Monday, July 27, 2009

Enough Already ... Really


I am about to pull every. last. hair. out of my head. In my last post, I talked about Aiden dissecting his cochlear implants on car rides. Well, it has gone from dissecting them on car rides, to dissecting them at home, to just plain pulling them off ALL THE TIME!

I try VERY hard not to react, and to simply put them back on his head/ears and keep on going ... only to turn around and have them BOTH off his head and usually in his mouth (I so thought we were over the mouthing everything stage). So then, I take them both off for about 10 to 15 minutes, and try again ... only to have them pulled off once again by Mr. Destructo (our new nickname for our "precious" little man) within minutes. When they are on ...

He still responds to the lings (on and off anyway)

He localizes noise better and better (yesterday as the mowers were outside, he pointed to his ear then pointed to the window AND later that day found me as I hid in a dark bathroom calling for him!)

He consistently turns to his name,

He has started to vocalize more in the last week ... like da-da and bye-bye (buh-buh) and a bunch of babble combinations (nabada type stuff)
He has started inflecting his voice like no get out ... from very high squealed screeches to low "da-da" whispers (I think this is hilarious) ... maybe it's the sounds from his screams he's become so accustomed to are scaring him enough to pull off the CIs ... although they truly are music to my ears!

So why, if he seems that he likes to listen and that he is responding, does he constantly pull off his CIs and dissect every.little.part?

Saturday night we all went out to dinner, then Aiden's sister and I went to a late movie to see G-Force 3D (which we both enjoyed). I came home to this on the counter.

Aiden's dad told me the next day that these were the pieces he collected from the car once they got home. What I didn't notice until the next day, as I put the pieces back together, is that a mic cover was still missing. Like I said ... every.little.part. No more CIs in the car ... just too dangerous.

Later the same day, as I was cleaning up the living room, Mr. Destructo was in the kitchen playing in "his" drawers. After a couple minutes of just seeing him playing so nicely with the Tupperware, I went in to check on him again, and low and behold, no CI. At all. So I looked around and found all of it BUT the coil. Thank goodness for back up parts because for the life of me I could not find that coil.


I finally found it later that day here ...


Oh for the love. All I can continue to hope and pray for is that this is a short phase and that it doesn't give me gray hair because the boy's about to wear me out. I feel like I did about a year ago, when Aiden learned to take his hearing aids out. Only difference being he didn't know what he was doing then, but he sure does now. Little stinker. As Nolan's mommy would say, "Don't make me bust out the pilot caps again!"


Oh... and even though we're not set for an audiology appointment for another two months, I have a call into The Listening Center to schedule the next possible appointment. Maybe a mapping adjustment will cure all.

7 comments:

Renae said...

I'm SO sorry! Briggs too pulls off his coils but it's much easier to just stick them back on his bead b/c of the body processors. They are bulky but we are SO thankful we went that route!!! He constantly ripped off his hearing aids and we knew he'd do the same with the freedom implant. I feel for you! I FINALLY posted the work board! Check it out!

Landon's Mom said...

Landon just finished this phase (knock on wood), for the second time:) It was especially bad on the car ride to/from Disney. We use disposables on trips and I would turn around and look at him and he would smile as he dribbled batteries out of his mouth. Drove us nuts!!! If he would be anywhere for more then 5 minutes alone, we'd go in there and have to start the search for parts. He rarely did it when we used the babyworn setup - it's just been since going to full BTE setup. But when we used the babyworn we used undershirts with pockets and clipped the coils right in the middle of the back of his neck so he couldn't get to them very easy. Right after we went BTE he went through it and then again about two months ago. The good news - they will grow out of it!!!

Now he's coming to us every 5 minutes - if the the snugfit slips just the littlest bit he'll come running shouting "ear, ear" wanting us to put it back right. Just keep hanging in there - it does get better!

leah said...

Oh, goodness. I really hope a mapping does the trick! Nolan is still terrible about his aids. He's fine when we're in a very structured activity, but the moment we're not doing something that keeps his hands/mind busy, the aids go flying (literally). The other day he ripped them off and said, "my don't want this!" Great four word sentence, little man. But those aids have to stay IN!

The good news is that I didn't see any three year olds ripping out their aids/CI's when I went up to the oral deaf school in Buffalo today. That gives me some hope, lol! These "active" boys are going to make us all gray before our time!

misskri said...

I'm so sorry that you are going through this phase (I am keeping my fingers crossed that its either a phase or a mapping issue).
Def keep us updated!
ON the other hand ~ Way to Go Aiden on all the sounds he is making and turning to.
Before you know it he will be putting his coils back on when they fall off. Seriously..it will happen. I didnt believe it either at first, but when Thomas started flipping them back on I was so happy!

PolyglotMom said...

Gosh, Tammy... I am SO SORRY! What a nightmare! Especially with pulling all the pieces apart, not just pulling them off. I hope that a new map will solve things and that this is a very, very short-lived phase. Thinking about you!

Jenny- Sienna's mom said...

I think you are giving me a preview as to whats to come for us. Just before her surgery, Sienna pulled her aids out all the time, just as you described it, driving me bonkers. I was HOPING she would not do this once she gets her CI's activated on Aug 11th, BUT something tells me I am heading down the same road as you. Good luck, hope the new mapping will help. Hang in there! Jenny

Ben's Mom said...

I am right there with you. We can't have them on in the car. But, I can say that it is getting better. Hang in there!