Yes!!! Wheeeeee doggies!! We are headed to the beach!! We are going to Hilton Head for some fun in the sun, run my toes through the sand, frolic in the waves and just generally have a big ol' time!! We'll also meet up with some life long friends that we've not seen in quite a while......The Cochranes. They are the best....the greatest....and absolutely total loons!! We can't wait to spend some time with them.
Keegan and Romy will be there too, so we'll be playing on the beach with them. They have no clue what's ahead. They will be so much fun!!
I'm really anxious to see what I hear out on the beach. I'm hoping I'll pick up some good whoosh, whoosh!!! Maybe hear some birds. I don't know what else.....does a crab make noise????
Hopefully I'll have a really good update for you when we get back. Please say a prayer that we'll have a safe and fun trip.
Catch you later!!!
Friday, October 5, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
Just For You Jennifer!!
Well, I hope my links have made you happy Jennifer!! It's ALL about pleasing you and Cynthia. That's what gives my life meaning.
Just a quick note while I'm here. Yesterday, Rick, Sylvester and I were sitting on the couch. Rick was dozing in and out while Sylvester and I watched tv. Every so often I would hear some weird noise......Sylvester heard it too. He would lift his head and look. Of course I had no clue what it was. Finally, at one point, the noise happened while Rick was back in-the-moment with us. I said What IS that???? It was driving me crazy. Well, it was the buzzer on the dryer. I didn't know the dryer was going.....Rick had turned it on. But it kept buzzing every so often......buzz.......buzz.......buzz.......buzz........buzz........ You would think I would go upstairs and turn it off, but noooooooooo. That required too much effort!!! I just kept hearing that irritating buzzzzzz until it finally cut off.
That's it. That's all I have today.
Just a quick note while I'm here. Yesterday, Rick, Sylvester and I were sitting on the couch. Rick was dozing in and out while Sylvester and I watched tv. Every so often I would hear some weird noise......Sylvester heard it too. He would lift his head and look. Of course I had no clue what it was. Finally, at one point, the noise happened while Rick was back in-the-moment with us. I said What IS that???? It was driving me crazy. Well, it was the buzzer on the dryer. I didn't know the dryer was going.....Rick had turned it on. But it kept buzzing every so often......buzz.......buzz.......buzz.......buzz........buzz........ You would think I would go upstairs and turn it off, but noooooooooo. That required too much effort!!! I just kept hearing that irritating buzzzzzz until it finally cut off.
That's it. That's all I have today.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Plop, Plop, Fizz,...
Fizz, oh what.....Oh, never mind. Wrong thing. Sorry. All I need is the "fizz, fizz" part. Friday, I was sitting at work with nothing to do. It was very quiet because there was hardly anybody at work. We had a 3 day weekend ahead and apparently the majority of the crew decided to make it a 4 day weekend! Anyhoo, I got a Diet Pepsi to drink and poured it in a cup on some ice. I started hearing something weird.....not very loud,....but what was it? AH HA!!!! It was the fizzy part going sssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!! I haven't caught that one before! That was pretty cool!! I had to pour more Pepsi on so I could hear it again!! Just thought you might want to know that.
Not much else going on. We've had a good weekend! Hope everybody else did too. Saturday, Rick's brother and sister-in-law, Buddy and Janelyn, came down to visit. It was great getting to spend some time with them!!! Sunday, after church, we got a lot of yard work done and it looks so much better. Then today, we've been over to Cyn's most of the day. We got a couple of Papa Murphy's pizzas and played a card game, Head and Foot, all afternoon. It's been a fun day!! Of course, we had to play with the girls too! If you haven't tried Papa Murphy's pizzas, you really need to. They are fabulous!!
Oh, by the way, those snide little remarks are just soooooo cute, Cynthia and Jennifer........
Not much else going on. We've had a good weekend! Hope everybody else did too. Saturday, Rick's brother and sister-in-law, Buddy and Janelyn, came down to visit. It was great getting to spend some time with them!!! Sunday, after church, we got a lot of yard work done and it looks so much better. Then today, we've been over to Cyn's most of the day. We got a couple of Papa Murphy's pizzas and played a card game, Head and Foot, all afternoon. It's been a fun day!! Of course, we had to play with the girls too! If you haven't tried Papa Murphy's pizzas, you really need to. They are fabulous!!
Oh, by the way, those snide little remarks are just soooooo cute, Cynthia and Jennifer........
Sunday, August 26, 2007
A Nag-Nag Here.....A Nag-Nag There......
....here a nag, there a nag, everywhere a NAG NAG!!!! Yeah, yeah, I know. Cynthia reminds me almost daily that it's WAY past time for me to update my blog. Now I'm starting to get it from others too!! So, I figured I best take some time, sit my beehootie down and find a few words to say!
The last time I checked in was right after a tweaking. Well, it didn't take me long to realize that after the changes, things just weren't as good as they had been. I thought I would give it some time because maybe I just needed to adjust to the new settings. However, after about 3 weeks, things still were not as clear and I was not understanding as much as I had been before, so I emailed Meg and told her about the problem. She set me up with an appointment to come in so we could re-tweak. I'm also having an issue with the sound being "squashed." This happens when I'm in a noisy environment or when something is making a loud or high pitched noise. It's like everything becomes very condensed.
Rick fessed up afterwards that he could tell a big difference in what I was catching after my prior tweak. However, he never said anything. He said that since I knew I was having a problem he never put in his two cents worth.
