To Implant or not..

Frisky Feline said:
It does not matter. It's a CUT to open the skin that is always a risk.

My hub will never go through the second CI again. He didn't do well with CI surgery and after surgery.
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Does your husband has a CI or two CIs?
 
Frisky Feline said:
One, like i said, he decided not to go for the second CI because of the surgery.
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I understand. I respect your husband's decide. I'm sorry about his bad experience with surgery. Everyone are different individuals. I never have issue with CI surgery. I got recovery pretty well. I was impression with my CI surgeon did good job.

You know my third cousin has a bilateral CIs. He had re implantion 4 times. He doesn't care about surgery. He is usually with CI since he was 17 months old. He doing fine after surgery.
 
right, its depend on how indivduals can handle with the surgery. Therefore, the surgery is a risk. Every doctors are not perfect as it can go wrong like doctor can make one mistake by performing incorrectly.
 
ambrosia said:
I've heard, now just heard mind you (on here) that they don't like, or whatever, to implant people until you've at least tried the most powerful aids and they've proven to not be effective. Or your speech recognition score with them being too low, or low enough.

Now don't quote me lol I'm not sure how accurate that is, it's just what I've heard. I don't have the approval yet,y insurance doesn't even start covering anything until the 1st. I'm more worried about damage done to the structures of my ear from the cochlear otosclerosis than insurance not covering an implant.
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Right. The CI is a last resort and it shouldn't be taken lightly. However what is "effective" is a grey area and there can be variation as to what that means in the cases of many different deaf/hoh people. I can manage 1:1 conversation with most people who have good speaking voices but there are some who I can't do that with very well or I have to ask for a lot of repeats. I cannot follow conversations at a typical conversational speed, whether that's watching 2 people talk or being part of a small group discussion in ideal conditions, both of which I never had any difficulty with til now. Those are both very limiting from both a functional and a social perspective, for me. I can hear environmental sounds and in most indoor places like my home or office, I know what sound is what (though if music is playing, it'll sound like noise). Some people don't get much environmental sound with HA's. So whatever "effective" means depends but I do get what you are saying!

Have you actually been evaluated yet? I will have to have more of the word lists and they have not done the sentence tests with me yet. Of course they have to do the HINT but I think most people with severe hearing loss would fail that test anyway, with or without hearing aids.
 
Frisky Feline said:
right, its depend on how indivduals can handle with the surgery. Therefore, the surgery is a risk. Every doctors are not perfect as it can go wrong like doctor can make one mistake by performing incorrectly.[\B]
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That is good point. Can be mistake of surgery. I know one from my CI group. She wasn't happy with first CI surgeon didn't make correct Implsnt area. She decided to contact other CI surgeon to re implantion to be correct fit, re implantion for free. She was happy with new CI surgeon from first CI surgeon.
 
PinkBlackZebra00 said:
That is good point. Can be mistake of surgery. I know one from my CI group. She wasn't happy with first CI surgeon didn't make correct Implsnt area. She decided to contact other CI surgeon to re implantion to be correct fit, re implantion for free. She was happy with new CI surgeon from first CI surgeon.
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Yes it did happen to my friend. She was in pain when CI turned on. it took her to have re surgery within a year. Shes ok now.
 
You're profound now, it's kind of mind boggling how much harder to hear speech with profound loss vs severe. How much you are restricted people have to be facing me, the entire time, and within feet of me as well for me to even hear 1/3 of what is said, the rest is lip reading/context guess work. There is not a doubt in my mind that if Id been born with loss I wouldn't ever had any access spoken language, I'd be voice off, ASL only. HAs can only so much, I mean don't get me wrong they're amazing!! But access to speech is just limited, for all their programs and doodads :D they're just not quote enough.
 
everlastingstorm said:
I think taking medications to improve hearing is worse than going through surgery to be honest, because most often sensorineural hearing loss is permanent.
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If you are referring to Prednisone, it is taken short term and is meant to stabilize your hearing or return it to the previous level. I don't know of any other drugs they use to treat fluctuating loss and it is far from experimental at this point considering the first time I took it was in 1981 and it did work. Moot point now.
 
