tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28922480187375930972024-03-19T01:27:44.503-07:00Ella's Journey to Hear the WorldAngela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2892248018737593097.post-9449023932839318972012-06-22T09:20:00.000-07:002012-06-22T09:20:54.615-07:00Video of Please.This is the video I took of her saying "Please."
Angela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2892248018737593097.post-64935857912468312732012-06-22T09:17:00.000-07:002012-06-22T09:17:36.636-07:00Moving on to bigger and better things.
Since the last time I updated you guys, Ella was going under again to put back the implant that was infected. This happened very smoothly and healed up great. She is now hearing with both ears again and very happy about it. She has made slow progress in listening and talking. She has imitated one word, "Please" but nothing else. She is understanding a lot more though. Since the JTC is having Angela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2892248018737593097.post-59948047083181565742012-03-28T08:54:00.001-07:002012-03-28T08:54:31.658-07:00Another surgery..I keep forgetting to update this thing. Sorry. :/ On January 3rd Ella had surgery to originally take out the stitch and the skin around it that wasn't accepting it. But when Dr. I got in there he found that the infection had spread all the way up to the implant itself so they had to take everything out but the electrodes. We ended up spending Friday through Monday in the hospital so that she Angela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2892248018737593097.post-58201492649167504952012-01-31T09:05:00.000-08:002012-01-31T09:05:22.475-08:00Big updatesI know it has been over a month since I last posted. There was some travel for the Holidays and then getting back to life afterwards. Nothing has really changed with Ella's incision since last time. It's still infected. I'm not sure if she still has a staph infection or if that has cleared up and it's a new infection, but it's still looking bad. Her ENT gave us a months worth of oral antibiotics Angela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2892248018737593097.post-9223780123888687422011-12-09T18:30:00.001-08:002011-12-09T18:46:49.166-08:00Back to the Hospital
After her first round of IV antibiotics.
Ella has had it rough since her surgery almost 2 months ago. She was activated in November and what we didn't know until two weeks after that is that she had a staph infection. Her incisions were healing very slowly and then stop healing completely and started getting worse. We went to see her ENT and was sent home with antibiotics. A week later it was Angela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2892248018737593097.post-22177082457376952032011-12-09T18:19:00.001-08:002011-12-09T18:26:34.087-08:00I can hear!We all had been waiting for this day for a while. I am was nervous/excited for this day to come. We were about half an hour late to the Audiology appointment because of the traffic on the 405. We went in and immediately the Audiologist went to work. She started setting up her processor and the majority of the appointment was waiting. I will let the videos do the talking. It wasn't a major Angela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2892248018737593097.post-43377581026154378402011-10-27T23:32:00.000-07:002011-10-27T23:32:01.963-07:00It has finally arrived: Surgery Day.
It has been a week since Ella's surgery and I have found the time to post this. Her surgery was scheduled at 8:30 in the morning and we were to be there at 7:30. Well since we had to go down below (LA) and there is a lot of traffic, we didn't make it til almost 8am. They were very nice and understanding since a lot of their coworkers were late as well due to the traffic. We got to the back and Angela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2892248018737593097.post-3998781689726823072011-10-07T16:46:00.000-07:002011-10-07T16:46:05.464-07:00Almost here.We are less than 2 weeks away from Ella's surgery. I am starting to get a little anxious and nervous. I know she will be alright. A lot has happened in our family in the last month so that is why I haven't been on here. Ella has been doing great. She has learned more signs and I am so proud of her. I am taking an ASL class at the local college here and had to go to a Deaf Pizza Night last night. Angela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2892248018737593097.post-49116114752274881592011-08-23T23:48:00.000-07:002011-08-23T23:48:48.684-07:00A Date!!I am so happy to say that today we got a call from UCLA and we have scheduled Ella's surgery for October 19th!! I am so happy. Now I feel like I can relax a bit until it's time. I have been waiting for this to come for a while and now it feels even more real. I am not nervous yet, but I am sure I will be when the day gets closer.Angela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2892248018737593097.post-15383454075743674572011-08-22T12:27:00.003-07:002011-08-22T12:44:22.602-07:00So close we can almost taste itSo Friday we got a letter from United Healthcare saying that they had approved everything and it's all covered for Ella's bilateral cochlear implants. As soon as we read it we called UCLA to see if they had gotten the letter too. They hadn't but the lady said that she would call them and get it within the hour. We tried to schedule the surgery then, but the lady that schedules was on vacation andAngela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2892248018737593097.post-10156988901904262592011-07-28T10:35:00.000-07:002011-07-28T10:35:53.098-07:00It's a waiting gameAnd the waiting game continues. Yesterday Ella had an audiology appointment at UCLA. We did aided hearing tests for each individual ear and another tympanogram. The Audiologist wanted to get this test before she officially talked to the implant team so that she could go in there confident about asking for simultaneous bilateral implants. As far as she can see if Ella has any residual hearing, Angela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2892248018737593097.post-86685830357985776632011-06-30T15:33:00.000-07:002011-06-30T15:33:41.839-07:00SigningI have been working with Ella for a while now on some simple signs. I think she is really starting to get it. Every time she signs it amazes me. I am hoping to get into a sign language class at our community college but I will have to crash it. I am hoping if I get there early and speak to the teacher about my situation, she will help me out. I will leave you with some videos of Ella's signing.
