For the technically challenged...

I took Gage in for a tune-up, aka mapping session at the audiologist's office today after we noticed he could not understand anything w/certainty using his right ci alone...the left one seemed fine.
As soon as they hooked him up to check impedance levels, they realize that he has four more electrodes showing as 'open' (he already had two turned off from a prior visit) and it was decided that these would also need to be turned off. They did a thorough mapping session and he really had very minor changes so his map really wasn't the issue, it was the electrodes, they did some checks on the ear not in question as well (the re-implanted side) and all was good there! So he's doing great since we fixed the problem(s) and can hear and repeat any and all babble w/new ear (the right, implanted for the first time 10 mos ago) AND with the re-implanted side (left, one that was first implanted at 3.5 yrs old, became infected w/a staph thus the removal only to be re-implanted 10 mos ago) So we can just watch it and see if any more try to cause issues.

Now, what the heck does that mean to the technically challenged like me? It means that he has 2 departments (right, left) that work for him (to obtain sound). One dept. (left) is a great bunch of workers, always working together in harmony, getting him as much sound at comfortable levels as they possibly can. The other dept. (rt) has had some issues. Though technically, 22 (electrodes) were hired for this dept to pick up sound for him, two guys quit right away. That's okay, 'cause the supervisor (audiologist) just makes sure that she delegates their areas to other workers who are more reliable. So absolutely, 20 workers can do just as well as the original 22. Then, we suspected that a little quality control was in order again when this same dept wasn't putting out near the service as we felt the other dept was doing (left side)...so we took our concerns to the supervisor (audiologist). She observed thru her computer screen (which can tell her who what where when and why) and she immediately spotted our trouble makers. So unfortunately we had to let four more go today in that dept. Unfortunately we are not accepting applications for sound catchers at this time, when we hired the original 22 we knew that would be our maximum employees w/no replacements. We hope that this will be our last termination but we will be keeping a close eye out for anyone who makes trouble! .....and that's the best I can do for the technically challenged.
And let it be known, this is the ear that we first tried to implant when he was almost 2 (but were unsuccessfuly due to severe malformations).