It feels like Christmas morning over here as we get ready for Gracie’s activation appointment today. She’s fully healed from her first Cochlear Implant Surgery and ready to use the device for the first time. It’s hard to put into words what this day will mean to our little peanut and how much we hope this incredible little device changes her life. We know in our hearts that our sweet second daughter will have every opportunity in the world open to her and will do great things with her small and mighty life.
But before we jump to turning the device on I wanted to quickly share a bit of the process that led us here.
Cochlear Implant Surgery
After months and months (years even if you are looking at the big picture) of audiology appointments, tests, scans and assessment, Gracie was finally approved to be implanted on May 16th, 2017. Her cochlear implant surgery was performed in-patient at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh by the acclaimed (and truly amazing) Dr. Chi.
Gracie’s incision ended up being so much smaller than we expected. Her reaction to the anesthesia and all the medications taken during surgery surprised everyone. We thought she may spend the better part of 24 hours throwing up (based on so many families similar experiences) but Gracie basically slept for 24 hours, even needing her IV hooked back up since she never woke up to drink. This was great actually even though it made me nervous and she never ever cried (not even once) throughout the entire experience. Our brave little peanut trusted us and maintained her sweet, serious, and curious disposition the whole time.
The little IV in her foot might’ve been the worst part, ha.
The following image shows Gracie’s incision. Everyone is curious. If you have a weak stomach just scroll!!
Healing from cochlear implant surgery proved to be so much easier than we thought. Gracie was a little bit nervous about having the cover off of the surgery site but eventually she let us take it off and was back to her normal happy go lucky self almost immediately. She even slept through each night without a single issue.
Cochlear implant surgery recovery went so well!
Also, I thought it was interesting to note, the ONLY medications she was sent home on were regular tylenol and an antibiotic. Regular tylenol after someone drilled into her skull! That just blew my mind. And though she said it hurt a few times, she never asked for tylenol (hates it actually) and just toughed out the discomfort I guess. Kids are amazing.
Surgery was on Tuesday and she was back to school the following Monday, smiling and excited to see her friends.
So here were are, June 8th of 2017. Ready for another day at the hospital, ready to receive all of Gracie’s cool new equipment. Ready to see what she thinks of the little device we’ve been anticipating for so long! Stay tuned. We can’t wait to share the rest of this journey with you guys.
Thanks so much for so many prayers and messages – I truly cannot believe how many people have been following this sweet girls since birth and who care about her and love her from afar. It’s incredible!
All our love,
Jacquie
Update: here is our Cochlear Implant Surgery journey part 2.
April says
I’ve only been following your family for a few months but I can’t.wait to see how she reacts. I can’t even begin to fathom how you must feel!!! 🙂