Consult with Cochlear Implant Surgeon

We had a consultation with Dr. John Niparko at The Listening Center at Johns Hopkins last week. This was our second appointment at Johns Hopkins, the first being a meeting with an audiologist back in April to discuss the CI candidacy process. Dr. Niparko is a highly respected and experienced CI surgeon, and we were very impressed with his knowledge, professionalism, and attentiveness during our meeting. He answered all of our questions and listened to all of our concerns. Now having visited two well-regarded CI Centers and weighing the pros and cons of our experiences at each, we have decided to have Ben implanted by Dr. Niparko at Johns Hopkins, and are confident that this is the right choice for Ben. There are many more tests and appointments in the CI candidacy process, insurance approval to obtain, and circumstances may change, but our goal is to have Ben bilaterally implanted with the first surgery performed at 10 months of age and the second surgery about 8 weeks later. This would mean the first surgery in November, activation in December, then the second surgery a few weeks later around his first birthday in January, with the second activation shortly after that. Our goal is to have Ben with two CIs implanted and activated at around 12 1/2 months of age. We had considered simultaneous bilateral surgery, but Dr. Niparko would prefer to do it this way and as long as the surgeries are just 6-8 weeks apart, we feel that the end result for Ben will effectively be the same - bilateral hearing around the time he is 12 months old. November seems far away now, but I know the next few months will go by fast, and the big day will be here before we know it. This fall and winter (not to mention Christmastime) will be busier than we can imagine, I'm sure, but also more wonderful. We have full confidence in the team at Johns Hopkins and we now feel we have a clear goal for Ben and a plan to achieve it.