Our day with "ears" goes somewhat like this:
6AM: Take CIs out of dehumidifier, put in batteries, turn both on, check program settings (Map #, volume, sensitivity), lock CIs, attempt to put on Matt's head. Some mornings he is fine with it. Others, he rips them away from his head while screaming, "NO!" Must be so hard to go from total silence to a loud environment.
7AM: Before he heads to school, we tape his ears to his head with toupee tape. He is great about getting the tape and scissors out and I'm sure the extra security on his real ears is less bothersome. Thank goodness for fingernails when taking the old tape off each time!
4PM: As he comes off the bus, we always take a second to make sure we see both ears, just in case he's taken them off. At times, the bus gets loud or maybe he simply doesn't want to hear what his bus aide is telling him to do. LOL
7PM: Take off ears for bath and try to make sure the magnets don't touch and attract one another. If they do, we get an H6 error and have to turn them both off before resetting them.
8PM: He readily gives up his ears when he gets into bed. We take out the batteries and place them in the dehumidifier for the evening.
Writing this out makes CI life seem much more simple, but in reality, you spend the majority of your time "checking" him to make sure both ears are present and powered on. A little red, fast flashing light tells you it is on, slow light means it is not correctly attached to his head (growing longer hair gives us more slow lights, LOL) or the battery is dying. If someone sees him without an ear, he's asked, "Where is your 2 ear (or 1 ear)?" He's usually pretty good about knowing where he took it off and set it down, but sometimes not and a desperate search for an ear begins.
Dying batteries aren't any fun, either. On a recent cross country trip to the East coast with myself and the 5 kids, I discovered on the return trip that I didn't pack enough disposables. We use disposables on trips, so we don't have to carry the rechargeable dock, because we're already carrying extra processors, controllers, coils, magnets and microphone covers. Somewhere in South Carolina, I stopped at a Wal-Mart and spent 30 minutes comparing battery sizes and shapes and found Energizer's 357 in a pack of 3. Eureka! We had a match! The only complaint is the battery life is about 8-10 hours max, but in a bind, it's a quick fix.
We had some issues when we first moved to Texas with Matt going swimming... and not taking his ears off. He's a pro now, but the beginning was filled with scenes of a kid falling into the pool and someone reaching in to pull his ears out. Yes, we pulled him out, too (now he's a total fish, so no more worrying about him sucking in water), but our first concern was always the ears. Poor guy lying there coughing up water and we're frantically pulling CIs apart and trying to dry them with our shirts.
Some CI parents use a nifty trick of sealing the CI in a Food Saver pouch, attaching the coil to the head and placing a swim cap on the head to hold the CI in place to let kids hear while they're swimming. We tried it a few times, but I was a nervous wreck! As our audiologist said, "Letting him hear while swimming is worth the risk of ruining an expensive piece of equipment?" I've since come to agree and we laugh every time we get out the Food Saver for it's real purpose and Matt hands you his ears.
CIs are difficult to manage with helmets and certain hats, will connect with metal objects, require TSA diversions (but, hey, we get ushered through the line quicker) and require constant trips to the audiologist, but my kid can hear, so it's worth the challenge.
