Introduction to the Implant Clinic

Tuesday was the day. The next step into the cloud, the next station along the line: our introduction to the Implant Clinic. I will confess that I have been to the Clinic before, but that was about 5-6yrs ago with Jarrah, and we didn't get past the 1st appointment as they felt he was functioning too well to be a candidate. This was quite different. I knew there was little chance Jonica would not be a candidate, although there was still a nagging doubt because of how well she functions relative to her audiograms. Still, I knew we were there with intent, not in the air of investigation.

A bus ride later, and we were there. Ah, Mater Audiology, how I have not missed thee. Like riding a bike really, once you go there enough times you never forget. The difference this time was being there with a 3yr-old instead of a newborn, so we stayed within the dept rather than going up various combinations of lifts to get to where we needed to go. But the same facilities, the same waiting area, the same collection of parents with tiny children waiting their turn...

After paperwork and a brief toilet stop (always count on the 3yr-old needing to go to the toilet as soon as it's her turn to be seen!), we met the audiologist and speech pathologist for our appt. Sadly they hadn't received Jonica's history so I gave a brief history of everything, with particular emphasis on what had happened recently. They did have her latest audiogram, so at least they had a baseline from which to judge what they saw in the appt.

Once they had a picture of where things were up to, we went to the sound booth to do some testing. At first Jonica was very unsure of the *enormous* headphones they wanted her to wear, but then when i suggested and they offered the usual inserts instead she decided that was ok. *Phew!* nothing worse than a child who won't participate in the testing you're there to do! Fortunately Jonica is a very reliable tester, her responses are very consistent and she stays on-task well, so we got another full set of air-conduction results.

Right ear: mostly stable, only some variation at 3kHz.

Left ear: all frequencies down again by 10-20dB

250Hz: 100dB

500Hz: 100dB

1kHz: can't remember, about 110dB?

2kHz: can't remember, about 115dB?

4kHz: no response 

What?!?

I must confess, that really caught me by surprise. I knew her left ear was bad, and I knew it was really in implant territory, but I hadn't expected it to deteriorate again, in only 4wks. This time, nothing was better than 100dB, and in fact she gave no response *at all* at 4kHz. Her high frequencies appear to have disappeared altogether. She's usually so stable between her big drops, I was just so surprised to see those results...

So, there's no question really. She's certainly a candidate. That doesn't mean we *have* to go ahead, but if she's struggling, why wouldn't we? Why let her struggle just because she's bright enough to get by? What if her right ear suddenly disappears, what then? And why shouldn't she have the best chance, if it's possible? I'm beginning to feel like we really don't have too many options here...

More appointments. Following up from this one, we'll be back at the clinic on Tues 10th of June for Speech assessments at 9am, followed by more audiology at 10:30. We're waiting to hear back from the surgeon about arrangements for a CT scan to be done under general anaesthetic. Then there's likely to be more ENT, followed by surgery. Then it really begins! 2-4wks after surgery there is switch-on, when they actually turn on the device, then an unbelievable schedule of appts until 6mths post-switch-on. Seriously, can't they put all this on ONE piece of paper? I've had to piece this together from several sources, and I'm still not convinced I've got everything. Maybe that's what I'll do, put it all on one piece of paper...

Next appts: Tues 3rd June Optometrist (all kids, just checking...)

                   Tues 10th June Implant Clinic Speech & Audiology