So, I go back to Meg and she put me back on my prior program. She's only going to make one small change at a time so we'll know exactly what is working and what is not. The only thing she changed this time was trying to open up the program to allow in more sound so I don't get that squashing thing happening so much.
The squashing is caused by a noise reduction program that is built into the processor. They have to be careful about letting really loud noises go through. She says it's one thing for a person to hear a really loud noise and have it fry the hair cells in their ears and it's a totally different thing to have a loud noise go through and fry my auditory nerve. We really don't want to do that!!!! So we have to work on that to see how much we can let through and try to get away from too much squashing.
A couple of weeks ago I had a moment of panic!! As usual, I got ready for work. I put my processor on towards the end of my morning routine. I always check to make sure the volume setting is correct, attach the battery, put it on my head, do the final touches to my hair, get dressed and mosey downstairs to feed the baby kitties. When I went downstairs and was talking to the kitties, I immediately noticed that I couldn't hear much of squat. I'm thinking -- OH MAN, this is BAD!!! Well, I head on to work wondering what in the world has happened!! I was starting to get very concerned. I was only hearing a VERY teeny tiny amount of sound. Not much of anything. As soon as I got to work, I emailed my friend Regina and told her what was up and asked her to say a prayer. Shortly thereafter, Rick called me as he does every morning when he is leaving work. I told him that something was wrong and I was not hearing much of anything. He says - is your volume turned down? I'm thinking, what kind of stupid question is that??!! Of course I didn't turn my volume down! I always keep it set at the same place. He tells me to check it, so I lay down the phone, take my headpiece off and LO AND BEHOLD the volume is turned ALL the way down!! I wanted to stand up and shout HALLELUJAH!!!! I cranked the volume back to normal and told him that he saved the day!! Actually I felt that I got an instant answer to the prayers that Regina and I were praying!! And that answer was delivered through my husband. Who woulda thought??!!!! I suppose as I was finishing up my hair, I hit the volume knob. I was soooooooooooo thankful that it was a problem with a very simple solution. I could go about my day and hear again!!
It also makes me realize how much I depend on my CI and how much it really changes things for me. Without it, I am only a hair above being deaf. At this point I don't know how I would manage without it. Thank the Good Lord for what I do hear and what I can understand at this time. By the way, keep those prayers coming!! I need each and every one!! Thanks!!!
The last time I checked in was right after a tweaking. Well, it didn't take me long to realize that after the changes, things just weren't as good as they had been. I thought I would give it some time because maybe I just needed to adjust to the new settings. However, after about 3 weeks, things still were not as clear and I was not understanding as much as I had been before, so I emailed Meg and told her about the problem. She set me up with an appointment to come in so we could re-tweak. I'm also having an issue with the sound being "squashed." This happens when I'm in a noisy environment or when something is making a loud or high pitched noise. It's like everything becomes very condensed.
Rick fessed up afterwards that he could tell a big difference in what I was catching after my prior tweak. However, he never said anything. He said that since I knew I was having a problem he never put in his two cents worth.
So, I go back to Meg and she put me back on my prior program. She's only going to make one small change at a time so we'll know exactly what is working and what is not. The only thing she changed this time was trying to open up the program to allow in more sound so I don't get that squashing thing happening so much.
The squashing is caused by a noise reduction program that is built into the processor. They have to be careful about letting really loud noises go through. She says it's one thing for a person to hear a really loud noise and have it fry the hair cells in their ears and it's a totally different thing to have a loud noise go through and fry my auditory nerve. We really don't want to do that!!!! So we have to work on that to see how much we can let through and try to get away from too much squashing.
A couple of weeks ago I had a moment of panic!! As usual, I got ready for work. I put my processor on towards the end of my morning routine. I always check to make sure the volume setting is correct, attach the battery, put it on my head, do the final touches to my hair, get dressed and mosey downstairs to feed the baby kitties. When I went downstairs and was talking to the kitties, I immediately noticed that I couldn't hear much of squat. I'm thinking -- OH MAN, this is BAD!!! Well, I head on to work wondering what in the world has happened!! I was starting to get very concerned. I was only hearing a VERY teeny tiny amount of sound. Not much of anything. As soon as I got to work, I emailed my friend Regina and told her what was up and asked her to say a prayer. Shortly thereafter, Rick called me as he does every morning when he is leaving work. I told him that something was wrong and I was not hearing much of anything. He says - is your volume turned down? I'm thinking, what kind of stupid question is that??!! Of course I didn't turn my volume down! I always keep it set at the same place. He tells me to check it, so I lay down the phone, take my headpiece off and LO AND BEHOLD the volume is turned ALL the way down!! I wanted to stand up and shout HALLELUJAH!!!! I cranked the volume back to normal and told him that he saved the day!! Actually I felt that I got an instant answer to the prayers that Regina and I were praying!! And that answer was delivered through my husband. Who woulda thought??!!!! I suppose as I was finishing up my hair, I hit the volume knob. I was soooooooooooo thankful that it was a problem with a very simple solution. I could go about my day and hear again!!
It also makes me realize how much I depend on my CI and how much it really changes things for me. Without it, I am only a hair above being deaf. At this point I don't know how I would manage without it. Thank the Good Lord for what I do hear and what I can understand at this time. By the way, keep those prayers coming!! I need each and every one!! Thanks!!!
Friday, July 6, 2007
Finally An Update!!!
