely see incision anymore but WOW can you see that magnet! For all you experienced CI mommies ... is this normal?
Left ear - can still see quite a bit of the incision, but it's healing very nicely. I know this picture isn't as close up, but you can barely even see the outline of this magnet!
Ears going back to normal .... thank God!
I've been having a hard time with the thought of Aiden not having any sound right now. At least before, I knew he was getting something from his hearing aids. My baby's not getting any sound right now, and we've seen changes in him. He doesn't "talk" near as much as he used to. In fact yesterday he made a combination of two sounds and I ran over to him smiling and clapping and yelling "Yay!". I was shocked to hear it. All we get now are moans, and even those are few. He's been very quiet. He also isn't clapping his hands like he used to. After everything we said to him he would always clap and we'd yell "Yay!" Not anymore ... today he did take my hands though and clap them together and smile. Shows us just how much he was getting from his hearing aids. We know though, that he's going to get even more from his cochlear implants and we can't wait for what's to come!

Congratulations Aiden! We can't wait for you to hear with your "new ears"!

16 comments:

Herding Grasshoppers said...

So good to see him looking chipper :0)

It must be confusing to him, to have (temporarily) lost the sound he was used to.

Can't wait to hear about his activation!

Kindermusik with Celeste said...

Congratulations...he looks great. Good Luck on your big activation day!

Kel said...

Look at that huge cutie! His incisions look amazing. I am quite surprised at the one implant though! Danny's both protrude a little, but nothing like that. Did his surgeon mention anything about not getting it to sit very flat?

I'm a little jealous of how much he was getting from hearing aids. Danny's always been quite verbal, and I wondered if the aids weren't helping, but the couple weeks of silence after his surgery he was just as vocal ... so I guess not, LOL.

17 more days, I'm so excited for you!

PolyglotMom said...

He is such a cutie! I'm so glad that he bounced back so quickly! He will make sounds again soon, and I just know he will take off with his CI! I'm so excited for you guys!

Unknown said...

I am so excited for your activation day. It is very emotional/exciting, etc. I still can't get over how resillient kids are. Aiden will be so glad you documented it all and will be able to see his battle wounds when he grows up! Keep us posted!

AJ's Mom said...

Tammy,
Aiden looks great (even with the cute larger ears!). So glad everything went awesomely (is that a word?) well with the surgery and that he is healing well. Can't wait to hear about his activation!!!

Lily's Mom said...

What a relief to have the surgery over with! I think that will be the hardest part of it all when Lily gets her CI. I can't wait to hear how activation day goes!

FutureBionicEar Mom said...

I am glad that everything went ok, I am surprised about his left ear. Maybe it will settle when he grows up who knows. Good luck on the activation date. Video tape it.

Take care little Aiden and family

VBnBama said...

The incisions have gotten so small over the years! I can't believe that these days they can squeeze them in that tiny opening. Y'all are doing amazing.
p.s. I always make my mom do the first hair washing!

Ben's Mom said...

Aiden is doing great! Ben had one side that was very swollen as well. Your photos actually reminded me how swollen he was because I had forgottne since they have changed and gone down so much! Both sides look great on Ben now. We also had some issues with the incisions - he expelled sutures for a few months - which meant it would scab and be irritated - apparently it happens with some fair-skinned babies so don't be surprised. So, Ben's took a little longer to heal and for the swelling to go down than some other babies, but he looks just beautiful now.

Let's get together soon!

Anonymous said...

So glad to her that Aiden is doing so great. The incisions look like they are healing nicely. From what I gather from your posting, it sounds like the doctor had a little harder time placing the magnet on the one ear. That may be why the magnet sticks out more right now; it is just a little more irritated than the other. I don't know but it's a thought.

I am really excited to see how he will react once they activate his ears. It still amazes me what they can do.

Talk to you soon,

Maggie

Danielle said...

ooh wonderful congrats!!!This made my night to read this. Im so happy for you all! The incisions look great from what i seen before. best of luck!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for keeping us posted. It is great to see him. Last night I ran across our belly pic that was taken when you were prego with him (I think mine was bigger).


Cattle

leah said...

It is such a relief to see him recovering so well! The waiting period for activation must seem to take forever (especially since he was a good hearing aid user), but he's going to do great once his new ears are turned on.

Susannah said...

i know what you mean about him being quiet without the hearing aids and pre-activation. we had to have our daughter's aids out the week before her surgery and now as we wait for activation and she is so much less babbly...but soon they'll get LOTS of sound!

Anonymous said...

I know what you mean, my son's surgery was December 15th and I can feel the outline of his implant.It protrudes really bad. I keep asking the nurse and our doctor if that is normal and they say yes. It makes me a little nervous though.Our son was born 1-22-08. My oldest boy is 16 and he had his first implant at 6. His incision was alot larger but you can't even tell where he was implanted. I wonder what the difference is?