Monday, September 29, 2014, my son, N.S. had his final surgery for his (Baha) bone anchored hearing aid. YAY! In this surgery, he had the abutments (the piece that protrudes through the skin that the processor/hearing aid attaches to) placed. Once again surgery went well and we were home by noon. I had asked the surgeon when we would be able to attach the processors to the abutments and he said later the same day if he is not bothered by it. At around 3:30 pm that afternoon we attempted to attach the devices. We were able to without discomfort. When asked, N.S. said he could hear me clearly and liked it. He looked so different without the headband!
The next day, N.S. went to school and was going around showing everyone his “new hearing aids”. He was so proud. One of his previous teachers that ran into him that day stated that told her that he needed to make sure he was careful during P.E. class. Of course, later in the day I received a call from the school health room attendant that N.S.’s hearing aid had been knocked off when another little boy ran in to him. She stated there was a cut below the abutment that was bleeding, but they cleaned it up and were able to re-attach the hearing aid once N.S. calmed down. I picked N.S. up about an hour later from after school and attached to his sign out sheet were pieces of his hearing aid. Needless to say, I was not happy. We got home and I discovered that a piece was missing. I called the school and the small piece was later found. I picked it up and was able to re-attach all the pieces. I also contacted the surgeon and after he looked at a picture of the wound, he felt it was far enough away from the abutment site that we were fine. If we had done a one stage surgery (instead of the two we opted for-see previous blog) then he would have been worried.
N.S. has been very careful with his new devices and much more involved with their care; likely a function of getting older and more curious. We recently had company and both grandparents noted that N.S. was hearing so much better and of course commented on how different he looked.
It has been a long, bumpy road, but we made it! We are happy with the decisions we made and feel N.S. has been given the best opportunities possible for a successful future.