I know, I know. I've been lagging behind in my blogging duties. Please, oh please forgive me. Well, today I had an appointment with Meg for tweaking and such. We went through the usual spiel. She asked how I was doing and I told her pretty good. Things are going well, but I'm just not seeing any big changes. She said that's the way it is. An adult brain just takes longer to change and it will be small things over time. Since my brain is old and shriveled up, it's going to take a long, long time!!! Being old does not have too many big selling points, I'm telling you!! After she was through changing my program a little, she took me back to the booth. Of course, I hate the booth. She re-did a test we had done when I was first being evaluated for the CI. It's a recording of a man speaking sentences. I have to repeat what he says. Even if I don't understand the whole sentence, she wants me to tell her any words I pick up or even parts of words. Below is my score from when I was first being evaluated. Notice, I got NO sentences and out of 53 words, I picked up a whopping 3 words. Woo!! I had a score of 5%.
Below is my test from today -- 3 months after hook up. I got a few whole sentences, some where I picked up most of the words, some a few words and still some that I didn't catch anything. However, I got 22 out of 53 words and a score of 41.5%!! Definitely not perfect, but a HUGE improvement!! Meg is a very happy girl!!! Cherri is happy too!!
Here is my audiological evaluation both prior and today. This is listening to the tones. The bottom part with the X's and O's is prior -- bad.....very bad. The top part with the "CI" is from today. Much better!!!!
So, things have really come along, but there's still lots of room for improvement. Keep those prayers coming that it will get betterer and betterer!!
Below is my test from today -- 3 months after hook up. I got a few whole sentences, some where I picked up most of the words, some a few words and still some that I didn't catch anything. However, I got 22 out of 53 words and a score of 41.5%!! Definitely not perfect, but a HUGE improvement!! Meg is a very happy girl!!! Cherri is happy too!!
Here is my audiological evaluation both prior and today. This is listening to the tones. The bottom part with the X's and O's is prior -- bad.....very bad. The top part with the "CI" is from today. Much better!!!!
So, things have really come along, but there's still lots of room for improvement. Keep those prayers coming that it will get betterer and betterer!!
Here are some things I'm picking up ---
We were at the zoo a couple of weeks ago and I heard the pink flamingos grunting. They were so cute!! And as we were leaving, there were some kind of birds squawking. Most of the animals were very quiet.......mostly napping. It was very hot that day and everybody just wanted to lay around.
In the last couple of days, I have realized that I hear the little birds around our house. I don't think I've ever picked them up before!! They are noisy little critters!!
I'm picking up words, phrases and such off of the radio. Music is still not good, but if the people are talking, sometimes I can catch what they are saying. Sometimes it's just a word, sometimes a sentence, sometimes the whole story! You just never know! Numbers still come through really clear. I don't know what it is about numbers!!
I just gave the kitties a snack and I hear them munching and crunching. Lots of lip smacking!!
I was making a stir-fry and I could hear the veggies in the pan sizzling!!
Yep, things have come a long way in 3 months, but there's still a lot farther to go. I just keep hoping and praying that God will continue to open up new pathways in my brain and the fluid issue won't be a problem so that things will continue to greatly improve and sounds and speech will become clearer and I can understand better.
Beep on!!!
Friday, June 15, 2007
My Poor Big'en!!!
Yesterday, Sylvester -- aka Big'en, aka Roy (as in Roy Biggins from the tv show Wings. They do favor each other!!!).....anyway Sylvester had to go to see Aunt Donna (our vet). Big'en used to be BIG....a 16/17 pounder. He is now a measly 9.6 pounds. Aunt Donna has checked him before but can't find anything wrong with him. Recently we thought he had a couple of bad teeth that had to come out, so off he goes to Aunt Donna's. Thank goodness, it ended up that he just had gingivitis, so she cleaned his teeth really good and then gave him an antibiotic shot. She has also done some more testing. ANYWAY, all of that is to say, that when I picked him up in the evening, he was NOT a happy boy. Not happy in the least. He was screaming and yelling from the moment they brought him out and continued to scream all the way home. I really hated for him to be so unhappy and I tried my best to reassure him that we were going home. But the thing is -- I heard him yelling the whole time!!! Never before would I have heard a thing!! Love my boy!! He can be a talker!!!
Today on my way home from work, I was listening to the radio and realized that whenever they were spouting off numbers, I caught them all. I don't know what it is about numbers, but I can catch them! Now, if I could just teach everybody to talk in number code everything would be just peachy!!
Here are 3 of my babies. Sylvester is down in front -- the black one. Next is Scarlet, aka Momma Girl, then Baxter, aka Cutie Boy, Baby One and Rutabaga Head. Lucy must be off to herself someplace.
Today on my way home from work, I was listening to the radio and realized that whenever they were spouting off numbers, I caught them all. I don't know what it is about numbers, but I can catch them! Now, if I could just teach everybody to talk in number code everything would be just peachy!!
Here are 3 of my babies. Sylvester is down in front -- the black one. Next is Scarlet, aka Momma Girl, then Baxter, aka Cutie Boy, Baby One and Rutabaga Head. Lucy must be off to herself someplace.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Hello?? Hello???
Last Saturday Cynthia was over at my house and she was talking on the phone to Mom. I walked in the room and Cynthia promptly put the phone up to my ear. Well, I'm sure she didn't even think about it, but she put it up to the implant. I haven't even tried to talk on the phone because I really didn't think I would catch anything. Well, the phone was already there so I figured I might as well give it a try. Mom says Hello! I said Hello! She says Hello, Hello!! Then she moved on into the general conversation. She had no idea that I was listening by way of the implant. I was truly amazed!! I caught pretty well everything she said!! First off I got to hear how she had not been feeling well and thought she was going to vomit........ It's always nice to have your inaugural conversation be about vomit. Lovely, just lovely. She was fine now, but had been feeling poorly before.
