Qualified for a CI

Bear, Congratulations! I am happy to hear that things are going so well. My daughter had a bit of swelling in her face for a few days. It went away with no problems. If it concerns you, do not hesitate to call the DR. that is what they are there for.
 
Hey all,

Called the doctor this morning and he said the swelling was normal. SO therefore not to worry. And by the time I woke up later it was really gone down. Also woke up with a splitting headache this morning ughh!

Took some pain killers and forgot to take it with food so ended up with an upset stomach for most of the day lol.


Am anxiously awaiting tomorrow's checkup to make sure everything is healing on schedule lol. Also only 9 more days to go for activation!

Bear
 
bear

aww, you got implanted. sweet.. You will be very glad to have it done.. and congrulations, Im very glad that your doing great so far since the surgery etc..

But be sure you take it easy too :)

I do remember my recovery days from my surgery with Ci too..


:)

Wendy
 
Hey all,

Updating! I went to the doctor today for my follow up and he says everything looks fine and i am healing nicely. My stitches should be dissolving any time now as it is normally 7-10 days post surgery and I am at day 6.

He said to make an appointment with him in a year lol. Now it is on to ACTIVATION DAY which is the 21st of September at 9:20 AM at HillCrest Hospital Whoo hoo!

Am too afraid to hope too much ya know? Am worried about what if it doesnt work? I am afraid of hoping for hearing again and then having a big let down. So am not getting too excited about activation day. I guess I am one of those that prefer to think downwards than upwards when it comes to my hearing. Already lost it twice in my lifetime just dont think I could take hoping and then being let down again.

Well all of you who are thinking of getting a CI good luck. And do let us know how you are going with it.

Bear
 
oh you got dissolving stitches? i got that too! thats pretty cool! i didnt know they still use that nowaday since most stitches i have seen were to be removed.

Good luck on sept 21st! For some reason i feel confidence you will hear at least something! but from an experienced C.I. user i thought u might want to know this... sounds u hear from CI is not same as hearing aid. so it might take a while to adjust to it but then... ur getting new CI not old one like mine so it may be different maybe more improved than mine. Anyway still be prepared for that alright?

other than that GOOOD LUCK!
 
That's great that the incision is healing well, Bear. I had dissolving stitches too and liked that.

All your feeling about not hoping for too much is exactly how I felt and it's a good attitude to have because switch on day is a bit overrated in my opinion apart from the fact that it's on. It does sound terrible to begin with but you may be one of the lucky ones where it sounds wonderful right off! But the key is to persist and work through it.
 
SpiceHD said:
oh you got dissolving stitches? i got that too! thats pretty cool! i didnt know they still use that nowaday since most stitches i have seen were to be removed.

Good luck on sept 21st! For some reason i feel confidence you will hear at least something! but from an experienced C.I. user i thought u might want to know this... sounds u hear from CI is not same as hearing aid. so it might take a while to adjust to it but then... ur getting new CI not old one like mine so it may be different maybe more improved than mine. Anyway still be prepared for that alright?

other than that GOOOD LUCK!
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Hiya Spice,

Yeah I am fully aware that it does sound different than with a hearing aid. A friend of mine whom I fully trusted to talk to about my decision to get a CI told me about that. She was a big deciding factor in my even trying for a CI.

My audiologist told me I will more than likely be one of the success stories. Simply cause of the fact that I stopped hearing very recently and when tested with the hearing aid I did hear sounds but after a while of wearing them the sound just faded out and I heard nothing again. We still dont understand why that happened but it is happening.

But, as for me, I am very aware of the failures. So therefore, because of that I am afraid of hoping too much. So, I am not overly excited about it. Maybe that is the fear getting in the way. But, at least if my activation date is a successful one and i am one of those that hear right off the bat, think how elated I will be when I come in and post all about it.

Anyways, I just wanted to say thank you for the encouragement there.

Bear
 
R2D2 said:
That's great that the incision is healing well, Bear. I had dissolving stitches too and liked that.

All your feeling about not hoping for too much is exactly how I felt and it's a good attitude to have because switch on day is a bit overrated in my opinion apart from the fact that it's on. It does sound terrible to begin with but you may be one of the lucky ones where it sounds wonderful right off! But the key is to persist and work through it.
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thanks R2 it does help to hear other's experiences and them having the same feelings I had. But how is it working for you now? Are you hearing anything and alot more clearer? Or does it still sound terrible?

Bear
 
okay i got a question... what sound is terrible? waht sound is wonderful? i hear sounds but since i never hear naturally in my whole life...I cant really tell if the sounds i personally heard were terrible or wonderful... all i know was.. i can hear! lol so.. this gotten me a bit curious. What make it terrible?
 
Bear said:
thanks R2 it does help to hear other's experiences and them having the same feelings I had. But how is it working for you now? Are you hearing anything and alot more clearer? Or does it still sound terrible?