Angela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2892248018737593097.post-34573741872155989252011-06-16T09:12:00.000-07:002011-06-27T15:58:37.231-07:00Good News!As you can tell by the title, we received good news yesterday. I talked to our Audiologist and she said that we are going to start the process for bilateral implantation for Ella. We don't have a date yet because the insurance has to approve it before we get that. So now we are getting all the necessary stuff together to submit to the insurance company. I am not worried about them approving her Angela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2892248018737593097.post-56041633750984305132011-06-13T14:41:00.000-07:002011-06-16T09:04:17.760-07:00The last MonthA lot has happened in the last month. We did get a loaner pair of hearing aids from JTC. They aren't as great as the ones we have. They are older and don't have the feedback management like the others. But they are fine and strong enough for her. We also got more molds made so that is helping out with the feedback. We talked to our AVT at JTC and her and the Audiologist there are going to Angela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2892248018737593097.post-23622462088172465422011-05-11T10:25:00.000-07:002011-05-11T12:28:13.453-07:00Almost there? ..maybe not.Well we are almost done with the hearing aid phase of the CI (cochlear implant) process. Maybe. We saw the ENT yesterday and he said that the CT scan looked great and as far as he is concerned she is ready to have the surgery. The thing that is holding us up is the hearing aid tests. We don't have enough right now to show that the hearing aids aren't helping enough. I don't know that their is a Angela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2892248018737593097.post-71073578752568401662011-04-18T09:06:00.000-07:002011-04-18T09:06:00.180-07:00The Sound of LaughterI love the sound of a child's laugh. Especially the sound of my own children laughing. Because Ella is different/special, I haven't been able to hear her laugh that often and when I do, it's magical. I wanted to share it with you so that maybe you will get some joy out of it too.
<p><p></Angela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2892248018737593097.post-49792798923546683382011-04-07T16:54:00.000-07:002011-04-08T23:57:48.145-07:00Our Life NowThings have been hectic lately. Life has changed for us and I am not sure that I like it, but that's the way it has to be. I feel like I am constantly going and there's no time to sit. There are so many appointments to get to, not only with Ella but now with Shaun. Ella has her Demo Home on Fridays and her audiology appointments on Wednesdays or Fridays. So at the very least we are going to LA Angela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2892248018737593097.post-65112222487037837032011-03-19T22:16:00.001-07:002011-03-19T22:16:40.471-07:00Sorry I haven't been on here. There has been a lot going on around here lately. Ella's First Birthday, my parents coming into town, my friend Ang coming here as well. Then it was Dakota's spring break from school. Next week we are going to take everyone to Disneyland and then up north to Lompoc, then San Francisco.Will be busy but hopefully before we leave I can get some pictures up of Ella's Angela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2892248018737593097.post-54099951361455434512011-03-03T09:25:00.000-08:002011-03-05T14:56:24.789-08:00A little girl and her hearing aidsFriday started out pretty early. Since our first appointment was at 8:00am at UCLA we had to get up and out of the house by 5:30am. We wanted to avoid the traffic. We got to the appointment and Dr. Kim started fitting Ella's hearing aids for her. Then next was the programming(?). The appointment lasted longer than we expected, but it was worth it. We don't know yet if she can hearing anything. Angela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2892248018737593097.post-86782010271756288162011-02-24T12:55:00.000-08:002011-02-24T12:55:19.751-08:00The Journey BeginsThis is the story of a precious little girl named Ella. She was born on March 16, 2010. The delivery was normal and so was the recovery. What was not was her newborn hearing screening. She failed. I wasn't too worried because the screener didn't sound worried. She said we would have to come back to the hospital in a couple of days to have another test. We went back and the tympanogram was flat (Angela K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12271896066575746408noreply@blogger.com2