I tried talking to Rick on my cell phone a couple of days ago, but I was in the car and it was harder. I still understood some of what he was saying. I need to try talking on the phone some more and see how it goes. Because of my hearing -- or lack thereof -- I just don't talk on the phone much. I'm going to have to start calling people!!
We drove out to see a house that my cousin is building. Let me just say --- BIG, beautiful mansion on 68 acres -- getting the picture??!!! Anyway, I was driving, Rick was in the passenger seat and Mom was in the back. Rick and Mom were talking and I was catching some of what she was saying. Not a whole lot, but some here and some there!
I have switched back over to the "fast" program. I've had it on the "slow" program for probably about 3 weeks. I can't tell a big difference. I think I may get more sound from the fast one.
I had a headpiece die on me. That's the part that sticks to my head. I went to put on my processor one day and nothing happened! I thought I had shorted out!! Thank goodness I had a spare!! I switched over to the spare and everything worked fine. We messed around with the non-working processor and discovered it was just the headpiece that quit working. Meg has called AB and they are sending me a new one! God love those people!!
I still keep noticing little things here and there all the time that I've not heard before. I have found out that my house pops all the time. And the thermostat clicks when it comes on and goes off. I also heard the rain one day!!! I never hear the rain!!!
I was in the car with my friend Regina the other day. We went out to grab a sandwich at lunchtime. As we pulled into the parking lot, I went ahead and took off my seat belt. Well, of course it starts beep, beep, beeping constantly. I said -- Sorry I made you beep!!! Regina said -- you probably would not have heard that before. I said -- NEVER in a million years would I have had any clue that it was beeping!! There's no way I would have heard that!
For the most part, I still have to be looking at people to understand exactly what they are saying. However, it is so much easier to understand!! I do catch what Rick is saying sometimes without seeing him. He still likes to test me every now and then. I usually know what he is saying.........if not the first time, definitely the second.
It keeps coming along and getting better all the time! Yes, it's a slow process and yes, I really wish it would happen faster, but I am very pleased with the progress I have made already!! There is a total and complete difference from when I first got hooked up. It was all just gibberish, noise and beeping back then!! Remember the beeping???!!!! It is now real people speaking real words!! People still don't sound exactly right, but we're getting there!! It will just keep getting better and better!! Wheeeeee doggies!!!
I tried talking to Rick on my cell phone a couple of days ago, but I was in the car and it was harder. I still understood some of what he was saying. I need to try talking on the phone some more and see how it goes. Because of my hearing -- or lack thereof -- I just don't talk on the phone much. I'm going to have to start calling people!!
We drove out to see a house that my cousin is building. Let me just say --- BIG, beautiful mansion on 68 acres -- getting the picture??!!! Anyway, I was driving, Rick was in the passenger seat and Mom was in the back. Rick and Mom were talking and I was catching some of what she was saying. Not a whole lot, but some here and some there!
I have switched back over to the "fast" program. I've had it on the "slow" program for probably about 3 weeks. I can't tell a big difference. I think I may get more sound from the fast one.
I had a headpiece die on me. That's the part that sticks to my head. I went to put on my processor one day and nothing happened! I thought I had shorted out!! Thank goodness I had a spare!! I switched over to the spare and everything worked fine. We messed around with the non-working processor and discovered it was just the headpiece that quit working. Meg has called AB and they are sending me a new one! God love those people!!
I still keep noticing little things here and there all the time that I've not heard before. I have found out that my house pops all the time. And the thermostat clicks when it comes on and goes off. I also heard the rain one day!!! I never hear the rain!!!
I was in the car with my friend Regina the other day. We went out to grab a sandwich at lunchtime. As we pulled into the parking lot, I went ahead and took off my seat belt. Well, of course it starts beep, beep, beeping constantly. I said -- Sorry I made you beep!!! Regina said -- you probably would not have heard that before. I said -- NEVER in a million years would I have had any clue that it was beeping!! There's no way I would have heard that!
For the most part, I still have to be looking at people to understand exactly what they are saying. However, it is so much easier to understand!! I do catch what Rick is saying sometimes without seeing him. He still likes to test me every now and then. I usually know what he is saying.........if not the first time, definitely the second.
It keeps coming along and getting better all the time! Yes, it's a slow process and yes, I really wish it would happen faster, but I am very pleased with the progress I have made already!! There is a total and complete difference from when I first got hooked up. It was all just gibberish, noise and beeping back then!! Remember the beeping???!!!! It is now real people speaking real words!! People still don't sound exactly right, but we're getting there!! It will just keep getting better and better!! Wheeeeee doggies!!!
Thursday, May 24, 2007
No BIG Check
No!! I didn't win BIG in Vegas. I swannie!!! That always seems to happen. However, we actually came out ahead!! So, in Vegas terms, that is a win!!! We had a ball. Did the usual things, saw the sights, took in 2 shows. We saw KA, which is one of the Cirque Du Soliel shows out in Vegas. Of course it was fabulous!! We have seen three of their shows so far and I'm telling you......you can't go wrong with any one of them!! However, Mystere is still my most favoritest of all!!! When we checked in at the hotel, we were given a coupon for free tickets for a new show at Planet Hollywood. We got to see Stomp Out Loud. We had great tickets and it was a really good show!! WooHoo!! I looooove freebies!!