Bear
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Oh yes. Right now what I'm hearing sounds 10 times better than when I first started. At first I only heard a mass of static, which then became beeps for voices which gradually sounded like normal speech. There was also a noisy motor sound in the background which has now gone. Also a week after I was switched on I tinkered on a piano and I laughed when I realised that the notes sounded the same! But now they don't - they sound distinct. My tinnitus is also now at least 50% improved. Some background sounds still sound a bit off colour and music doesn't sound normal but I've been told that often takes 6 months. Bird song sounds a little bit mechanical but not as bad as a few weeks ago. But speech sounds really good and that was what I wanted first.

Definitely keep a journal so that you can track your progress. Some days I felt sooo impatient and felt like progress was slow but by looking in my diary I could really see that this wasn't the case.
 
SpiceHD said:
okay i got a question... what sound is terrible? waht sound is wonderful? i hear sounds but since i never hear naturally in my whole life...I cant really tell if the sounds i personally heard were terrible or wonderful... all i know was.. i can hear! lol so.. this gotten me a bit curious. What make it terrible?
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Static! And voices that sound like beeps!

I know what you mean though. I was thinking about that today and I'm really conscious of the fact that what I'm hearing is artificial hearing. However because I did hear with hearing aids before it doesn't sound too far off the mark. In fact, speech is clearer to me on a CI than with hearing aids. But some other sounds sounded better with hearing aids - bearing in mind that I have only been activated for 11 weeks.
 
Not long to go before activation, Bear!! I'm so excited for you!

SpiceHD - the world is FULL of sounds - only you can decide what you like and what you don't like. I don't care for the sound of static either, R2D2 - its simply annoying but I wouldn't say its terrible. My mother has an aquarium and when the water level gets low, it makes a "whooshing" noise that i find TERRIBLY annoying for some reason - I'm always adding water to make sure it dosn't do that, but it doesn't bother anybody else, so just like favorite colors, or favorite foods - everybody is different.
 
SpiceHD said:
okay i got a question... what sound is terrible? waht sound is wonderful? i hear sounds but since i never hear naturally in my whole life...I cant really tell if the sounds i personally heard were terrible or wonderful... all i know was.. i can hear! lol so.. this gotten me a bit curious. What make it terrible?
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Umm...let me see...there are only a couple of sounds that are terrible or not something I enjoy hearing. A john flushing in a typical public bathroom. Extremely loud to the point of annoying. It is the amplication effect in a room that is tiled wall to wall. The sound simply reverbates in my head as one loud roar. Another unpleasant sound are buses or truck nearby. They are simply very loud and seem to drill into my head. Often when I am walking in the city, I will use autosensitivity to reduce this inconvenience. Another annoying sound is the exhaust fan in the kitchen or bathroom. It drones at a pitch that makes it hard to listen sometimes. There are not too many overall.
 
Yes the exhaust fans can be LOUD - while I don't find them terrible, because they are so loud, they cover anything anybody might be saying, so if I'm cooking in the kitchen and have the fan on, I end up having to rely on my lipreading skills instead (which sadly are not as good as they used to be but that's to be expected)
 
Hey all,

Well yesterday was hook up and everything is going fine. For the most part all I hear is this weird sound and a bunch of clicks. But last night while watching 40 dollars a day I felt like I could hear Rachel Ray talking but it sounded very staticy *sp?*

All in all so far I am doing good and hoping soon, I will be hearing voices and etc lol.

Bear
 
REmember to take time as you will get use to the sounds and voices. :)

Glad to hear everything is going well for you! :)
 
Thanks Smiley,

I do know it takes time to get used to this whole new way of hearing again. Luckily, I am already used to the sounds as I could hear very well up till about 9-11 months ago *losing track of time lol*. I am just excited to know that it is working for me. I get those weird sounds everytime I hit a key on the keyboard, so I know eventually it will clear up and sound just like I am typing. Which I used to be able to hear with my hearing aids for so long.

Whoo hoo! Hey Felix good luck on your activation which I believe is in a few more short weeks.

Bear
 
SpiceHD said:
oh you got dissolving stitches? i got that too! thats pretty cool! i didnt know they still use that nowaday since most stitches i have seen were to be removed.

!
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Well I had the disolving things and they are actually awful. (imo) I got irritated spots and could feel the things sticking out when I rubbed my finger over the spot so had to wait til it was sticking out far enough and then get it out. took about an extra 2 months for them all to work their way out. ugh.


Good luck Bear. Hope you hear and understand some at activation. :) :fingersx:
 
Hey Everyone,

Just updating here. I was activated 3 days ago. I can hear some voices already although not very clear yet. I can hear myself typing, phone ringing and myself laughing.

I have a very funny story from last night. I was sitting here and my daughter's friend had come downstairs, so I asked her where my daughter was. And she said she is upstairs but will be down in a minute. I heard her say that and I told her * I can hear ya, ya know* So, she said really? I said yep so, she decided to test it. And asked me ok *what did I say?* I said you said what did I say? She went nuts, jumping around and yelling at my daughter! Hey your mom hears me! lol I was laughing at her cause she was more excited about it than I was.

Needless to say, over the last few days, I have been like a kid in a candy store. I've been trying to hear everything I can and when I do hear the sounds I want more of it lol.

So all in all even if I never get more clear with the voices and other sounds, I would still say this has been a success story.

Bear
 
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