A Cochlear Curveball

Well today was supposed to be activation of the left cochlear implant but we’ve got a bit of a curveball we are dealing with. June is safe and happy but we have spent the last 6 days back at Boston Children’s as she had to have a hematoma removed from close to the implant site. June’s weird blood actin’ up again!

On Saturday she went back to the OR to have the hematoma removed. They went in the same incision site and removed it. Luckily it was not on the cochlear implant so the implant should still work ok. The hematoma formed just under her skin just above her ear which is a better scenario than on or close to the implant. They put a drain in to make sure any excess blood has a way of getting out of there. The drain was in for 3 days and removed yesterday.

Now back to recovery mode and once the swelling and tenderness is down we’ll try for activation. Tentative date is August 27th. In terms of the right ear, we may have to wait awhile till we go ahead with that one. Poor girl has been through quite a bit and we need to get back on the eating/getting strong train instead of putting her through another surgery. We also need a solid plan from the hematology team before/if we proceed to the next ear. We already knew this but are reminded how tough and special this little girl is! She is not like every other case but instead directs her own path. We have to observe and follow her lead at times! Some things we’ve learned in the last hospital stay… statues scare the crap out of June and she is totally grasping sign language and did her first real expressive sign (signed “baby” when reading a favorite book)!

We are getting discharged today! Until next time BCH…