The road begins to hear once again!!!

I am a little sad to find out that my 11 month old nephew will be having tubes put in his ears the same day that I will be having my implant turned on. I really wish I could be there for him. I am hoping that both our appointment's will end at the same time or so .. So that I can swing over to my sisters house and see how he is doing and to let my sister know how it's going for me.. I told my sister that I would like for me and her to join a ASL class and to start learning/ Teaching my lil nephew Sign. This is something I do wish my mother had gotten me into as a young lad. At the age of eight our audi told my mother that I would eventually lose my hearing, but never attempted to get me into ASL. So I want to change that for my lil " ROBO" ( what I call him since his name is roberto)
 
Bionic

Sooooo Heres the scoop.... I went in for activation today for my nuke 5 ... She said ok we are turning it on and we will turn it up, Lil by lil... Nodda nothing i was like ohh man... Then all the sudden ring ring ring.... I started to hear it she said ok we are going to turn it up more let me know where its comfy. We got to my comfortable level and she began discussing about all the stuff in the box. All the sudden I could make out her voice. No reading lips. I could plain as day hear her voice. She had a trainee with her and the trainee was speaking to me also. I could very easily distinguish who was talking by the sound of their voice. My mother began to try speaking to me and I could hear her also. But my dad I have a little trouble with.. My brother I can hear him perfectly . Their voices do not sound robotic or tinny or any of that. They sound pretty normal to me. Not exactly normal like It used to be when I could hear but pretty goddamn close, there is some like high pitch rings associated when I hear things. but she said that was normal and over time it will get better. This has been the best thing ever in my life. FAR exceedes my expectations.

Thank you alldeaf for giving me tips and info on what the cochlear implants are all about. This day marks a life changing day for me. It's just so amazing to understand people without having to ask them to repeat themselves 60 times before i get a idea of what they are saying. I will be back online later I got alot of family to go meet and speak to..
 
Congrats. I'm glad it went well and enjoy your new ear! And it will get even better over time as you adjust to the implant.
 
:) Congratulations. Now don't leave us like so many adult implantees!!
 
Yay, thats brilliant news.

I am nervous about my 2 year tomorrow (it's night time now in UK) as I am getting new consultant as my orginal one is retiring this year, My new Consultant WAS my ENT when I was living at my old house who refered me to my CI centre!! He had moved to same city I am living now! so He's my NEW ENT AND CI Doc. It'll be nice to see him after 3 years (when he last refered me and the last time I saw him!) Also I hate tests!
 
So wonderful, and many congratulations! Must have been a wild experience!
 
Botti,
I wont be leaving AD. This my my new home, I wouldnt be where I am at today if it was'nt for this website. I am deaf still Irregardless if I have the implant or not. And I want to be known as a Deaffy and not a hearie cause I am not naturally a hearie I am just given a " prothesis" ( sp) that enables me to speak with others. Life is good today... Ohh and the box they gave me. holy jebus theres soo much inside. I was also given a backup processor which I am very thankful for. I know there are others that have been implanted and got just one processor. I think thats wrong to be honest we all experience issues with gadgets and its not right to make a person who begins to hear again be without untill corprate offices decide to fix ur processor...
 
wow that's amazing! So happy for you!! :) I bet you were a bit overwhelmed with all the "goodies" lol. This was your FIRST CI moment! Wait til all the others! :) Congrats =)
 
same here. i got 2 processors, 2 coils, 2 recharable batteries, dry and store, battery charger, lapel mic, personal audio cable, cable to use with a plugged in device, pack of 2 snug fit things, 2 packs of different size ear hooks, 2 packs of mic covers, 2 packs of extra disposable battery holders, 160 disposable batteries, a hard case for the back up processor, a small key chain case for an extra battery, books and manuals on it all, a small quick reference guide, a sheet of magnets with different words and figures, and i feel like theres some more im missing.
 
i hope your ci goes well for you and it sounds like you are going to being having a short rehab process as you could understand some voices within the first day and thats amazing.
 
Hey, had my appt today, met my new consultant who was over the moon to see me... I had countless of questions asked and the waiting room was filling up!!! My throat was so dry! He was pleased that he made the right choice to refer me 3 years ago and now being my Consultant! So my CI/skin/bones/ear whatsover have been declared healthy until next year.

Had tune up, they had added noise (with Autosensivity added) in one of my new programs, whoa much clearer but I would be using normal new maps and use the noise if I feel bit overwhelmed with back ground sounds.

Had few tests and rocked at them! :) for pre lingual deaf person implanted as adult it's far beyond the centre's expecations.