I ended up not using my Vegas program on my processor. I tried switching it over a couple of times, but it cut out too much of the sound. Everything was real small and tiny. I couldn't hear much of anything. I was just fine with my regular program. Nothing was really loud. I started noticing while we were in Vegas, and have noticed since then, that when things are REALLY loud, my processor seems to cut out a lot of the sound. I'll have to talk to Meg about that.
We went to the Toyota Perfect Attendance party last weekend and there were 2 concerts. One was very loud. However, I didn't hear a whole lot with the implant. So, I'm not sure what is happening.
Yesterday I switched over to the "slow" program that Meg wants me to try. I've not been able to tell any kind of big difference so far. However, she said I needed to give it several days before I really started comparing. The brain has to get used to a different program. So, we shall see.
Things are continuing to progress. No big changes, but I can tell that things are better. I can pick up what people are saying a lot easier and sometimes I feel like I am so close to truly being able to hear and understand them! I can also pick up some things that Keegan is saying. We were over at Mom's for dinner the other night and I was able to decipher a lot of what she was jabbering on about. Believe me, she jabbers on a whole lot!! That girl has a lot to say!!! Romy is still very screechy, but I know when she's talking!
Let me see if I can find some of our Vegas pictures!!
They are still working on Planet Hollywood. They've only got this end done.
I ended up not using my Vegas program on my processor. I tried switching it over a couple of times, but it cut out too much of the sound. Everything was real small and tiny. I couldn't hear much of anything. I was just fine with my regular program. Nothing was really loud. I started noticing while we were in Vegas, and have noticed since then, that when things are REALLY loud, my processor seems to cut out a lot of the sound. I'll have to talk to Meg about that.
We went to the Toyota Perfect Attendance party last weekend and there were 2 concerts. One was very loud. However, I didn't hear a whole lot with the implant. So, I'm not sure what is happening.
Yesterday I switched over to the "slow" program that Meg wants me to try. I've not been able to tell any kind of big difference so far. However, she said I needed to give it several days before I really started comparing. The brain has to get used to a different program. So, we shall see.
Things are continuing to progress. No big changes, but I can tell that things are better. I can pick up what people are saying a lot easier and sometimes I feel like I am so close to truly being able to hear and understand them! I can also pick up some things that Keegan is saying. We were over at Mom's for dinner the other night and I was able to decipher a lot of what she was jabbering on about. Believe me, she jabbers on a whole lot!! That girl has a lot to say!!! Romy is still very screechy, but I know when she's talking!
Let me see if I can find some of our Vegas pictures!!
They are still working on Planet Hollywood. They've only got this end done.
A white tiger at the Mirage. Love that boy!
We ate lunch one day at a french restaurant at Paris that had some outside seating. Our lunch was FABULOUS!! We could also see the Bellagio fountains across the street when they were doing a show. Wonderful place to sit!
This is on the other side of the street.......in front of the fountains looking back through the trees to Paris and the restaurant where we had lunch.
SpongeBob does Vegas!!!
The mist!! Getting ready for a show. I think this was for the theme from Titanic.
More fountains.
The check-in lobby at the Bellagio. I LOVE those pink hangie down things!!! The Bellagio has the most beautiful floral arrangements.
These are all from the conservatory in Bellagio. As you can tell, the Bellagio fountains and conservatory are my favoritest places in Vegas! Just absolutely beautiful and amazing!!!
The glass building was set up like a potting shed and was full of butterflies!
Friday, May 4, 2007
Just A Quick Post
Yes, it's been a while since I've posted anything, but maaaaannnn, things have been busy!!! I need to make this a quick one because we are leaving for Vegas in the morning!! Wheee doggies!!! I have to be up and out of the bed in about 4 1/2 hours from right now. Doesn't leave a lot of sleeping time.
A couple of good happenings: Last Sunday (after meeting up with my good luck charm-DeAnne at Lowes ---- yes, I was back at Lowes and spent a LOT of money again!!! You know how that Lowes place is!!!)........later that afternoon, I was over at Cynthia's playing with the girls in their sandbox. They were getting ready to go inside, so Cynthia was rinsing them off. I wasn't really listening to what she was saying, but I heard her say Come over here Romy. It was a minute later that I realized that I actually HEARD her say that!! Snappy!!! Then later on, Rick thought he was being real slick and would test me. His face was over near my implant and he said something. I said What. He repeated and I knew what he said. He then said something else, I asked for a repeat, but then knew what he said. The third thing he said I caught the first time. So, things are starting to get through!! That doesn't mean I'm hearing everything that's going on, but I am picking up more. If I'm just listening to a conversation, I don't catch anything. But I can tell that things are improving!!! We are getting there!!
Yesterday I had my tweaking with Meg. She piddled with my current program, but also gave me another program to try. My normal one is a "fast" program, but she said some people prefer the "slow" program. Before my next appointment in 2 months, she wants me to try each program and compare. See which I like better.
She also did the little test with the words. You know.....baseball, toothpaste, hot dog, bluebird, rainbow, ice cream.....those words. This time I could really tell what the words were!! I wasn't kind of guessing. They weren't plain as day, but I could tell which one she was saying!! Yippee!!
I also got my Vegas program!! I figured she would take out some of the high pitches, but actually she removed some of the low tones. She said that in a casino, all the noise is a low roar and that overtakes anything else I would hear. So, I'm all set!!!
