Well, we might as well…..

The amount of time we have spent in St. George’s Hospital over the past couple of months does make me wonder whether we would be better just taking up permanent residence. Three weeks ago Alice was in to have her second cochlear implant replaced. Sadly, annoyingly and frustratingly she had received one of the now ‘oh so famous’ dodgy batch of Cochlear N5 implants which was doomed to failure from the point it left the production line. Something to do with moisture permeating the hermetic seal and shorting the device. God bless her, Alice still persevered with it as it intermittently worked, but eventually gave up as it was driving her mad.

Textbook surgery. 2.5 hours in and out and another full insertion of all the electrodes and home the next day.  Thank you, yet again, Dr. David.

Mrs. Bump III:

And tomorrow at 1300 Alice will be switched on again. For the third time. Less dramatic, no doubt, than the first two times, but rest-assured our hearts will still skip the same beat when we see her give us the thumbs-up and we know it has all been worth it. For anyone considering a second implant, whilst Alice has survived remarkably well these two and a half months since the implant first failed, I cannot tell you how much we long to have her with two ears again. She hears so much better and I can’t wait to not have to repeat myself so much….bless her.

This would all be straightforward and enough for one day if it weren’t for the fact that our dear little Ollie will also be bilaterally implanted tomorrow. At 0900 he will go into theatre, all one-year-and-20-days-old of him. He shouldn’t have to face this; he doesn’t have to face this. This is a choice we have made for him and one we stand by, but it is a choice we have made for him nonetheless. Alice is proof enough of how right we were to have her implanted. She is a joy, a wonder, our Angel. Ollie won’t know what is going on. he will just be wondering why he can’t have his breakfast and why he wakes up at 1500 tomorrow afternoon all bandaged up. Poor Mr. Bump. So while Ollie is in theatre, we will be downstairs watching Alice being returned to the world of bilateral hearing. There’s something poetic about it really.

Do spare a prayer and a thought for the little man tomorrow. He really is such a joy and we love him so. I really can’t tell you how much I long to hear his voice; to see him turn to me calling him and to hear the words that accompany his joy and frustration. Be careful what you wish for though; Alice never shuts up these days and does a nice line in bossing us all around.

How we long to be bossed around by little Ollie. we’ll keep you posted.

Our beautiful little man: