Trip to Italy

Finally home after a long week end in Italy.We went to Venice and Florance. It was wonderful to see the cities. What excited Prisha was there were no cars and roads in Venice and we just needed to go by boat everywhere. What fun! She did loved going to churches. We did light the candles and she did pray as usual asking God to bless her and to help her to hear and speak well. She did complain to Mother Mary about her boils in her ear and her eyes.She asked her to take them away. It did give a lump as to see how she desperately wants her other hearing aid.
We learnt about all the different kind of boats and saw ships , it was exciting for her. She took out her book and pencil and drew out the big ship.She was tired with all the walking but cooperated well. We sat on the steps near the water and talked about the things happening around.
She complained of ear ache at night on Sunday and when we peeped in , we got a shock as we saw a huge boil burst with a big hole at the end of the ear. In heart I knew it could not be the ear drum but the fear of the possibility kept me uneasy and upset the entire night.She was complaining of ear pain behind the ear too. The faith in homeopathy medicine started to dwindle again.We were quite happy as the homeopathic medicines for ear boils had really worked well this time after the long session with my doc.The next morning I could just run into the streets of Venice shouting with joy as the hole was actually a crust of the boil that had healed. It had fallen off and covered the eardrum.I am glad we bought the otoscope.She is better now. The left eye too had developed a stye but thanks to the homeo preparation , it has stopped where it started.I am glad I did not start anti biotic again. Homeopathy for boils has a more lasting effect.

Walk in the jungle

We went out to see the castle and it was really nice to see it. There was a thick green jungle around the castle in Kafenberg in Austria. As usual my son and husband complained about walking into it. But mom daughter duo did persist. Prisha was so over enthusiastic about getting into it. Well it was the best decission as the whole experience turned out to be not only refreashing but we did a lot of speech therapy there. A few weeks back Mrs. Hudlikar had talked about the jungle and so here we saw one and talked about it. We did focus on the tall trees , snails and the birds chirping. Great job done! Prisha is turning out to be a model in front of the camera. She had all the poses and asked me to click her in all possible postures. Loved it!Her boil is still troubling her but is healing now. Hope a new one does not crop up. I am cleaning up with spirit, drying it up 3 times a day with a hair dryer. She feels a lot of relief.I also uploaded the latest video of our speech therapy session. It is about picture description. These video clipping I got on my laptop are quite a blessing . Prisha is all day hung on these classes. She has learnt her way on the laptop { when I am still figuring it out with nervous fingers} and finds all the videos and sings along and also keeps repeating the conversations on her own.Quite a good speech therapy lesson as it is making her listen well to a different kind of sound and respond to it.Thank God for technology.

Youtube upload

latest video uploaded on youtube.making the most of the free time I am getting in Austria.Prisha is down with ear boil again and now has a huge stye in her right eye. Am stuck to the hotel room and the apartment as she is not too keen to explore the places.She is missing her routine back home.She is talking better , is very happy in super market but tells me not to get into any mall or places of interest. Am having a tough time with her continuous whining due to her aches and pain. I NEED A BREAK!!!

Nonstop chatter

So our journey to Austria is over but it was with a lot of endless chatter from Prisha.The moment our trip to Austria was confirmed, prisha had been super charged up.It meant a lot of spoiling and pampering by dad, loads of going out and lots of shopping. I was worried about the packing as the weather is so different for us. Its cold and we have to be so ready for all kinds of changes. While my son and I worried about what to take , Prisha was soon ready with her packing- her back pack and a handbag were loaded and kept on the sofa so that there is no delay and no forgetting when we leave. I peeped into the bags with a lot of anxious looks at me from Prisha. She was too worried that I might not take her precious stuff which was , a box of all kinds of colors [paints, crayons, pencils and sketch pens] , story books, stationary, papers of all kinds, balls and everything that she could find , found place in the bag. I could see her sneaking with things hidden in her hands and pushing into the bag. I knew if I opened it , there would be a war. So waited till she slept off, and when I picked up the bag it was HEAVY!! She is not interested in clothes and other things, but just her treasure is art work and stationary. I did sort things out and soon we compromised on a decent packing so that she has enough to occupy herself.Thank God!
There was a lot of talking all the way. We made every opportunity to converse on various phases of packing.She was so excited that she wanted to only do things in Austria including eating! She wanted eat her next meal in the plane, do her coloring there too. She was non stop on , on the airport.The singing which included the National anthem and her prayers kept people turning back and smiling. I smiled too as , nobody could understand that she was hearing impaired. She got a little finger puppet on the flight and sure, she made sure the little Tweety was entertained [ and so were our neighbours on the flight, as told to us at the end of the flight much to our amusement ] the entire night. The puppet and she talked while we did security check at Zurich diverting the attention of the officer, who I think got a bit of relief from the mundane job.She refused to be parted with it. She ate and enjoyed every bit of her journey. On the Zurich airport as we had to wait for 3 hours, we decided to do speech therapy along with creative work.She sat and drew the aeroplane she loved and a restaurant with some lovely lights fascinated her. So the artist sat and did her work.The confidence was to be seen as I let her explore the airport, while the mother in me peeped from the corner of the eye. On the way home Tweety became her cell phone and called up her grand parents and told them how she was missing them, the driver was amused too.She went to the familiar supermarket too near our home and quickly remembered all the things we did last year. I then realised the importance of language as she had captured all these moments in language and so it was easy to recall.We are now looking forward to more enriching moments in the next 6 weeks that we are here.

Live band

Yesterday we went out for dinner with friends.The atmosphere was just right, open air, cool breeze, good company and a live band playing the famous songs in Hindi.We were busy talking when Prisha called out to me- " mummy, listen, there is nice music". She closed her eyes and shook her head to it and gestured with her hand about how she was enjoying.I was so happy. As from the beginning we have been using a lot of singing , she has got used to enjoying it. She has now picked up the Indian National Anthem and sings it with a few mistakes of words here and there. Go Girl......

Speech needs attention

Last few days due to her spending a lot of time away from me, I noticed Prisha has regressed in her speech. Gosh , all the hard work of getting her there and then due to lack of spending time makes her go to her comfort zone and out comes her lower jaw and a bit of nasal voicing and there she has a bad voice. Funny thing is the moment I imitate her voice she quickly corrects herself.She is very comfortable with her grand parents, and as they follow her instructions, role plays, dramas, acts, the way she wants, she has no pressure on her and she immediately regresses. I need to focus on the echo stage a lot and do more speech practice.Her school timings are pathetic and so little time is left for her to other things. She met her older cousin and seeing her dance has made her do those "bharatnatyam" steps. I think I will put her in a class as she is quite ready to follow the instructions and learn dancing.
Last week there was a bomb scare in her school. I panicked. After the Mumbai attacks, life seems so uncertain.I rushed to school as I wondered what could be happening. The fear of the fact that in a crowded place how she would be able react, how she would hear in an emergency, would she be able to hear in chaos, etc, questions like these and more haunted me.I died a thousand deaths till I reached school. it turned out to be a hoax call.There was a lot of police and sniffer dogs but they found nothing.I hugged on to my daughter the moment I got her.She is too precious and the insecurity is high in my mind the moment my kids go to school now.
The latest fad with her in her favorite activity , drawing, is drawing hearts.She draws hearts of all sizes and colours and they look so good.She can play with colours of all kinds and as a reward for anything she needs is only things from the stationary shop. Her cupboard is overflowing. Last week we finally managed to clear out a lot. Thankfully she allowed me to throw out stuff.Normally she likes to keep even a fraction of crayon or paper hidden in her cupboard.
We visited the dentist as she developed a cavity.She is quite nervous when we visit any doctor.She was crying as she feared another cut. With a lot of difficulty we managed to fill up her cavity. The doctor was very patient and kept speaking to her with his mouth covered. He was amazed that Prisha did not lip read and was talking like other kids.he asked if I followed signs or lip reading and when I told him about AVT he was amazed. he visits a deaf school close by and had seen the kids struggle with life.I talked about what we do. As a reward for her getting the tooth job done ,for a change Prisha wanted to buy flowers. So she got red roses and zarbera.

Youtube upload

Just uploaded good information about the need of speech and language on youtube.Hope it helps to understand the need of speech.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ_5yLQnl4

