Cochlear Implant Candidate

We received the news on April 14th, 2009 that Sienna is a Cochlear Implant candidate. We still have a few more tests to do to make it official. She needs a CT Scan, booked for May 30th and she needs to meet with a few more specialist before we can make our decision whether this is what we want for Sienna.

We are researching as much as we can, to find out about the risks, the pros and the cons. It is not easy when this life-altering decision for our girl is placed in our hands. All I have to say is thank goodness for the Internet. I have found all sorts of information through websites, forums and blogs. I would like to thank all of you out there for sharing your stories, your trials and tribulations in regards to your child's hearing loss and cochlear implant. You have helped us out enormously, being from a small town, it is sure comforting to know that we are not alone in this process and that there is hope for our little girl to hear one day.

Sienna's history

It has been a long haul for the StJean family. Born August 28th, 2007, a month premature, Sienna spent 2.5 weeks in the NICU. In the following weeks, she passed the newborn hearing sreening test. Up until 6 months old, we had no concerns. Then we noticed weak muscle tone and she fell off her growing chart, born in the 10-25 percentile she descended into below the 3rd percentile. We soon began seeing an early childhood interventionist.

From June 2008 until December 2008, Sienna was under investigation, why are these things happening to our little girl? In the summer of 2008, we started noticing her hearing loss. The first wakeup moment was when I returned from grocery shopping, I called her name and she did not respond. She is a mommy's girl, I knew if she had heard my voice, she would have turned without hesitation. By the time we were referred to an audiologist, an ENT, a test was done, an ABR was done... we finally were told on December 19th, 2008, the life-altering news, our little girl is deaf in both ears. Thankfully, impressions were taken on that following Monday. She was fitted with pink hearing aids on January 14th, 2009 when she began to hear.

The Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital in Edmonton Alberta has played an instrumental part in taking care of our family. We began our visits in December 2008, over the Christmas holidays, someone from the hospital called us everyday, to see how we were doing. After extensive report analyzing, our Pediatrician at the Glenrose suspected Congenital Cytomegalovirus as the culprit for Sienna's health concerns. Just last week I received a call, they did a never before done, high-tech procedure, they checked her newborn blood spot for CMV. It came back positive. It's a relief to know that we finally have found the reason however CMV is a very complicated virus. If you would like more information about the virus, please click on the link to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

Our journey has just begun. At 19 months, we know why, now we need to focus on having our little girl walk and of course having her hear with her two little ears she was born with.