ambrosia said:
You're profound now, it's kind of mind boggling how much harder to hear speech with profound loss vs severe. How much you are restricted people have to be facing me, the entire time, and within feet of me as well for me to even hear 1/3 of what is said, the rest is lip reading/context guess work. There is not a doubt in my mind that if Id been born with loss I wouldn't ever had any access spoken language, I'd be voice off, ASL only. HAs can only so much, I mean don't get me wrong they're amazing!! But access to speech is just limited, for all their programs and doodads :D they're just not quote enough.
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It is mind boggling. My audiologist even said there is a BIG difference between severe and profound. Interestingly she also conceptualized the process of going from a hearing aid to a CI as "graduating", for those who are appropriate candidates. Puts a positive spin on it and gives me some hope. People said their CI's have been "a step up" from their HA and of course that could play out a little differently for each CI user. It would be nice to be able to understand conversational speech again and hear my friends on the hiking trail again etc!
 
everlastingstorm said:
It is mind boggling. My audiologist even said there is a BIG difference between severe and profound. Interestingly she also conceptualized the process of going from a hearing aid to a CI as "graduating", for those who are appropriate candidates. Puts a positive spin on it and gives me some hope. People said their CI's have been "a step up" from their HA and of course that could play out a little differently for each CI user. It would be nice to be able to understand conversational speech again and hear my friends on the hiking trail again etc!
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Your Audi not doing spin so much as being informative. It really is hard to believe how hitting bottom means you get to go back to the top as opposed to languishing in the middle. ... But I've been there as thousands of others have. You'll get there!
 
BleedingPurist said:
If you are referring to Prednisone, it is taken short term and is meant to stabilize your hearing or return it to the previous level. I don't know of any other drugs they use to treat fluctuating loss and it is far from experimental at this point considering the first time I took it was in 1981 and it did work. Moot point now.
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It is short term and I took it for 10 days. However the more severe the level of deafness, the less chance it'll work. I took it and I personally don't think that it's worth the effects. Maybe people who grew up hearing will find more value in it, but I don't. It's treating deafness like treating cancer, almost. My opinion is that there's no reason to be putting Prednisone in an otherwise healthy body. My hearing was compromised to begin with before the sudden loss. And I didn't have a return to my baseline levels. It doesn't treat all fluctuating losses, btw. It only is meant to treat a sudden loss and even then it has to be taken within 2 weeks of the onset or else there isn't any point.
 
everlastingstorm said:
It is mind boggling. My audiologist even said there is a BIG difference between severe and profound. Interestingly she also conceptualized the process of going from a hearing aid to a CI as "graduating", for those who are appropriate candidates. Puts a positive spin on it and gives me some hope. People said their CI's have been "a step up" from their HA and of course that could play out a little differently for each CI user. It would be nice to be able to understand conversational speech again and hear my friends on the hiking trail again etc!
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There is a huge difference in speech understanding between severe and profound. I moved between the two a couple years ago and now that I have nearly perfect hearing with my CI, I can't believe how much I was missing and how much work it was just to try to hear people. I would say that my CI is many, many, many steps up from my HA's--and I had top of the line HA's.
 
everlastingstorm said:
It is short term and I took it for 10 days. However the more severe the level of deafness, the less chance it'll work. I took it and I personally don't think that it's worth the effects. Maybe people who grew up hearing will find more value in it, but I don't. It's treating deafness like treating cancer, almost. My opinion is that there's no reason to be putting Prednisone in an otherwise healthy body. My hearing was compromised to begin with before the sudden loss. And I didn't have a return to my baseline levels. It doesn't treat all fluctuating losses, btw. It only is meant to treat a sudden loss and even then it has to be taken within 2 weeks of the onset or else there isn't any point.
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I took it for allergy (hayfever type but to dust & mold) way, way back. It was a pattern of 7 pills on day, 6 the next, etc. It did help that but not something I could be on almost constantly. I don't remember any problems from it.
 