The feedback from the skin specialist

The 6 long days of medication were over and it was now time to see the skin specialist as the surgeon suggested.He is a well known doctor and we reached the nursing home. The wait was quite agonising as Prisha was crying reliving her pain of the cut she had got last week. I kept trying to pep her up and she kept her tiny hand in my hand trying to negotiate the time the doctor would take.
Our turn came and I too had started to feel the fear that Prisha passed to me. Sitting there made me feel fearful of the pain one goes through of various hurts on the body. The doctor was pleasant and put us at ease.He looked at the boils and told us that it was a bacterial infection caused due to clogging of the sweat pores. I was relieved when he told me that he needed to give her antibiotics for 4 more days. I was a bit hassled up also as her big boil looked a bit inflamed in the morning today. My fear was that he shouldn't want to open it again. He has given an ointment that is not oily , and to increase her resistance and build up immunity, was prescribed her vit C and multi vitamin for a month. She needs to be bathed twice a day with a medicated soap to make sure there is no sweat remains. I need to make sure that all this is followed all summer as the temperature is already soaring and she does sweat a lot. So summers are going to be a bit of a test. I am still refraining from putting aid in the left ear . I think I am still not ready to take that risk as we have been through very tough times because of this. She is also doing well with just with one hearing aid. She responds when I call from the other room and takes all the corrections from far also.

Our chat with the ENT specialist

Today we got prisha's dressing changed. The boil looks better and has reduced quite a bit. The wound has healed but needed to be covered for another day. I hope the bulge would go away soon.She still gets scared the moment we enter the nursing home.She has developed a bit of a phobia as far as the incision is concerned. She keeps asking me if he is going to cut her up again.
The ENt specialist turned up to have a look at her ear.He spoke to Prisha and was a bit taken aback. He looked into her ear and said that there was a small boil in her ear but would be ok with the antibiotic medicine. I really hope to see it clear up.He then asked me about her loss. When I told him she was having a profound loss, he asked me if I had done the aided audiogram as this kind was not possible with profound loss.[ he really thought I had no knowledge in this regard and probably did not know that her loss must be mild ] When I told him a few facts , he knew I knew my subject quite well. When I told him my speech therapist name, he looked a bit taken aback again.[All of them know about her but none will recommend her as she is against their mal practices] He told me Prisha's speech shows she was ready for a cochlear implant. i knew that the conversation we were having was leading there. I told him that as I was able to develop speech with HA why opt for a CI. I am happy with it. I have seen the kids who come in our classes. CI have worked but here from what I see in Pune, there have been such cases which give me goose pimples.There is CI , but after that there is hardly any good speech therapy.Resulting in lack of speech.I feel that they should know what they are talking about. Everybody focuses on expensive HA and CI, but with so much poverty in India, and not much help from the government, how can an ordinary man afford them? Why don't they focus on speech therapy. Nobody shows any interest in it. is it because it is not as profitable? I feel I am more educated about the subject than any of these degree and diploma holders in this field.I was able to talk about it to the doctor and he was so uncomfortable and quickly wrapped me up from the room.Let us work towards the benefit of the masses. India is big and I know how difficult it is for an ordinary man to understand this subject and also to put together enough money to buy aids.Can't we promote AVT and help people to develop speech with whatever aids they can afford? I am glad today I educated the doctor and showed him a larger picture.Let us not be selfish and work a little more for the society. Just because CI has more scope to make money, one educates himself quickly on that subject, and when we talk about speech therapy , they look elsewhere. I am glad that I am able to show these people that with good HA too we can develop speech and give answers to their questions but when will the answers come for the questions of the common man?When will AVT take over and every deaf child talk? I hope soon.

The big boil

We went to our pediatrician who had a look at the boil that was at the base of the neck .It looked bad. From the size of a shallot before it reduced to 1/3 rd its size after the anti biotics.He advised me to get her admitted into the hospital so that the surgeon could scoop out the rest. The whole conversation was not very child or parent friendly.With such a dispassionate view of the whole thing made me wonder if it was to make some money and not really considerate towards us. I was breaking down. How could I See my princess go through this 24 hr or so ordeal.We thought of a second opinion. A surgeon , who we have visited earlier,lived close by and we decided to show it to him.He told us it was not such a big deal.He too Prisha inside who was howling and said he would take out the abscess without the anesthesia. I heard her yelling for me from the OT.I was howling away, closing my ears to shut out her shrieks.10 minutes later , she was out sweating and full of tears.I hugged her tight. While she sat out with her granny, the surgeon told me there was no abcess left as it had drained out in sleep a few days back. Little cavity needed to be closed but that too did not need stitching. A regular dressing for a week with antibiotics, a topical ointment to be applied in her nose and other small boils would take care of the problem.The bacteria in the nose had reached into the ears and started to come out as boils in the ear and later the infection got bigger and the bacteria had attracted her more vulnerable areas that is her head and neck and have erupted into boils. I now have to be careful about her ears being dry and no cold , so that this does not occur again.There should not be any long term cold .a tough lesson learnt.But she is a tough girl.