Elijah's Story

The Cochlear Implant

The surgery was scheduled for two weeks later on September 26th. I spent the next two weeks getting everything prepared for me to be out for three and a half days. The two weeks flew by and it was now time for surgery. We had no real way to prepare a 17 month old for surgery. We arrived at the hospital around 6:15 that morning. Jacob had stayed with my mom the night before and she would be taking him to school. David’s mom went with us to the hospital.

We spent about an hour and a half keeping Elijah entertained back in the recovery area before the surgery. He had a breathing treatment about an hour before surgery also. He got his medicine to relax him and the nurse soon came and took him away. He didn’t even cry. My mom soon arrived as did my dad(they are divorced) and David’s sister came down also. They told us the surgery would be about two hours. (If you'd like to see pictures of the actual surgery they can be seen by clicking here, but they are NOT for the faint of heart. These are actual surgery pictures!)

Around 9:45 they called us back to the recovery area. David and I waited for about 30 minutes. The nurse came out and asked if I would come back where they had Elijah, he would not calm down. I went back to see my little guy. They were giving him oxygen because his pulse ox had dropped. He was very upset also. They brought me a rocking chair and I got to hold him. After a few shots of morphine and some Tylenol with codeine he soon calmed down. It took about 30 minutes though. How do you calm a child who is profoundly deaf and whose eyes are closed? It wasn’t easy. It took a while for him to realize it was momma holding him.

We quickly moved him out to where his daddy was waiting. He was very thirsty. He slept some and we continued to do a blow by with oxygen. The ENT had told us he might be admitted and with this oxygen issue it was decided that yes, he would admit Elijah for the night. We didn’t get a room until 3:30 that afternoon. Everyone got to come back and see him while we waited. My mom soon left to go and pick up Jacob.

We were soon upstairs and getting settled in. David and his mom stayed for a little while, but soon left to go and meet my mom and Jacob. My mom brought me dinner down later that evening. Elijah did well, but only wanted his bottles. He threw up one time that afternoon before his daddy left. Thank goodness I had brought a few extra clothes for me!

By 6:15 that afternoon Elijah didn’t need the oxygen anymore. My mom and I got some cute pictures of him. He knocked his bandage off a few times and was a bit cranky but who could blame him. I got about three hours sleep that night. Elijah made it through the night with no oxygen, which was great.

The ENT came through very early that morning and said he would leave Elijah’s discharge paperwork. He did want Elijah’s pulmonologist to check him out before we left. It was a long morning, but after the pulmonologist checked him out we were allowed to go home. Elijah’s post-op visit would be in five days.

I stayed home with Elijah for four days after surgery. He did very well and was up and running. It took a little over a week for his appetite for solids to come back. He took a lot of bottles though. He started throwing up the toddler formula I had him on so I put him on regular milk and he did much better. His post op visit went very well and we scheduled his hook up date for Wednesday, October 24th.

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