Meg and another audiologist have discussed me a lot!! I guess I'm a good subject for conversation!! Glad I could give them a little something to talk about!! They feel that most of my issues have to do with the whole spinal fluid thing. The spinal fluid causes intracranial pressure which in turn can cause a lot of the issues that I'm having. However, she said the only way to prove it is by a spinal tap, but we won't be doing that!!! You don't just do a spinal tap for the fun of it!!! Also, there's nothing they can do about it anyway. I don't have any major problems, so it's just something I get to live with. It's probably always been there and I guess it will continue to always be there. Goodie for me!!! She also said that even though it's been 2 months since my surgery, that I'm still healing, so things haven't totally settled down yet.
Well, that's all I can think of right now. My brain has started to shut down anyway!! I now have 4 puny hours till time to get up!! I'll get back to you in about a week or so. Hopefully I'll have some good Vegas pictures!! And HOPEFULLY, there will be a picture of me holding that BIG check made out in my name for a bazillion dollars!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!
A couple of good happenings: Last Sunday (after meeting up with my good luck charm-DeAnne at Lowes ---- yes, I was back at Lowes and spent a LOT of money again!!! You know how that Lowes place is!!!)........later that afternoon, I was over at Cynthia's playing with the girls in their sandbox. They were getting ready to go inside, so Cynthia was rinsing them off. I wasn't really listening to what she was saying, but I heard her say Come over here Romy. It was a minute later that I realized that I actually HEARD her say that!! Snappy!!! Then later on, Rick thought he was being real slick and would test me. His face was over near my implant and he said something. I said What. He repeated and I knew what he said. He then said something else, I asked for a repeat, but then knew what he said. The third thing he said I caught the first time. So, things are starting to get through!! That doesn't mean I'm hearing everything that's going on, but I am picking up more. If I'm just listening to a conversation, I don't catch anything. But I can tell that things are improving!!! We are getting there!!
Yesterday I had my tweaking with Meg. She piddled with my current program, but also gave me another program to try. My normal one is a "fast" program, but she said some people prefer the "slow" program. Before my next appointment in 2 months, she wants me to try each program and compare. See which I like better.
She also did the little test with the words. You know.....baseball, toothpaste, hot dog, bluebird, rainbow, ice cream.....those words. This time I could really tell what the words were!! I wasn't kind of guessing. They weren't plain as day, but I could tell which one she was saying!! Yippee!!
I also got my Vegas program!! I figured she would take out some of the high pitches, but actually she removed some of the low tones. She said that in a casino, all the noise is a low roar and that overtakes anything else I would hear. So, I'm all set!!!
Meg and another audiologist have discussed me a lot!! I guess I'm a good subject for conversation!! Glad I could give them a little something to talk about!! They feel that most of my issues have to do with the whole spinal fluid thing. The spinal fluid causes intracranial pressure which in turn can cause a lot of the issues that I'm having. However, she said the only way to prove it is by a spinal tap, but we won't be doing that!!! You don't just do a spinal tap for the fun of it!!! Also, there's nothing they can do about it anyway. I don't have any major problems, so it's just something I get to live with. It's probably always been there and I guess it will continue to always be there. Goodie for me!!! She also said that even though it's been 2 months since my surgery, that I'm still healing, so things haven't totally settled down yet.
Well, that's all I can think of right now. My brain has started to shut down anyway!! I now have 4 puny hours till time to get up!! I'll get back to you in about a week or so. Hopefully I'll have some good Vegas pictures!! And HOPEFULLY, there will be a picture of me holding that BIG check made out in my name for a bazillion dollars!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!
Sunday, April 22, 2007
No Big News
Nope, don't have any big news. Things have taken on a more "airy" sound. The airiness has not been helpful. I don't know if it's just part of the changes or what. I have noticed more sounds lately though. My car has lots of noises!! I keep hearing the blinker more and more. I've heard the ding if you don't have your seat belt on and the dings for leaving the keys in the ignition. Also, the beeping when I hit the button to lock and unlock the doors. Who knew the car was so noisy!!??!!
I was out shopping one day and realized I heard other people talking to each other. I still can't tell what they were saying, but I can hear them talking. I also noticed I can hear Romy talking. She's never made it through before, but now I'm picking her up.
The cats continue to come through loud and clear. I also heard Rick squirting and sniffing his nasal spray! Isn't that something that everybody is just dying to hear!!
I thought I would post some pictures to show what the processor looks like for those who haven't seen one. Here it is sitting on my ear. You can't see the magnet part.
I've moved my hair so you can see the microphone that curls around to the front of my ear and also the magnetic part that sticks to my head.
Here's the whole outfit. If you look, you can tell the processor is actually 3 parts. The part that curls around is the t-mic - that picks up the sound. The middle part is the processor and then the bottom part is the battery. The round part over to the side is the head piece. That contains the magnet and is where all the sound info passes through my skin into the implant.
Just needed to throw in a cute picture of the girls!! You can tell they are saying cheeeese!!! I bought them these cute little overalls and they had to come over to model for me!
I was out shopping one day and realized I heard other people talking to each other. I still can't tell what they were saying, but I can hear them talking. I also noticed I can hear Romy talking. She's never made it through before, but now I'm picking her up.
The cats continue to come through loud and clear. I also heard Rick squirting and sniffing his nasal spray! Isn't that something that everybody is just dying to hear!!
I thought I would post some pictures to show what the processor looks like for those who haven't seen one. Here it is sitting on my ear. You can't see the magnet part.
