Savanah's Story: December 2009

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Growing up. . .

This picture was taken yesterday at Savanah's Christmas program at USD. I have to say that all of these kids in her class, take that back, the entire school, feel like some of my children. I have rooted for them, seen their progress, watched as themselves and families made it over impossible looking obstacles. I have talked and really connected with their parents and have made friends that I know I will have my entire life.

There is definitely a strong connection between families with deaf children. I cannot explain it. I can't put my finger on it, but these kids. . . Hunter - Jacob, Leah, Ellie, Savanah, Tyson and Justin have become my "kids" too! And they are all doing so wonderful, I am so very proud of them. We could not have asked for a better teacher either, Becky is our hero and she is absolutely wonderful!

Monday, December 14, 2009

This little gal has her first loose tooth. . .

and she could not be more excited for the Tooth Fairy to come!

Carefully placed under a pillow of white
Lay one little tooth as she turned out the light
Her eyes closed in slumber, a smile upon her face
Covered up to her chin with a quilt her momma made

Quietly hovering above her sweet head
A room full of fairies looked down on her bed
Little gold bags were carried by some
While others had wands that glowed like the sun

Each one had a job to fulfill in the night
Some brought coins and others brought light
Together they worked as they flitted about
Replacing the tooth with some coins to be found

Their job was complete as she let out a sigh
Then they floated to the ceiling way up high
Out of the window and into the night
The tooth fairies flew leaving behind such delight.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Feelin' a little lost. . .

Savanah has started a new reading program through her mainstream school today. There are a series of beginning reader books that she has to learn to read and have me intial them.

Apparently this program is said to be very good. They have seen tremendous success with this, and I am a PTA volunteer for this program also, helping organize the books and hand them out every week. I can definitely do that part!

But I am feeling extremely lost on how to teach my deaf child to read. She is understanding all of the letters in the alphabet and for the most part, she can tell me all of the sounds they make. I don't remember my parents teaching me how to read, but I also could hear.

Anyone out in this great big world, with a deaf child or not, have any suggestions for me and my Savanah? I want her to succeed in this world and READING plays a big part in that.

CMV, Hearing loss and Cochlear Implants

Some of you who have read our family blog are already familiar with Savanah's story. But I decided to start an entirely different blog dedicated to Savanah's journey. Her triumphs, challenges and this wonderful adventure we are all on together. Savanah failed her newborn hearing screening when she was born. We were told that she had fluid still in her ears since she was two weeks early. I brought her back to be re-tested six weeks later, and she failed again. I was told she was deaf and I was completely devastated. We have no hearing loss in our family and so she was tested through a blood test for many different things that could have caused deafness. It took several weeks for the results to come back. I had this perfect little baby who might have something wrong with her. The test that we had to wait on was called the "TORCH" test. The letters in it stands for a few common viruses and illnesses that cause deafness and the "C" stands for cytomegalovirus. Most of us have had this virus which is in the herpes family, but when contracted during pregnancy if you have never had it before can cause deafness, blindness, seizures, brain calcifications and learning disabilities and even death. When her results came back positive with this virus, our entire summer with our brand new Savanah consisted of many different doctor appointments. Traveling to Primarys, the U, ENT's, audiologists etc. It was extrememly exhausting, particularly because there was so much unknown regarding cytomegalovirus. We learned from a neurologist at the U that she would continue to shed the virus through her urine until she was about six months old and that particuarly children who had never had the virus could become infected. We had to take many precautions to make sure that did not happen.

At the six month mark Savanah recieved a hearing aid in Sept. of 04 and after a year, we noticed she was making very little progress with her speech. I started looking into alternative answers to help her to hear. We were learning sign langage as a family but it was difficut for some members of our family to learn and Savanah really wasn't very interested in signing. I wanted people to be able to comunicate with Savanah and have relationships with her. We decided a cochlear implant would be awesome and allow her to hear like a normal individual when on. Savanah recieved the cochlear implant surgery on April 13, 2007. It was such a wonderful day, the start to something big.The surgery took about an hour and a half. She recovered beautifully. She was riding her bike later that day. The incision was rather long and very easy to take care of. She was just like any other 3 year old during the recovery until she could be activated. She was activated on May 20, 2007 and since then has been a hearing girl when it is on. I highly encourage everyone who reads this blog to research cochlear implants and learn more about them. I have added some links below. Savanah has attended school through Utah Schools for the Deaf for three years. She is now catching up to her appropriate age for language and is a thriving, healthy and happy eight-year old. We are so proud of her everyday! She is mainstreaming 100% in our neighborhood school. She is on grade-level with her third grade class and loves to learn! She is a wonderful reader and always gets PERFECT scores on her spelling.

She just recently received her second cochlear implant, she was implanted on January 9th, 2013 at the University of Utah by Dr. Shelton again. The surgery went smooth and recovered quickly. She was activated on January 20th, 2013 and has absolutely loved having a second implant. She now wears two BRAND NEW N5 processors from Cochlear.