Infected Magnet Site?

The steri-strips are starting to come off and I noticed Lily's left ear magnet site is still looking pretty red. It looks like it could possibly be infected at the end of the incision. Maybe this is normal. . . I don't really know what to expect. Her left ear magnet site is more red than her right side. Any experienced CI mommies see this on your kids? I emailed the doctor to see what he thinks. We appreciate your prayers.

Right Side


Left Side


Left Side Close Up

Feeling Better

Just a quick post to update on Lily. She is feeling much better. No more dizziness or vomiting. Thanks for your prayers. I went back to school today, so I've been pretty busy. Lily's activation day is in one week! My baby girl will hear her first sounds in seven days. . . so exciting! I want to post some more pictures of the magnets under her skin and her incisions. I'll post again soon.

Head Bandage Off

Surprisingly, Lily left her head bandage on for 3 days. So today we took the bandage off. She sat so still while I was unwrapping the gauze. It probably felt good to get that big heavy bandage off. As soon as it was all the way off, she started grabbing at her ears so we had to put the pilot cap back on. You can see the bump under her skin where the magnets are. I don't think it's too bad, but Dr. Kang said it is still swollen. Once the swelling goes down, he said the bumps will be more noticeable.

Lily still isn't quite back to herself yet. She is fine during the day, but in the evenings she gets dizzy and sick. The past 2 nights her eyes move back and forth quickly (like she is dizzy) when I lay her down to change her diaper. Then shortly afterward she vomits. Her balance is also much worse than before surgery. When she is sitting and she turns to look at me, she looses her balance and falls over. She is also much more unsteady when crawling and pulling up to stand than before surgery. We took her back to the doctor today to make sure there are no complications. Dr. Kang is a little concerned about the dizzy eye movement. He told us to just watch her to see if it keeps happening. We have another appointment with him next Thursday. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

First bath after surgery


Taking the bandage off

Unwrapping the gauze


The bandage is finally off! Look how tight it was on there.

One of the incisions (still covered with a steri-strip). Can you see the magnet under her skin?

The pilot cap is back on

Surgery. . . Success!

Lily's surgery went very well yesterday despite my nerves. I started getting a nervous stomach Monday night and it lasted all day yesterday. It was hard to watch my baby cry and hit my chest because she was hungry and not be able to feed her. She didn't understand. Watching the surgery assistant wheel my baby away from me into the OR was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. That's when the tears really came. Once surgery got started I did pretty well. We had friends and family waiting with us. They really helped distract me from thinking of Lily in surgery all day. We played cards and talked and before I knew it, the audiologist came out to tell us that one ear was done and that all 22 electrodes were working! Yay! A little over an hour later she came back out to tell us the second ear was done and all 22 electrodes were working! It was a 4 hour surgery, but it really seemed to go fast with all the distractions we had around us. I'm so glad they were there; otherwise I would've worried and had an upset stomach for 4 hours. Dr. Kang told us we would see the outline of the magnets in her head because the bone of her skull is thin since she is a baby. We haven't seen it yet since the bandages are still on. If she leaves the bandages alone, we'll leave them on until Friday. I'll probably post more pictures then. There are also more pictures of surgery day here. Thanks to everyone who was thinking and praying for us.

Lily with her surgeron, Dr. Kang

Lily's daddy and I holding Lily's CI koalas while we waited for her to come out of surgery

Lily's IV

Just waking up after surgery

Getting ready to go home, 2 hours after sugery


Our family at home after surgery

Matching bracelets for the girls that waited for Lily to come out of sugery: Me, Lily (hers is on her ankle), my mom, my cousin Courntey, and my girlfriend Laura

Grandmommy getting Lily ready for bed

Morning after surgery, feeling better

Surgery Tomorrow

Lily's bilateral CI surgery is tomorrow. We have to be at the hospital at 8:00 a.m. and surgery is supposed to start at 10:00. I've been looking forward to this all summer and now, suddenly, I'm feeling scared and nervous. Yes, I want my baby to hear and I'm excited for that, but I wish she didn't have to have surgery. So say a prayer for Lily tonight. I'll post surgery pics as soon as I can. Also, Lily will NOT be able to hear tomorrow. The incisions behind her ears need to heal before she can wear the processors behind her ears. So she won't be able to hear for about 3 more weeks. Her activation day is scheduled for August 31.

Waterpark Fun

I've been taking Lily swimming at least once a week this summer so she'll get used to the water and, hopefully, not be afraid of it. This week was rainy and cloudy so Lily and I went to an indoor waterpark with Lily's Grandmommy Cindy and friends Jackie, Sam, and Sarah. It was the first time Lily got in a baby pool where she could crawl around in a few inches of water. She loved it! We'll probably try to go swimming a few more times before her surgery. . . just a few weeks away.

Crawling and Silka Wear Bonnets

Lily is finally crawling and now I can't keep her out of things! She's everywhere! As I'm writing, she crawled over to my stack of magazines and is now crumpling and tearing the pages of all of them. She has hundreds of toys and books, but she wants my magazines.

Today we got what I hope is to be our LAST pair of ear molds. Her surgery date is in about 3 weeks. I'm so very excited! We also know that activation day is August 31. That is the day I'm really looking forward to.

Lily is wearing a SilkaWear bonnet in these last pictures. They are kind of like the Hanna Andersson pilot caps I blogged about here, but much more expensive. The side panels are made of mesh to allow sound and air to circulate. Honestly, I think the Hanna Andersson caps are just as good. We decided to get the SilkaWear bonnet becasue of the elastic around the face. When Lily was scooting on her back all over the place, she would scoot the pilot cap off and then take the hearing aids out. It is a lot harder for her to scoot the SilkaWear bonnet off. Most of the time the elastic keeps the bonnet in place even when she is scooting around on her back.