So I thought it might be good to go back and add a little more detail to the background behind Austin's cochlear implant surgery that is coming up.
Like it says up top, while Austin was in the NICU after he was born early, he failed his newborn hearing screening. The audiologist told us that that may have been because he was early, so we scheduled a follow-up screening a couple of weeks later. The second screening and additional more in-depth testing showed the same results, so we were referred to another audiologist at Primary Children's rehab in Bountiful. After additional testing there, it was determined that Austin has profound sensorineural hearing loss in both ears.
Since Austin was about a month and a half old, he has worn hearing aids to help stimulate his auditory nerve. It doesn't seem to help him hear much unless the noises are extremely loud, but he usually babbles more (especially in church) and seems happier when he has them in.
We have seen a myriad of doctors from ENT's to audiologists to genetics doctors to the surgeon that will do the implant surgery over the past 10 months. That doesn't count all of the therapists that we have come to our home from Early Intervention and the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind. At this point, between Logan and Austin, we see a doctor or therapist at least three days a week, quite often five days a week, and sometimes as many as two or three a day depending on how schedules work out. We are so very, very grateful for the help that we are able to receive though! Our boys are learing and growing and developing at a rate that is far ahead of where they could be.
So, somewhere in the process we had additional testing done and it was determined that Austin is a candidate for cochlear implants. The doctors and audiologists feel that he will have significant benefit from these devices. As parents, it was not an easy decision to make if we wanted to go ahead with cochlear implants, or if we wanted to learn sign language and forego the cochlear implants. There are some pretty strong feelings that are expressed both within the deaf community and outside of it as well about cochlear implants. We have tried to listen and make a decision that we felt was best, and to the extent possible, right for Austin first and foremost, and secondarily for our family.
So onward we go. We have chosen to provide cochlear implants for Austin. Along with the decision to do that, we have chosen to have both ears implanted (bilateral). In the next few weeks, we meet with more audiologists, continue on with our fundraising efforts, choose which brand of cochlear implants to go with, and have faith that this is all going to work out.
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