Success!

The sweetest words we could hear! Dr Clary came in around 4:45 to tell us that they were done, and Abby was in recovery. He said everything went exactly as he had hoped and the implant was successful. One of my biggest concerns going into this was the fact that Abby's cochlea's are not formed properly. This is not the reason for her hearing loss, but a factor to consider in placing the implant. He was not sure the electrodes would 'slide' in as best as possible. However, he was very pleased with the placement of the electrodes, and was able to confirm in an X-Ray that it is positioned very well into the cochlea. The audiologist who was in surgery also did some initial testing of the device and everything is working as expected.

Abby will not get her implant 'turned on' until July 9 & 10. They call this the initial stimulus. They wait until 3 weeks after surgery to allow her time to heal. When they turn on the implant they start out very conservatively, but it can be extremely scary for some kids. Probably another reason they wait a few weeks. The surgery is enough trauma for now!

So, Abby is now out of recovery and is in a really cool pediatric room. They just opened this wing of the pediatric unit last week so everything is brand spankin' new. There is a nice couch and recliner for Seth and I to spend the night in. Abby is not very happy yet (as you can expect). She has been sipping on the same Sprite since she was in recovery around 5pm and she's still not done with it. She seems to be in a little pain (hard to tell since she's so young) and she is getting Morphine thru her IV right now. Dr Clary will be back at 6am and plans to discharge us at that time. He expects here to be up and running tomorrow morning.

Above is a picture of Abby right after recovery and looking very ticked off. The red bandage is a compression bandage over the incision area. I'm sure she will use this one as blackmail on us later...to remind us of her ordeal : )