Emma's Journey Into the Hearing World

Welcome to Miss Emma's Update page. As most of you know, Emma received her cochlear implant on June 30th, 2003 at one year of age. We will be using this page to keep all of you updated on her journey into the hearing world. We will add updates and pictures whenever possible.
We hope you like it!

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Emma was born on June 24, 2002. My pregnancy and her birth were normal and she arrived into the world 12 days early weighing 6lbs 8oz with Apgars of 8 and 9.
She failed her newborn hearing screen and therefore was referred to CHKD for her follow up. We met with Claire Jacobson, our fabulous audiologist, who did another hearing test when she was about one month old. She did not pass this test. We then had to schedule a sedated ABR (auditory brain response) test when she was about 3 months old. This is when we found out for sure that Emma had a severe-profound loss in both ears. In other words, she was deaf.
After, a few days of shock and many tears we were ready to move on and find out what could be done to help Emma.
We spent a few months tackling hearing aids. It was so difficult to get a good fit with the aids and we found that she received no benefit from them.
During that time, we were exploring the cochlear implant option. We went through all of the inital process of blood tests,CAT scans and visits to various professionals and doctors and then we were on our way!
During that time, we also found out through genetic testing that Emma was deaf because of Connexin 26. This means that both Chris and I are carriers of this genetic mutation. We also know now that the odds of having another hearing impaired child will be one in four with every pregnancy.

Emma's surgery took place on Monday, June 30th. It lasted about six hours from start to finish. The waiting was hard but they kept us updated all the time. I carried her back into the OR at about 1:30pm and then Dr. Strasnick came out to see us around 7pm. We were able to see her in recovery around 7:30 or so. Then we were moved up to a room for the night. She was in a lot of pain through the night and it was so hard to see her like that. She was doing a little better in the morning and we were disharged around noon and were happy to be home! By about 5pm that day she was playing a bit and was really back to herself, for the most part, by Wednesday. What a trooper!

So basically, that brings us to where we are today. It has been a long road, but one that any parent who wants the best for their child would take. BR>


Many thanks go out to Dr. Strasnick for performing Emma's surgery and doing a fabulous job; Claire Jacobson for her endless hours of support in explaining all of this to us; Jill Richardson (Emma's service coordinator for Early Intervention)for giving us feedback and helping with all of the insurance mess; Susan Adam for providing Emma her AV Therapy each week; and to all of our family and friends for the continued support and love for both us and Miss Emma.
We wouldn't be where we are today without all of you!


PS- If you want to know what hearing will be like for Emma after her "turn-on" look at the journal entry from Sunday, July 13th.

Hope you enjoy the website! Remember to sign her guestbook! We hope that one day she will be able to look back and see just how many people were watching her progress!
Thanks!



EMMA WAS IN OUR LOCAL PAPER IN SEPTEMBER '03!! IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ THE ARTICLE JUST EMAIL ME AND I WILL SEND IT TO YOU!

Check out my brother's website too:
http://www3.caringbridge.org/va/lukecolley/

Journal

Wednesday, January 18, 2006 1:18 PM CST

Ok- the slacker is back! Sorry for not writing sooner!

Anyways - Emma continues to amaze us with all she can do and say and hear. It is hard to believe that she has had her 2nd implant now for a year. She has come so far and is doing so amazing... we are so very thrilled. I don't think a day goes by that I am not in awe of what she can do - esp. when I think back to her initial diagnosis.
She is such a special girl.

She continues to go for artic. therapy 2 times a week and we are currently working on the "s" sound and plurals. She is doing very well and her speech teacher is amazed with her progress and speech as a whole.

She loves preschool and is learning so much. It is fun to hear her pick up phrases from us as well as her friends. She was telling me how one of her friends was making her laugh at school and she said, "Mom, she was killing me!"
I was cracking up!

On another note - I just got back from Durham where I was trained to work with MED EL as part of their CAT team. I am now a consumer advocate and have learned so much about the company and the product. It was very exciting to meet the people who have given my kids the ability to be a part of the hearing world. I also got to meet a lot of adult CI users which was neat too. I am thrilled to be part of such an amazing company - even if I am just a small part! You never know where it might lead.

That is all for now ( I already erased my previous entry! UGG!)

Hugs and love
Missy

Hospital Information:

Surgery was performed at The Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters
Norfolk
VA

Links:

E-mail Author: miss.emma@verizon.net

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Note: The foregoing information was authored by the patient, parent or guardian, or other parties who are solely responsible for the content. Such announcements or their content are not necessarily endorsed by CaringBridge, Inc. or any sponsoring agent.  This information does not confirm that anyone is or was actually a patient at any facility.