Testing the Waters

Update: I forgot to disclose a method for testing in the last post. For those of you interested in whether this way of waterproofing a cochlear processor really works and if you're hesitant (like me) to put such an expensive piece of equipment under water to be the guinea pig, here is one of the simple tests I used.

Take a Lok Sak, place a small piece of bread, seal it up, and place it in a bowl of water. Set a timer. I chose bread because I thought I would easily be able to tell if it took on any water. Find something to use as a paperweight (I used a jar of buttons) that will push the Sak to the bottom. Set the timer for as long as you want to wait - you will not see ANY water anywhere on the inside of the Sak!

My 10yo daughter was very excited that the bread was completely dry when she took it out of the Sak and ate it!

I have tried the Sak out using food, money, AA batteries, and Kleenex, just to name a few. I've never found any water inside! Best of all, it worked with the processor!

"Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy, and teach me thy statutes." Psalm 119:124

Swimming with a Cochlear Implant

William LOVES water! A lot of children do. As the parent of a very young CI user, it is hard to determine how to balance out this love of water, giving them time to play "normally," and yet not hinder their listening skills or speech development. I am very happy to say we have found a solution that works well for our family!
We watched the video on YouTube posted by "alexswims."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYTg7dmsrpo
Very interesting! His parents really put a lot of thought and effort into finding a way for him to be able to hear and swim at the same time. It probably took them a lot of time (and money) to experiment with different things until they found something that worked. They emphasized a couple of mistakes to avoid (like which type of battery to use and not to vacuum seal the bag). My guess is, they might have learned these things from trial and error. Anyway, we checked into buying a food saver V2490. We might still buy one, but at this time, that didn't make the most sense to us. The cheapest one we found had a starting bid of $55, plus shipping and handling, plus the cost of the roll. Total cost was around $95. This isn't bad, when you consider the cost of the processor itself, but we weren't sure if William would even wear this. When you're dealing with an 8-10 year old that can reason cognitively, that's one thing, but a 2 year old can be a whole different story. We chose a much cheaper route.
I ordered Lok Saks from http://www.loksak.com/. The small 5x4" size are $6.39 for a pack of 3. Add s/h and we ended up paying only $2.79 per sack. The sacks are reusable, so we have the sack we use, plus many backups (we ordered 9). I also ordered an adult size logo swim cap (it was the cheapest) from Swim Outlet. With s/h, my total was only $9.94. The best part is: it worked great!!! And William loved it! We did it a little differently than Alex's parents. Alex wore his entire processor under the swim cap, which would be more reasonable for diving to the bottom of the pool. We put William's magnet under the swim cap, but left the processor on the outside so we could see the blinking light.

Since he does not communicate to us all of the time that his processor is off or not working, this helped us to make sure that the magnet stayed in place during his play (which it did the entire time)!
William is as active as any other 2 year old and is always wild in the pool. His hair was wet, but the processor was completely dry when he was done! And he had a great time playing in the pool and on the slide!

We thought that this would be a temporary fix and we would switch to the Food Saver when he is older and wants to dive and swim under water for long periods of time, but the Lok Sak bags have passed submergence, thrash and pull tests conducted by the U.S. Navy Experimental Diving Unit Team and have been certified waterproof to 60 meters by Scuba Schools International, formerly NASDS. They work so well that I can see us continuing to use these bags even as he gets older. They are convenient and portable (I carry 2 extra ones in his extra battery bag, just in case we're near water sometime), they work incredibly well, and they are extremely cost effective! What a great combination!

This was so easy to do and stayed on so well, I'm thinking Cochlear should be able to come up with a waterproof unit or something soon. I remember when Bryce was little he used to have terrible ear infections, but he loved the water. We had some special (expensive) ear plugs made for him at the ENT and they came with an ear band that went around his head to help keep them in.
(sample pictures of the Ear Band It)
I'm sure Cochear could come up with something similar that would hold the magnets on and have a sealable bag sewn into it for the processors. All it takes is some parents writing or calling to let them know how much we want it (HINT, HINT, HINT).
Thanks to Alex's parents for the great idea (and the trial and error)! I'm so glad to not have to sacrifice one benefit for another!

"Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments." Psalm 119:66

There Shall Be Showers of Blessing

I love this hymn. I have been humming and singing it a lot lately. I feel the mercy drops, but I am crying out for the showers!

...

"There shall be showers of blessing," This is the promise of love;

There shall be seasons refreshing, Sent from the Saviour above.

Showers of blessing, Showers of blessing we need:

Mercy-drops round us are falling, But for the showers we plead.

"There shall be showers of blessing": Oh, that today they might fall,

Now as to God we're confessing, Now as on Jesus we call!

Showers of blessing, Showers of blessing we need:

Mercy-drops round us are falling, But for the showers we plead.

"And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing." Ezekiel 34:26

Delivered!

This sweet, sweet boy gives GREAT hugs!

The RPGR package has been delivered to Manchester! It arrived 8 hours earlier than expected. Very exciting! Both packages have arrived and been signed for and now just need to be processed.

On another great note: Michael got home last night and found William's glasses, right on top of the white sack I had put them on and they had NOT gone into the trash! Yeah! And to continue the good news, when I called about the glasses this morning, they were able to pull the rush order in time and not charge us anything! Whew!

We did have a slight scare last night. After I got William out of the bath, his right ear was bright red and starting to swell. Of course, it immediately made us think of when he was in the hospital with the mastoid infection because that was how it started out. We took his processors off of his ears (but left the magnets on), I emailed his surgeon pictures and we decided to watch it, fully expecting to make another trip to the city today. When he woke up this morning the red was still there, but no swelling. We'll keep watching it, but for now it looks okay.

"Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am He." Isaiah 41:4

Ready for Rest

The blood work is done! The RPGR is headed for Manchester, England, due to arrive tomorrow and the INAD arrived in Portland, Oregon, this morning (5 hours earlier than expected). Hooray for FedEx tracking numbers!

We've had an extemely busy few days. Here's a brief recap:

Thursday - 5 hours driving, 1 hour speech therapy

Friday - 2 hours driving, 2 hours waiting for an appointment to examine my retina (for further information on how to test for William) that turned out to be unnecessary since I'm 4 months pregnant and the doctor wouldn't dilate until 6 months, 3 hours grocery and errands

Saturday - 2 1/2 hour trip into town for supplies I forgot to pick up on Friday, girls sewing, putting quilt together

Sunday - church, family visit, home to prepare for trip to city, 5 hours of driving

Monday - drive to city, labs for William, therapy, visit family, visit more family, go eat dinner = 7 hours in the van and home at 11:30pm

Tuesday - extremely tired, Wallace woke up at 6:30am, girls at 8:45, and William slept until 9, put his processors on him, went to put his glasses on and they weren't in his case, PANIC, we all looked around frantically for an hour, remembered Sarah giving them to me last night when he went to sleep in the van, I put them on a white sack because I was on the phone and couldn't reach his case at that moment, forgot about them, got home, Michael gathered trash in the dark at midnight, took trash to curb, trash men came at 7am

Needless to say, I am extremely frustrated with myself! I called to replace his eyeglasses. For another $250 that we didn't count on, they will be ready on Friday. She asked if I was sure I lost them and laughed when she saw he'd only had them A MONTH! Not greatly funny, if you ask me.

On another note, Wallace is walking. While this is, in and of itself, very exciting, it is also exhausting! Who ever heard of an 8 month old walking? I am reminding myself that I am very thankful that he is strong and healthy!

"The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise Him." Psalm 28:7