A couple of nights ago, I took off my CI and put the battery on the charger. I also put the sound processor in the drying box (an 8 hour process) so basically, it was off for the night. After that, I needed to speak with someone, so I put my hearing aid on for the first time since activation. I could hardly understand anything with it! It was somewhat freaky! Apparently my brain has made the shift from analog to digital. That is why I am doing so well with the CI (I think). I wasn’t expecting to have a change in how I hear with the hearing aid. Last time it was discussed, the plan was for me to start using the hearing aid along with the CI around the 3 month point. Now, with the distortion, it feels like that would be a step backwards for me. I might prefer to only use one CI. I will need to talk to my audiologist about it. Maybe it doesn’t take long for the brain to merge the two together and ultimately it might be better. I just don’t know. I don’t want to lose any of the progress I’ve made with the CI. I’m not worried about this, just wondering how it works. It will be an interesting conversation next appointment. I wonder if you do great with the first CI like I have, if that is an indication that you will also do great and have an easy adjustment with a second one. Is it possible that there would be problems with the second one and the adjustment? What kind of adjustment period would be expected? These are things I will be asking next time. For now, I am just adjusting to the idea that my brain has made this shift! I don’t think I realized it would be more of a “one or the other” type thing. I guess I thought it would be more of an “in addition to” type thing. This is not upsetting to me at all – just surprising! Interesting…..

I had several appointments today.  First, I saw my doctor for a follow-up on the recurring (and stubborn) ear infection I had on the left side (not the implanted ear) and the good news is that my ear looks healthy – no more infection!  On my trip, I had a spot at the bottom of the incision behind my right ear (from the CI surgery) that has had some swelling and bleeding a couple of times.  Apparently, I had a reaction to the material used in the stitches (on the inside) and it isn’t serious, just a skin issue.  She said that the type of material they used for the stitches is by far best to use for this job, but some people do react to it.  It hasn’t been a major issue, but I was happy to find out that it probably wasn’t an infection, as I had feared. This type of stitch usually dissolves in about 4 months. The other thing I talked to her about was some symptoms that I had over the weekend and also had about a month ago.  Both times, I woke up one morning and had the definite feeling that things were just slightly off-balance, but much worse than normal.  It wasn’t true dizziness, or vertigo, just a slightly “fluid” or “off kilter” feeling.  I had to touch something like a wall or piece of furniture to keep from feeling off-balance when walking.  I also had a headache, and nausea and vomiting with that.  The first time I just thought it was a stomach bug, but this time it obviously wasn’t acting like a typical stomach bug.  The doctor thinks there is a good chance that I am having migraines.  That wasn’t even on my radar as a possibility.  I always thought that the headaches were severe with migraines and mine have not been.  I was surprised that these symptoms sound pretty classic for migraines.  On the positive side, if it does turn out to be that, at least I’m not contagious!  There is a good chance it has been triggered by hormones (more joys of getting older!!!).  I have some literature and we will see how it goes in the future.  She said that it really doesn’t sound like typical inner ear/surgery related issues, although that is a slight possibility.  If this continues to be a problem and the things you do to help alleviate migraine symptoms don’t help, there are a few tests that we may do down the road.  Overall, it was a good check up and also pretty informative.

My audiology appointment also went well.  We discussed a few details about some items I need to return from some of my equipment and one battery that isn’t working properly, and then I filled her in on how great the Neptune worked on my trip!  We did some additional volume adjustments and a brief sound test.  I have been surprised that the mapping process has been more automatic and simple than I expected.  A lot of the literature I was given to read appears to be outdated.  The mapping process is still intricate, but there are programs in place that can do a lot of it now, so the appointments don’t take as long as I expected and haven’t been as intense either.  Maybe in part that is because I am doing so well.  I’m not really sure.  It went great, though.  

