Surgery day!

August 24th 2009..After months of preparation and home quarantine to make sure that she didnt get sick,the day finally arrived.Rhianna was admitted the day before surgery as it is the procedure here in our country.Blood was taken and tests were performed and early the next day she was off to the operation theater.They were going to operate her left ear and she would become unilateral CI user.(why not bilateral?At the moment,bilateral surgery is not available yet here and there's also a whole issue of funding to discuss).

Only god (and other mothers who ever had a child going through surgery) knows how I felt that entire 2 hours of waiting.I was praying and pacing the floor until I saw her being wheeled to the recovery bay.Then I knew that she was going to be fine.
For other parents who are waiting for CI surgery on their children,let me tell you this..It's an undeniably heartbreaking and gut wrenching experience.However,the surgery is actually safe and quite fast in the hands of good surgeons. Knowing that you are trying to provide your child with an opportunity to develop verbal language,a chance to be mainstreamed in school and also a shot at having normal childhood would make every agonizing moment worth it.

So, an hour after surgery,Rhianna woke up sleepy and grumpy but she didnt seem to be in pain.She pretty much rested the whole day but that night she got up and with her funny bandaged head started walking and exploring the hospital.I guess the whole day of resting had reenergised her and to be confined in bed??You've got to be kidding me.So our little toddler toddled around all night much to the amusement of the nurses.

The next day,little miss grump wiggled and struggled and took off her own bandage( that was bugging her).The doctors said that it was fine but later that day she develop hematoma.Probably the result of not keeping the bandage tightly long enough.So the poor surgeon came back and suffered little miss grump's screams and kicks and rebandaged her head ( my hat off to the surgeon for his patience).

So parents,keep the bandage tight and long enough for any swelling to reduce.Bandaging a child's head when she's awake,kicking and screaming is not an easy business.

Anyway,everything else went well and we went back the next day.


An hour after surgery


Early the next day

Rhianna's CI story

This blog is created with the hope of providing some sort of knowledge for other parents who are facing similar situations like ours.When we first found out about our daughter's hearing loss,we were lucky to receive a lot of support from a lot of organizations and professionals.But when we searched the internet,we could'nt find any information from other parents in Malaysia.There are tons of blogs from other countries which are very helpful but they do not address some of the issues that we have regarding CI in Malaysia.
so we'll do our best to document our journey with our little girl in hope that our story could help other children out there.For other parents,please feel free to share your own experiences.We appreciate any kind of feedback as we are still new and still learning to use this miraculous (but damn expensive!) piece of equipment.