I've moved my hair so you can see the microphone that curls around to the front of my ear and also the magnetic part that sticks to my head.
Here's the whole outfit. If you look, you can tell the processor is actually 3 parts. The part that curls around is the t-mic - that picks up the sound. The middle part is the processor and then the bottom part is the battery. The round part over to the side is the head piece. That contains the magnet and is where all the sound info passes through my skin into the implant.
Just needed to throw in a cute picture of the girls!! You can tell they are saying cheeeese!!! I bought them these cute little overalls and they had to come over to model for me!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
All Systems Go!!!
Yesterday was my 2 week appointment with Meg. It is hard to believe that it has only been 2 weeks. It seems like I've had this thing FOREVER!! I think that's why, at times, it seems like I haven't come very far. I think it's because I'm so focused on it all the time......seeing what I hear, what I don't hear, how things sound, listening for the "dialing" effect, on and on and on. That makes time really drag out.
The doctor has started me on a diuretic to see if that helps with the dialing effect. They think it may be fluid. Don't know for sure. So, I'm trying this to see if it helps. If so, great!! If not, we'll try something else!
Meg tweaked my programs some more. She also ran another impedance test and some of the numbers are rising. They are still plenty low, but they have gone up a little since the last test -- 2 weeks ago. She has no clue why this is happening. She's going to talk to the AB people and see if they have any ideas. I think I'm going to be a real challenging case...... I seem to have a lot of issues!! :-) At least I'll keep these people on their toes!! Make them earn their money!!
She ran another test to see how the cochlea and nerve were responding and that all looked good. It's just weird some of the things they can test!! We re-did a couple of simple tests that she did the first day she hooked me up. She shows me a paper with 6 words on it. She goes over the words (rainbow, toothpaste, baseball, bluebird, hot dog, ice cream), then covers her face and I have to tell her which word she's saying. The day of my hook up, I got none. Rick thinks I got 2. Either 0 or 2.......it was bad. Yesterday I got 6 of 7! Now, I'm not actually hearing the real words, but I'm picking up enough to guess at what she's saying. Then she did another one that was sounds......ooooooo, eeeeee, mmmmm, sssss, sh, aaaaa......I got 4 of 6 on that one. Again -- I got none the first time. Also, the first time I didn't even hear the ssss or sh. Yesterday, I could probably hear those the best. Snappy!!! She is mighty impressed. I guess it doesn't take much to thrill her!! NEXT, she put me in the sound booth where they do the normal hearing tests. She just ran some sounds through the speaker -- I didn't have on the ear phones. They were soft sounds.....Rick said it was kind of like white noise.....and very soft. This test is the one that really blew me away!! I barely heard them, but heard something. Then she showed me the chart. On the test pre-CI, the lowest tone that I heard was somewhat below the normal hearing line, the next tone dropped farther down, the next one was way down, then beyond that, it was off the chart.....I didn't hear anything at all. The sounds from yesterday were all around the normal hearing range!! These are sounds that I could not hear before. That was too wild!!! I mean, really blew me away!!! She says I am doing great, right on target and the progress I have made is HUGE!! WHOOOPEEE!!!!
I go back to see her in 3 weeks. This will be right before we head off to Vegas. Oh man....I LOVE Vegas!!!! Anyway, she wants to see me before we go in case we need to tweak the programs some. Also, she'll give me a Vegas program. I'm thinking SNAAAPPPYY!! She'll take out some of the high pitches.....kind of a noise reduction, so hopefully all the noise won't kill my ear! As long as I hear that DING DING DING when I win-----that's all I need!!!!!
I am starting to be able to tell some differences in sounds. It's still mostly just noise, but I can tell some differences. At work this morning, I was at the microwave heating water for some tea..... and I guess, since she changed my programs, things were pretty loud. The microwave was a roar, but I heard somebody come in the door and realized what it was. Then I heard the bell ding on the microwave. I don't think I've noticed all of that before!! It's so cool!!
This evening I was deleting phone numbers off of our caller id and heard the beep of the buttons come through loud and clear! Snappy again!!! So............things............they are a-changin'!!!!
It's all very exciting and pretty wild when I think about it! I have been very blessed!!!
The doctor has started me on a diuretic to see if that helps with the dialing effect. They think it may be fluid. Don't know for sure. So, I'm trying this to see if it helps. If so, great!! If not, we'll try something else!
Meg tweaked my programs some more. She also ran another impedance test and some of the numbers are rising. They are still plenty low, but they have gone up a little since the last test -- 2 weeks ago. She has no clue why this is happening. She's going to talk to the AB people and see if they have any ideas. I think I'm going to be a real challenging case...... I seem to have a lot of issues!! :-) At least I'll keep these people on their toes!! Make them earn their money!!
