Parker is back home and is recovering well.
His first night post-op PJ woke up or was woken up several times. At a little before midnight the night nurse, Franck, came in to give him a breathing treatment and also re-did the bandage covering the iv in his right hand. I got a good look at the iv catheter which was not inserted into the back of the hand as I had supposed, but down the length of his thumb. Franck said that the iv was precious and Parker was trying to pull it off. At Franck's suggestion we put a sock on his left hand and wrapped it with surgical tape so that he spent the next day with two paws.
As promised, they took off the head bandage off in the morning. The scar is not big and is right behind the ear so will not be as noticeable. They left a little gauze on the wound and also wrapped his head in a hairnet that tied up on top leaving him looking more like a teletubbie than a bear.
Later in the afternoon we decided to look for the magnet that they put under the skin that will ultimately attach the antenna part of the implant to his head. With little trouble using the clasp from my blackberry case we were able to find it. The speech therapist warned us that sometimes PJ might be walking too close to a metal cabinet and his head gear will fly off and attach to it. He also now has a card that allows him to explain why the airport alarms will always go off.
The head x-ray showed that the implant was placed well and there seems to be no imminent problems.
Last night he slept well, from 9 until 5 without waking up. He got his last dose of antibiotics in the morning, the intern saw him, signed the release papers and we were home by noon. Trousseau has a different feel from Necker, more laid back and welcoming, but a hospital is a hospital and we are glad to be home with no future plans to go back.
One of the first days after we found out PJ was deaf Necker gave us a paperback book for parents of deaf children. Renee hid the book for the longest time; even when it was out it was face down. She finally picked it up and read it this last week.
Even if the cochlear implant is successful and PJ is able to hear and speak, we are still planning to learn some basic sign language in case there is a malfunction or in cases where he can't use the cochlear implant. Six weeks ago the 14 to 17 year-old youth in our regional church organization had a service project where they videoed themselves performing around 50 different signs (ASL-American Sign Language for those keeping track--not LSF which is the french sign language "Langue des Signes Francaise"). They gave us the video last Sunday and today we all watched it several times and practiced the signs we could remember. Even Axelle was engaged and can identify and sign "monkey","baby" and "ice cream".
We also introduced the girls to Ozzie, the koala bear, and his implants. They all wanted to try on the fake implant, velcroing it to their hair.
All in all we are still getting used to the idea, trying to take it lightly once in a while and making the changes we need to make the best way we know how. Each day we see more and more of the hidden world of suffering around us and have a rising feeling of gratitude for the challenges that are not ours.
