Ensign-isms

An ensignism is a story about Taylor, Alisa, Cassidy, Mckay, and Kelsey Ensign. These stories may be elaborate or mundane, but with the combined personalities of our little family, they are sure to be entertaining.

17 April 2012

Kelsey Update

Warning: This is a long post filled with pictures of our beautiful Kelsey.

 In our efforts to continue to learn all we can about Kelsey's hearing loss and options available to us, we met with a consultant at Primary Children's Hospital in Riverton. There we learned more about cochlear implants, were shown some examples, and given material on the various companies that manufacture the implants.
The picture above shows the portion of the technology to be implanted in the skull with an additional wire being looped into the cochlea to assist in sending signals to the brain.
The picture above shows the battery pack, as well as the external device that would function as the receiver and transmit the signal to the embedded technology.

***

A week later we returned with Kelsey to complete another series of sound booth tests. The results of this test would be sent to the Surgeon who would perform the implant surgery.
The first booth test consisted of Kelsey wearing a special set of headphones. They proceeded to conduct the test all the way up to 120 decibels and did not receive a response.
The second sound booth test was performed with Kelsey wearing her hearing aids. The speakers in the booth are only able to reach a volume of 110 decibels, and not surprisingly, Kelsey did not respond to the sound. Thankfully Alisa was wearing ear plugs while in the booth with Kelsey.

The results of this test confirmed that Kelsey's hearing loss is so profound, that we no longer need to bother with Hearing Aids. 

***

In the midst of all this testing we were able to attend an International Deaf Studies Conference held every-other year at Utah Valley University. Over the course of the three-day conference, Alisa was able to attend the first day, Alisa and I were able to attend the second day, and the entire Family was invited to attend a special "Families with Deaf Children" workshop the third day.
Deaf Education Panel
 Family workshop discussing story time with Deaf children and siblings.

Outside the Conference

***

The next step in our education of Kelsey's hearing loss was to have an MRI performed at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. The MRI was needed to determine if the anatomy in Kelsey's ear, including the nerve sending the signal to the brain were in-tact. Our appointment began at 7 a.m.
 Waiting to begin her MRI process.


 I love her face as she looks at the nurse who was checking her heart and lungs.
Kelsey is....what I would kindly say....well fed. Due to her..."healthy" nature it was difficult for the nurse to find a suitable vein in which to proceed with her IV. I guess trying to give an IV to a chubby baby isn't new however, as they have a special light that can be used to assist in the vein location process.
A vein was found and the process of her IV began. She did not appreciate being held down, or having her hand pricked with a needle.


 After the IV was in, they gave Kelsey a "fluid boost" to ensure safety with her blood pressure as they proceeded.

Finally the time came for the "knock-out" medicine and the MRI to take place. We were not able to watch the process after she was finally stabilized on the machine.



After the 35 minute MRI we were able to go and be with Kelsey in the recovery room. When babies are sedated they like to let them sleep for awhile instead of trying to force them to wake up. We waited for a couple of hours with her until she was ready to wake up.



She handled the anesthesia very well and was able to wake up and finally eat.

***

In an effort to make good use of our time in Salt Lake City, we scheduled an appointment with the cochlear implant surgeon the same day as the MRI. We visited with the doctor and his associates at University Hospital, who took turns checking her MRI results, and directly into her ears. Because all of her anesthesia medicine had not worn off, she was a cooperative patient.  


The MRI results showed everything was normal and all of the anatomy in her ear was properly formed and accounted for. She is officially a candidate for Cochlear Implants.

 Now the pressure is finally on us as parents to decide what is the right course of action for our daughter. We have talked for months that it was useless to decide whether or not to implant her until we knew if she was a candidate or not. Now that we know we are truly feeling the pressure of ensuring we make the right decision for her.

Typically implants are performed when a child is 12 months old. As Kelsey has recently turned 7 months old, we still have some time to decide, however, we ultimately know that whether she is implanted or not, our Kelsey is Deaf, and will forever be Deaf. We do not believe that an implant would serve as a cure, but rather could function as a tool to assist her with sound, and potentially could assist in her ability to learn to speak.

We love our little Kelsey!

We wish to thank all of our family and friends who have continued to extend their love and support towards us and offer words of encouragement. Thank you also to those who have watched our older kids as we have spent time at appointments with Kelsey. As always, as we continue on this journey we will make updates here.

7 comments:

Joy and Ted said...

Kelsey is one lucky lady to have such dedicated loving parents! Thanks for the update...and she is SO adorable!!

Grant and Jill said...

We love you guys so much and LOVE the pictures. I particularly like the part of the post which mentions how finding a vein can be tricky. Such a cutie with amazing parents and siblings. Best of luck as you continue with the decision process. We love Kelsey!

Ashlee said...

You guys are awesome...and Kelsey is so sweet. I can only imagine how hard it is for her to go through all the testing and she is such a little trooper. I love you guys and hope you find direction and confidence as you make the decisions ahead. I wish I could be there to help...but know that I love you and am thinking of you always.

Christian and Jennifer said...

What a wonderful family you are and how sweet and beautiful that little Kelsey is. Hugs to you all! Thanks for the update. I saw the link to your blog on facebook. So glad I looked today!

{tanner. michelle. owen} said...

What a cute "well fed" baby Kelsey is:)! We are praying for you and your cute family as you are making some tough decisions. No one will know better than you two what Kelsey needs. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help. As for now, we can't say enough good things about who her surgeon would be:). Love you!

Jill said...

Kelsey is such a cute cute girl! And what a blessing to have come to your family! I'm impressed with how much you are both doing to proactively give your deaf daughter the best jumpstart to life in a hearing world. We have recently found out that Calvin has at least partial permeant hearing loss in his right ear. We too have some scary decision regarding some possible/necessary surgeries in the near future to make that will help him breath and maybe hear better, but have other negative side effects. We're thinking of you! And I'm grateful to you both for being an inspiration and strength to me as I see you move forward with faith! Much love!

maryirene said...

i love love love how much information you are giving all of us. thank you! it's such an amazing story to follow. i do wish you both the best as you now decide about how to proceed. with the little knowledge i have of deaf culture, i understand a tiny bit about what pressure you might be facing, on both ends. sure love you. i know you guys will make a good decision. we support you.