I am taking Elijah to the audiologist tomorrow for a new MAPPING. I am hoping we can figure out why his right ear "bugs" him. Now he hasn't complained about it lately, but he is at school most of the day so I am not around him for him to complain too. I would just rather go in and check it to be on the safe side!
I started thinking about how far Elijah has come since he was first implanted and how far technology has come. When Elijah was implanted in September of 2001, there was no behind the ear(BTE) CI processors. Everyone use the Sprint(pictured in this blog). He wore the processor in a harness and I used toupee tape to keep the mic on his ear. He received his second implant in December 2004 and by that time there was a BTE called the 3G, but we stuck with the Sprint. One reason was because we had heard about a 4th generation(Freedom) processor that would be coming out some time in 2005 and also because Elijah was only four and a half years old and we didn't think he was ready for the BTE. We did have a 3G in the box but wanted to hold on to it, IN THE BOX, so we got more for a trade in.
I also started thinking about how far Elijah has come in language development. A cochlear implant is only a tool. The therapy and the work by the parents is what makes the difference for a child learning language. We did work hard, very hard, and now Elijah does very well, but he still has some catching up to do. He got his Freedom processors in Oct. of 2006 and hopefully one day he will get the Nucleus 5! I am thankful for this technology every day and for all of the people who have helped us along this journey!
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