Bad Day, but Counting My Blessings

So we started off our morning with lots of smiles, a good breakfast, and what I thought was going to be a pretty damn good day. Wrong. And not that it was a rough, woe-is-me Aiden was a hellion day, but more so a hard physical day for my baby ... and a teary one for mom.

After breakfast this morning, I took Aiden's tray off his chair to wash it and before I knew it, he was on the floor ... face first. WHACK. I picked him up and a big ol' goose egg started to take form on his head. I ALWAYS buckle him in ... ALWAYS! I guess not this time ... I can't imagine that he could've unbuckled himself, although he does a lot of things I'd never imagine. All I could do was hold him and cry with him. I felt SO, SO, SO BAD. How could I let this happen! Then I got SCARED. So I called Aiden's daddy, packed Aiden up in the car, picked up dad on the way, and headed to the hospital, just in case. He seemed fine, but I wasn't about to chance it! All the way there I beat myself up and Aiden's daddy reminded me "shit happens." I have such a wonderful husband!

On the way to the emergency room, I got a phone call. It was, out of all people, Aiden's surgeon, Dr. Niparko. The first thing he always does is ask about Aiden. So I told him exactly what had just happened. He asked me some questions about the situation, and told me what he figured the ER would do ... send us home and monitor him for 24 hours. Aiden was fine and we turned around to head back home.

So our conversation went on. Aiden's left coil has been consistently falling off since activation. In fact, right before activation, his audiologist noticed the left internal implant piece had fallen in his head. At that time, we talked about doing surgery to move it back up, but decided to do a trial run first. Well, after a week of constantly chasing Aiden around to replace the left coil I called our audiologist first thing Monday morning to order a coil with a longer cord. Which we did, and is working. But Aiden's surgeon thinks it's best to move it now, before the internal part moves even more and before it gets entrapped in scar tissue etc. I just got off the phone with him, for a second time today, and discussed how it's best to do this now, rather than later. And even though the longer coil may work for a bit, we're all looking for more of a lifetime fit and a fix that won't have to mess with the great electrode insertion in Aiden's cochlea. As much as I hate to see Aiden go through surgery again, we trust his surgeon and know we need to do this now.

SO ... this Friday, yes in two days, Aiden has to go back for surgery. It won't be near as invasive as the complete implant, but it's still surgery. I hate that he has to be put under anesthetic again, but I would hate to have a constant fight of keeping the coil on. We see how the implant has moved, but were hoping we could get around having to surgically move it. The good thing is, is that the surgery should only take about 30 minutes, with a small incision, and back wearing his CI and hearing with his left ear again within a week or two. If there's anytime for this to happen, the time is now.

Then to top the day off he had his 12 month well baby visit (we were behind with everything going on) so he had to go and get three shots today! But, he did weigh in at a good ol' 23 lbs. 10 oz., and measured 29 inches long! His ear infection is all cleared up and he's on track with everything ... well everything except listening and language.

"No, he's not babbling ... but he will."

"No, he's not saying mama or dada ... but he will and I'll tell the world about it the first time he does!"

"No, he's not turning to our voices ... but he's starting to!"

"All he says is 'mmmmm' in a moaning, truly annoying way, but he'll move on to new sounds soon ... I really, really hope."

"Although he's deaf, he has been given the miracle of CIs (his pediatrician was teary eyed at this point). And next time, I hope I can answer more of these type of questions with yes."

So, here we go with another mountain to climb in our journey. I thought I was going to lose it more than once today. We're given many challenges in life ... and honestly, I'd rather be given this challenge than many others. My child is healthy. What more could I ask for.