I asked if they have started upgrading patients to Nuke 5, they said no due to problems so I didn't ask why. Looks like I will be waiting, but probably next time I ask there would be new techology coming out, who knows.
 
inmate23 said:
i hope your ci goes well for you and it sounds like you are going to being having a short rehab process as you could understand some voices within the first day and thats amazing.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your kind word's. I am understanding most people I have talked to since getting activated. I spoke with my employer to set up my date for returning to work. " I am blessed to have a boss who was kind enough to give me 5 weeks off work ( 1 week prior to surgery and 4 weeks recovery) since I work in a pretty dirty enviroment and its physical labor I endure. I could hear his voice and he sounds just like I remember how he sounds back when I used to be a hearie. I am also hearing diff noises which is pretty exciting. I heard the blinker to my truck today and also my truck makes a ding ding ding if I do not put my seatbelt on. I am now able to hear the clattering of my keyboard while I type. I could not hear these things yesterday. I also tried listening to the television this morning it's a tough one but I could pick out a word here and there that I am sure is going to take some time and practice but I am willing to do what work is needed to achieve this goal.

This implant has done me well with under 24 hrs with it. Last night was pretty hard falling asleep my tinnitus was a lil awkward it sounded like I was hearing a cell phone convo through radio waves when I took the implant off( I am guessing it was my nerves being outa whack from being dormant for awhile. I am amazed at the quality of sound even from just having the volume turned up and no real mapping done. This is going to be a very very fun journey to go on.
 
Overthepond,

I am pleased that your review went well today I was thinking about you this morning when I woke. I cant waite till I begin the mapping process to discover even more clear sounds. Us implantee's are very lucky people to have the ability to hear, that so many people take for granted. I what all programs do you have for your implant and whats the obvious difference between each? Good job on having your old ENT as your consultant I bet it makes things a lot easier for you since you feel comfortable to be in his care. Have a good day :)
 
Aww thanks Deaffy,

I guess we are extermely Lucky to have the choice of having more sound input and to enjoy the sounds that (in my case) I never heard before and for you to re join the world of sounds.

Well as I have very basic map, Some people have high map/powerful map, I had powerful map in my first year then the Audiologist realised it's not getting me anywhere in terms of speech so she took me back to basic and I have been on it for one year and really like it so it's down to individuals (I think John57 got high map)
My basic map is quite slow at 250hz and I have 4 programs, in the past it always had been P1 - Normal, P2 - quieter of normal , P3 - Music and P4 - Beam.

I told my Audi that i never used Beam so she "removed it"

Currently my Programs is P1- New Map, P2 - New Map with Noise program, P3 - Music and P4 is my old P2 (I found P1 bit too loud and I was still on 25db with P2)

My Audi had increased the Thresholds (green bars) and tweaked the middles. Explained that Cochlear had asked the audi to put Noise in to see if it made any difference. I was told it would help in noisy suitation, I tried at work last night, I could tell the difference and would use it when I get bit overwhelmed with the noise (I like to be normal as possible without adjusting my CI too often) the music program there is different levels of ratio that "blocks the background noise when listening to music) Mine is 1:10 which is completely blocks the background noise. And the P4.... I don't like it anymore, LOL, it sounds too soft now that I got crisper programs!

It's good to watch what the audi with the computer and learn/ask lots of questions so you can learn a lot about your ear and the CI.

Right better get going and have fun at deaf summer camp (I look after 5-11 year old kids with CIs) Today is pirate theme!
 
CI moment!!!!!

My first real CI moment... I walked downstairs to try the HA in my left ear just to see what it is like bimodal for a moment.. as soon as I put the HA in and turned it on... Knock Knock Knock,, I was like hmmm is that someone knocking???? I walked to the door lo and behold it was postal officer for certified sig for my mail... She was talking to me and I heard everything she said.. Man I love this thing .. Sooooo much fun
 
LOL I love it! Your hearing so much in such little time:) Awesome!!! When did you lose you hearing before Deaffy?
 
I had hearing in my right ear up untill I was 23... I suddenly lost my hearin gin that ear. I am now 33 yrs old. so its been 10 years since I really heard sound.. During the 3 month trial with HA for the implant program I could hear some sounds but it was mostly the low freq I could get.. and speech was all garbled to me. But now everything is pretty clear, I have been speaking to old friends of mine the past few days and they sound pretty close to normal for me.. Some people do sound a lil daffy duckish but those ppl I have never heard their voice before.. but I can tell what they are saying and dont have to ask huh what pls repeat nearly as much
 
wow thats amazing:) I hope I will eventually be able to get a CI cuz my hearing aids kinda suck...but what can ya do..my speech scores are too good apparently...I get headaches because I try so hard to concentrate during my audiograms..it blows
 
Alica. I hope you qualify for the CI ... I know all to well how hard it can be to hear with HA's. The CI is a nice tool to use. I spent 3-4 hours last night on youtube listenign to " music" drum solo's and piano music. and it has been pretty fun to get some imput with it. With HA's I tried the same thing and it was all garbled and staticy to me. I dont wish you to lose more hearing ALica but I do hope you can benefit from this technology if that makes any sense?
 
I'm happy you've had a successful time with your CI...I think it helps a lot if you know previously what everything is supposed to sound like:) I can't wait to "hear" what your next MAPping is like if the one your on now which is the basic one is so good already!! I know what you mean, I hope my speech discrim goes down so that I am able to utilize the CI technology as well:)
 
Back
Top