Reprogramming George's cochlear implants

It’s been a little while since I last posted—life has been pretty hectic lately! Back in September, I shared that George had been resisting wearing his cochlear implants. To help, our audiology set us up with a quieter program to try out for two weeks. The results were immediate; George was much more willing to wear his implants, and instead of the usual struggle, he even started putting them on by himself!

We went back for a hearing test while using the quieter program, and it showed that George’s hearing was in the ideal range. It turned out his previous program had been too loud, which was making him uncomfortable.

Things were going really well until our annual festive holiday at Center Parcs. On the first night, George woke up crying in pain. It was completely out of the ordinary for him, so we immediately knew something wasn’t right. Trusting my mother’s instinct, I decided to take him to our local ENT to get his ears checked. We made the 1.5-hour drive to the hospital, and sure enough, he had an ear infection! There was some talk about staying overnight for antibiotics, but fortunately, we were able to avoid that and returned to our holiday (without swimming, of course) while George was on oral antibiotics. We followed up with ENT a week later, and the infection was clearing up nicely.

However, during this time, George had stopped wearing his cochlear implants. As a result, we had to go through the process of trying out new programs again. This time, though, the audiologist could see how uncomfortable George was, so they gave us a variety of programs to work through at our own pace. They also suggested that the quieter program was likely far off from the ideal range, so we may see less reaction from George.

Now, fast forward to February 2025. We’re still not back to where we were with his previous program. I’ve been working through his programs more slowly this time, ensuring that he’s fully comfortable with each one. The current program has been a bit of a challenge; we've attempted it 3 times, but George has refused to wear his cochlear implants each time. After a lot of patience, Smarties, and cuddles, he’s finally settled on this one!

Audiology has scheduled another hearing test to check if he’s within the ideal range for this program, as it’s the second-to-last one before the program from his last hearing test. Hopefully, we can finally settle into this program without any more setbacks!

When George was first assessed for cochlear implants, I remember reading that the journey wouldn’t be a simple one, that it would take a lot of hard work and be full of ups and downs. Well, the past 6 months have definitely lived up to that description! George started talking and was making great progress, but with all these bumps along the way, it’s certainly been a rollercoaster that’s kept us on our toes!