Today we spent a long day at OHSU. We arrived at 7 am to have Ben sedated for a MRI and a CT. The nurses began by putting a cream on Ben's hand and feet to numb the skin over his entire body. After forty minutes, the cream worked and Ben was ready for his IV. He was dressed in a hospital gown, given a light sedation medication, hooked up to a blood pressure monitor, and given oxygen. Once he was fully sedated, the nurses wheeled him away for the scans. In an hour and a half a groggy little boy returned. He took a long time waking up and orienting himself.
We also met with Dr. McMenomey, OHSU's cochlear implant surgeon. He has preformed over 1,000 implant surgeries and averages around sixty each year on children. Dr.McMenomy feels very strongly that a child should be around a year old before getting an implant. After learning more about the surgery itself, we agreed.
The actual surgery takes 2 to 4 hours, a long time for babies to be sedated. It involves securing the receiver/stimulator under the skin and inside the skull, and then threading the wires containing the electrodes into the spirals of the cochlea. The internal portion of the implant includes a strong magnent for ataching the external portion.
To secure the receiver/stimulator, the surgeon first makes a small depression in the temporal bone (the skull bone that contains part of the ear canal, the middle ear, and the inner ear). Next, he opens up the mastoid bone behind the ear to allow access to the middle ear. Then, a small hole is drilled in the cochlea and the wires containing the electrodes are inserted. The implant is then secured and the incision is closed. Swelling is minimized by applying a pressure bandage. Babies usually need to stay over night, but adults can go home the same day.
Two to four weeks after surgery, the sound and speech processor is matched with the implant and is programmed and fine-tuned to meet the child's individual hearing needs (This is the portion of the implant you see on the outside of the head.).
After reviewing Ben's scans, Dr. McMenomy feels Ben is a perfect candidate for a cochlear implant! This means Ben could be implanted before Christmas and hearing before his first birthday. What great gifts!
2 comments:
To Ben's Mom, thank you for posting to Ben's blog. The information is so useful, I have shared it with many of my colleagues, and they are quite impressed. We check everyday for updates and pictures. Thank you! Aunt Joy and Uncle Don.
Dear Benjamin. You look very handsome with your new hearing aids. Your happy smile tells an even bigger story. We love your new laugh and the way you look for the source of sounds. Love, Grandma and Grandpa Harris
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