My last appointment today was with an aural rehab therapist.  It is a very specialized field (there are only a few people licensed to do this in the state) and it is basically listening rehab/therapy to help CI users teach their brains how to understand digital input.  She did some basic testing to evaluate where I am and I got 100% on the first 2 tests, only missed one on the 3rd and got a 75% on the last.  The last was all one syllable words, so it was harder for me – more room for mistakes because the words are shorter and have fewer “clues.”  All of these tests were lists that the therapist read to me with her face covered so that I couldn’t lip read. I was really pleased!  Chet and I both can hardly believe how much more I can understand now without lip-reading than I could with my hearing aid.  I still need it to some extent, but there is potential here to improve a great deal even from where I am.  She feels that a couple of sessions with her will be enough.  I have some listening “homework” to do.  I don’t have to listen to children’s books on CD anymore (yay! That was too easy to feel useful plus the library CDs in the kid’s section were very scratched!).  She feels I am ready to tackle books for adults, so I will be heading to my local library soon to find an interesting book to listen to (and read along if needed).  I am actually looking forward to that – I love to read, so actually “having” to do it sounds kind of fun!  In addition to that, I have some info about ways to get practice hearing and understanding better on the telephone.  There is a number I can call through one of the cochlear implant companies (you can use the helps from all of them regardless of which company you purchased your device from) and they have a daily listening activity for practice on the phone.  Apparently there is a recording you listen to, then answer questions.  You can go online later to see your score!   Practicing talking to friends on the phone is good for me, too!  When I tried to listen to the phone through my CI right after activation I couldn’t understand any speech at all.  Now I can have conversations sometimes and do pretty well with it.  Sometimes it doesn’t go well, so I still don’t feel like I can make business calls without using my captioning phone.  It will be wonderful if I reach a point where I can use my cell phone for calls again.  That is what I am hoping to achieve!  There are some other activities that Chet and I can do together that involve him speaking with his face/mouth covered and me listening and repeating things to him.  I purchased an embroidery hoop today and will need to get some stereo fabric to put in the hoop to make our own cover for Chet’s face (lol) so that I can’t lip read while we are doing this listening practice.  She told us that we should not use paper for that because sound bounces off of it and that the material you use actually does matter. Apparently different objects and fabrics affect sound in different ways.     We were told you can buy stereo fabric at most fabric stores.  That will be an errand for tomorrow. The hoop/stereo fabric homemade device is what the specialists in the clinic all use so I believe them when they say it is best for this. I had no idea that what you use to cover your mouth and face made any difference at all. Interesting. By the way – sometimes it is important to cover more of the face than just the mouth. Sometimes facial expressions or eyes can give clues, too. I never thought of that either!

Overall I couldn’t be happier with how things are going. They give you so much information ahead of time warning you about what realistic expectations should be and about how long this process actually takes, etc. My experience has been so much better than what I was told to expect. I feel like I have barely missed a beat here! I am so thankful. The moment of activation wasn’t a super dramatic moment for me, but I have moments now when I feel almost giddy with excitement because I will suddenly realize that I just heard and understood something that I would not have been able to do before. It happens pretty often. I will “catch” myself responding and listening “normally” and then it will just dawn on me that the situation hasn’t been normal for me in a long long time! It is an exciting time. I will always be a functionally deaf person when I take my device off, so I feel like I have my foot in that door, but I also am functioning as a hard of hearing person with the CI, and really I am not far from functioning well enough that I might not need a whole lot of special consideration (as in the things you do to help someone who is hard of hearing like facing them when you speak, etc). I guess I have “dual” citizenship in some ways. I know my experiences with deafness do not fully qualify me to completely understand where people who have been deaf most of their lives are coming from, but I have had a glimpse of that world and it has forever changed me – for the better in my opinion. The technology I have is truly amazing! I thank God for the advances He has allowed us to have in this field and for the doctors and specialists who have worked with me, as well as the incredible support I have had and continue to have. Thank you and know that I continually thank God for you, too! I have been incredibly blessed!