As a recap since my last post - Miss Chloe Jean experienced a change in her hearing and had a case of the "whats" - I could tell that she wasn't hearing us as well as she was before. She was asking you to repeat words and got extremely upset when you tried to cover your mouth to talk to her. Might ask why we would do this - but it is to test to see if she is hearing us or reading lips. Yes, even at 2 years old, Miss Chloe Jean can read lips. Although she doesn't normally depend on reading lips in her everyday environment. She was in tears, Mom was in tears and away we go into troubleshooting. Did her programming change? Is her cochlear implant(s) working properly. Well... a long story short - it turned out that Chloe had a middle ear infection. VERY THANKFUL for the Staff at Boys Town and Dr Lusk himself - they went above and beyond during the Christmas / end of the year rush and helped us through.
Last week Miss Chloe Jean had a fun filled day at Boys Town for her 1.5 year check up. Time sure does go by fast - she is growing and thriving well in her hearing journey.
Chloe was scheduled for a FULL day of appointments. First was a speech evaluation and second was a audiology appointment (testing her programming of her cochlear implants) and third was a trip to see Dr. Lusk (ENT). I am always a nervous Mom heading into these appointments. Don't get me wrong, I feel extremely blessed with how far she has come with her verbal language and adapting to her "normal" - I don't know how to explain the feeling...
Chloe really needed a good day in the booth - to check in on her programming - and since this appointment was in the afternoon, I was a little leery how Miss Independent would do. But she proved of us wrong - she rocked both of her appointments. Chloe had fun "playing" with Katie - and was eager to show them how much she knows, especially when it was for a sticker! Chloe is doing extremely well in her hearing process - she is testing above anywhere we had dream she would be in a year and half time... she works so hard and loves to learn (reminds me of her older sister)!
After a break for lunch - off to see Jacquelyn - her audiologist. Once again, Chloe proved me wrong and was a rockstar - sat through a TWO hour appointment for programming. Gave them reliable information so they could make the needed programming changes. I have always said that her right ear is her dominate ear. It was her first ear - but by only a few weeks. Testing proved my theory and they made changes to try to decrease the gap between the two cochlear implants. She does well with her left side - but could she do better if programming was changed. Time will tell...
As far as her appointment with Dr Lusk - since she had another ear infection since Christmas - we are now back on the fence about getting her third set of tubes. Hopefully she will out grow the need - but if she needs them, I am okay with that too. Especially since her one ear infection affected her hearing - she was so frustrated, Mom was so frustrated, tubes are worth it. (If I can sit through two cochlear implant surgeries, another set of tubes seems like nothing)
Chloe picked up yet another word this week - reminding - she now tells me that she is just reminding me... needless to say I have to tell her that often when she informs me that "I AM" doing... whatever it maybe that I ask her to do or not to do... she's something else that is for sure! A little more independent than her sister ... okay.. much more independent!!
That's just a little news from our house to yours - we have a team meeting coming up to discuss her upcoming goals and preschool.... sigh, can't believe she is ready for preschool... but again.. another adventure with more concerns for this mom. Praying she can adapt once more to thrive in a different and more than likely a noisy environment....
So we are wrapping up our third week of Preschool. And I really don't know how to respond to how it is going. Little Miss Chloe Jean wakes up in the morning and once she realizes it is a day for Preschool - she pops up right out of bed. Gets dressed and continues through her morning routine - without any fits and usually in her own way of getting it done. She is just so darn excited to ... until... it is time for her to enter the building. It is hard for this mom to watch her shut down and have so much anxiety about leaving one of us for her to start her day.
So it all sounds great - but walking away from her with tears and crying she just wants you to stay... makes it a hard to start my own day on a happy note! I am just lost on what to do. Granted she just turned 3 and we had so many changes all within a few weeks. I will give it some time... help her have the confidence to grow and learn through her Preschool Journey!!
