The Reedy Family Documentary: Scheduled: 9-Month CIs!

To say that this was a pretty stressful week for mom and dad would be an understatement. On Wednesday, Ryan had her MRI and CT scan. This is done to determine her candidacy for Cochlear Implants (CIs). Basically, for her to be a candidate, besides the diagnosis of profound hearing loss, she has to have a 'normal' MRI and CT scan, which at a minimum displays that Ryan has normal inner ear structures. And, drumroll..... Ryan is a perfectly healthy baby girl. Her MRI and CT scan were both normal, showing nothing but a normal baby brain and structures. Thank God.

The CI Date

Upon consultation with our surgeon on Friday for review of her MRI/CT scan, he told us that Ryan will have cochlear implants on May 6th!!! Yay!! 9 months is definitely young, but it is so great that she will have both ears completed at once and that she will be able to hear us by the time she is 10 months after her ears have had time to recover. We still have several milestones to complete before then (i.e. genetics), but assuming all is good, we have a date to look forward to. Just to note, most surgeries are done at 12 months or later, but there is so much research supporting earlier implantation that Sean and I have been trying to be so proactive for an earlier surgery date. Although this is not fun to deal with, we know that we have to be 'crazy' parents to fight for what is best for our daughter.

The MRI

Although this sounds pretty straightforward-- to have a MRI-- but for babies and kids, let's just say it's a whole event of a day. Since she is a baby and has to lie perfectly still, she had to be sedated. Being sedated means that she had to have an IV. Most kids are lucky because they can have medicine that will take away the anxiety and pain of putting in an IV, but the anestiologist didn't feel comfortable giving Ryan this medicine due to her age, so Ryan had to deal with the nurse poking her twice to get a strong enough vein. And let me just tell you, that was no easy feat to watch as a parent. Our baby screamed in pain during this whole event, and it was horrible to watch -- she was so scared. Once that was completed, we had to wait. and wait. and wait. for the MRI scanning machine to be open. Of course, they tell you not to feed your baby for several hours before, so now we have a baby who is in pain because of the IV and who is now starving. (Well, maybe not starving, but she was hungry that's for sure). Finally, the machine was open, and at that point the anestiologist came back in to give her propofal to put her to sleep. Again, not fun to watch for a parent-- watching her go to sleep and be very still. At this point they send out the parents to wait.

So, we waited quite a while-- seemed like years. But, it was only hours, and we were allowed to come back in. Of course, Ryan was still asleep and pale as a ghost, but she woke up pretty quickly. Again, Thank God.

Getting weighed in Checked out by our nurse