Jane B. said:
I took it for allergy (hayfever type but to dust & mold) way, way back. It was a pattern of 7 pills on day, 6 the next, etc. It did help that but not something I could be on almost constantly. I don't remember any problems from it.
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Maybe you didn't have problems on it but that drug has given other people several problematic side effects, i.e. insomnia, extreme hunger, sweats, stomach/digestive issues, heartburn, reflux, etc. all of which really throw things off in a generally healthy body. I don't think it's necessary to go through any of that for being deaf or having some level of deafness. Serious allergies are one thing and can pose an obvious threat to the body(although hay fever doesn't sound that bad but maybe you had it that bad). Deafness is another, and it isn't hazardous to my health.
 
jmain1026 said:
Im sorry didnt mean to bold anything ... And also i have friends i grew up with that are hoh and deaf ... I wanted to know about babies and hearing aids ... So i dont know what you mean about encourage me to read this and that i just wanted some help ...


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You have to do your own research on google about communicate method option do best for your son. You said you want he to speak and sign.
 
jmain1026 said:
Ya ... We will be doing early intervention with him ... As well as baby sign ... I know hell never be able to sound as normal as someone with good hearing but i do want him To speak and sign ... Just for him to learn both would be amazing... I guess another question would be to anyone out there.... You have any experiences on peolple wiht his loss learning to talk ?


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Most Early Intervention programs are very good with providing both speech and Sign...It's good that you have a realistic view that speech won't ever make him sound like a hearing person. *waves hands* Chances are good that he'll be able to learn both speech and Sign.. I know the school programs where I live are very speech/sign friendly. At the good deaf schools/programs they have voice on instruction as well as intense oral supplementation...So unless you're in Utah or just don't have great access to Deaf stuff, your son will be able to develop both speech and Sign.....And of course you CAN supplement with private speech placements if you're worried about his speech.For example I know someone who has her preschooler in an ASL program four days a week and then the fifth she attends John Tracy oral preschool..Trying not to be audist but I do know parents tend to worry about speech and or buy into the myth that ASL using programs don't use speech.
He'll be able to learn to speak and sign, and be bilingual!
 
Thank you for your comment ... Feel free to drop a line anytime ... We love to read about other peoples stories or experiences... He eill say momma now ... Its kind of cool he says ( my momma) but still no other words ha ha .. Trying to get dada ... Also he says iiii like for hi ... And weve been using some sign like for milk ... And now when he wants his cup he will go to fridge and do the sign for milk ... But not all the time... Just when hes in the mood i guess


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I was a "model" hearing aid user. I worked every second to scrape together any speech sounds to the point where I would come home, remove my UP hearing aids, and refuse to talk to anyone for several hours. I'd drink a glass of wine or two until the tinnitus subsided enough for me to venture into attempting to hear again.
As I said, I was every audiologist's dream patient. I had "remarkably" good speech scores despite thresholds between 95 and 120+dB. The reason I had such "great" thresholds was that I was spending every once of mental energy trying to decipher sound.
In december 2013, I decided to seed if I was a CI candidate. It turned out that I was and had been for OVER 6 YEARS! I shudder to think of the medical school applications I submitted and was declined because I couldn't hear. (I'm not trying to start an aural vs ASL war. I learned ASL at the same time I learned to talk. I had to go to speech therapy to talk but ASL was so easy)
My audiologists NEVER told me that I was a CI candidate. Even when I asked they said I wasn't. I even pointed to the poster on the wall that had thresholds for CI candidates and told one audiologist that according the the tests she just gave me, I was absolutely a candidate.
As it turns out, not all audiologists know about CIs. I ended up getting evaluated at a clinic that does CIs and was a candidate many times over. They submitted papers to my insurance. The night before christmas I was told that my CI surgery was approved. I was asked to choose a day and I requested "the soonest possible". Jan 22nd, I had surgery, lost "all residual hearing" (like 5dB) and on Valentine's day, my CI was activated.
Immediately I was able to understand speech. I couldn't distinguish between speakers but I knew what they were saying.
 
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