Happy 2 Year Anniversary Activation Day to Sutton’s RIGHT Cochlear Implant!
Suttons’ CI surgeries were done in succession, with about 2 months in between, so we have opted to celebrate her activation day for her right CI as her “Hearing Birthday.” This is our second year celebrating, and we have made some traditions!! But before I share the traditions, I need to share the story behind our annual celebration.
On Sutton’s cochlear activation day, we were excited and nervous. We were anxious to get going with her hearing journey, and also scared of the reaction she might have to all the sound she would be hearing! A lot of people love watching videos where babies and people start to “hear” for the first time, and while they can be heartwarming, there are way more stories not filmed or posted where kids and adults have bad reactions, crying, screaming, tears, etc. Obviously, there is no way to predict how you will react, so for our situation, we were just hoping for the best!
Dave & I both took the morning off work on Sutton’s activation day. Her initial turn on went really well, and there wasn’t an “amazing” reaction or response. Overall, it was just really exciting for us to see the cochlear implant and processor working to give her access to so much sound!! We left the appointment feeling confident and proud.
If I remember correctly, I went back to teaching that afternoon (I was saving all my days for her next surgery, and had used most for her first!), and Dave worked from home, keeping Sutton with him to monitor her reactions. That afternoon, Dave was texting me, telling me Sutton was yelling, ripping the CI off, wouldn’t keep it on, and that anytime the magnet touched she basically screamed. I left work as soon as I could and sped home. I called our DHH parent advocate, and asked her for advice. She suggested going back to our audiologist for them to “turn down” the volume, or reprogram. It was a lot for Sutton’s brain to take in all the sound. Dave immediately called our audiology team and they made time and space to adjust Sutton’s processors. We returned home feeling exhausted, wondering if we had made a mistake. Our DHH parent advocate also suggested we use skittles or m&m’s as a reward for Sutton keeping her processor on. So, every 5 minutes a timer went off and we cheered and gave her some candy. It was like Pavlov, or potty training.
There was no way either of us were cooking dinner, so we opted to go to the local Mexican restaurant, El Cancun (if you’re from Rock Hill, you know.) We were seated in the bar area, in a booth right across from the margarita blenders and bartenders. We ordered two plates of Arroz con Pollo aka ACP for the real ones. We were sitting there, talking, and Sutton leaned over in the booth and said to me “Mommy what’s the rrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr”. I looked at her, confused. I looked at Dave, and it immediately clicked for us. The bartender was making frozen margaritas with the blender. Sutton, wearing only her CI, HEARD and sound and discriminated it versus all the other sounds happening there in the crowded restaurant. Dave and I started crying, right then and there, in our booth at El Cancun.
It felt like our fears about making the wrong decision had all been erased thanks to some El Cancun Arroz con Pollo and some frozen margaritas. It was a special, and delicious night!!
So, to celebrate her hearing birthday, every year we plan to get Mexican and reminisce about our experience at El Cancun. Last year, we celebrated in Miami by going to a Mexican place near our house. It wasn’t EXACTLY like El Cancun, and they didn’t have ACP on the menu, but we did our best. This year, we opted to stay home, and made our OWN version of ACP thanks to some recipe suggestions from a dear friend- and I think we found our new anniversary routine! It was perfect. We sang “Happy Birthday” to Sutton’s CI, and re-watched our short movie about her hearing loss, and some friends came and brought us delicious cookies just like a birthday party.
We are endlessly thankful for Sutton’s Cochlear implants, and for the success story she has with using them!!
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