She ran another test to see how the cochlea and nerve were responding and that all looked good. It's just weird some of the things they can test!! We re-did a couple of simple tests that she did the first day she hooked me up. She shows me a paper with 6 words on it. She goes over the words (rainbow, toothpaste, baseball, bluebird, hot dog, ice cream), then covers her face and I have to tell her which word she's saying. The day of my hook up, I got none. Rick thinks I got 2. Either 0 or 2.......it was bad. Yesterday I got 6 of 7! Now, I'm not actually hearing the real words, but I'm picking up enough to guess at what she's saying. Then she did another one that was sounds......ooooooo, eeeeee, mmmmm, sssss, sh, aaaaa......I got 4 of 6 on that one. Again -- I got none the first time. Also, the first time I didn't even hear the ssss or sh. Yesterday, I could probably hear those the best. Snappy!!! She is mighty impressed. I guess it doesn't take much to thrill her!! NEXT, she put me in the sound booth where they do the normal hearing tests. She just ran some sounds through the speaker -- I didn't have on the ear phones. They were soft sounds.....Rick said it was kind of like white noise.....and very soft. This test is the one that really blew me away!! I barely heard them, but heard something. Then she showed me the chart. On the test pre-CI, the lowest tone that I heard was somewhat below the normal hearing line, the next tone dropped farther down, the next one was way down, then beyond that, it was off the chart.....I didn't hear anything at all. The sounds from yesterday were all around the normal hearing range!! These are sounds that I could not hear before. That was too wild!!! I mean, really blew me away!!! She says I am doing great, right on target and the progress I have made is HUGE!! WHOOOPEEE!!!!
I go back to see her in 3 weeks. This will be right before we head off to Vegas. Oh man....I LOVE Vegas!!!! Anyway, she wants to see me before we go in case we need to tweak the programs some. Also, she'll give me a Vegas program. I'm thinking SNAAAPPPYY!! She'll take out some of the high pitches.....kind of a noise reduction, so hopefully all the noise won't kill my ear! As long as I hear that DING DING DING when I win-----that's all I need!!!!!
I am starting to be able to tell some differences in sounds. It's still mostly just noise, but I can tell some differences. At work this morning, I was at the microwave heating water for some tea..... and I guess, since she changed my programs, things were pretty loud. The microwave was a roar, but I heard somebody come in the door and realized what it was. Then I heard the bell ding on the microwave. I don't think I've noticed all of that before!! It's so cool!!
This evening I was deleting phone numbers off of our caller id and heard the beep of the buttons come through loud and clear! Snappy again!!! So............things............they are a-changin'!!!!
It's all very exciting and pretty wild when I think about it! I have been very blessed!!!
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Happy Easter!!
I hope everyone is having a blessed Easter!! We've had a good day, but I'm telling you....it is frigid!! What happened to spring?? It was 80 degrees just a week ago!! I'm not liking this at all.
I feel I had my own Easter miracle last night. We stopped to visit a friend after being out and about yesterday afternoon. I had just been thinking how things didn't seem to be changing very much. I do see little differences, but nothing dramatic. I know I have to be patient and these things take lots of time. I also have to remind myself that I've only been "online" for less than 2 weeks. I am very patient, but it's nice to see some progress every now and then. :-)
DeAnne was asking how things were, what I was hearing, about the changes and all that. I told her the latest. A little while later, we were standing in the kitchen continuing to chat away, when I realized that things had really changed while we were standing there!! That was too wild!!! I still can't understand speech, but I feel like I took a big step closer!! I'm getting more sound, some lower sounds, it's almost like the sounds are being stretched out and warbley! I know that makes no sense to you......it doesn't make much sense to me either!! But I really don't know how to explain what I'm hearing. It reminds me of the bad guy on tv -- the kidnapper who calls about the ransom and is talking through a synthesizer!! That's the best I can do!!
Some things sound a little more normal. Well, not quite normal, but better than they were. It's not all high pitched squealing. As I sit here typing, the keys sound more clackety and not high pitched beeping. Our mouse has a roller thing that you can turn and scroll down a page....well I hear each click that it makes and as I scroll quickly, it has a "roller" sound! For me...that's pretty exciting!! People's voices are still weird, but I can tell that I'm getting closer to the time when I'll be able to make out some words. It's really a big change from what I was hearing!!! Wheeeeeeee!!!
We finally did our taxes today. Nothing like waiting till the last minute!! Oh heck -- we actually still have a week --- why the big rush!???!
By the way, Rick has decided to take up blogging! I've read his first post and I'm not quite sure who he's talking about!!! I'm going to have to keep an eye on him!! He's at: http://www.bionicnut.blogspot.com/ He said that I'm the "fruit" and he's the "nut". Well, we ALL know he's a litte nutty!! Enough said.
I feel I had my own Easter miracle last night. We stopped to visit a friend after being out and about yesterday afternoon. I had just been thinking how things didn't seem to be changing very much. I do see little differences, but nothing dramatic. I know I have to be patient and these things take lots of time. I also have to remind myself that I've only been "online" for less than 2 weeks. I am very patient, but it's nice to see some progress every now and then. :-)
DeAnne was asking how things were, what I was hearing, about the changes and all that. I told her the latest. A little while later, we were standing in the kitchen continuing to chat away, when I realized that things had really changed while we were standing there!! That was too wild!!! I still can't understand speech, but I feel like I took a big step closer!! I'm getting more sound, some lower sounds, it's almost like the sounds are being stretched out and warbley! I know that makes no sense to you......it doesn't make much sense to me either!! But I really don't know how to explain what I'm hearing. It reminds me of the bad guy on tv -- the kidnapper who calls about the ransom and is talking through a synthesizer!! That's the best I can do!!
Some things sound a little more normal. Well, not quite normal, but better than they were. It's not all high pitched squealing. As I sit here typing, the keys sound more clackety and not high pitched beeping. Our mouse has a roller thing that you can turn and scroll down a page....well I hear each click that it makes and as I scroll quickly, it has a "roller" sound! For me...that's pretty exciting!! People's voices are still weird, but I can tell that I'm getting closer to the time when I'll be able to make out some words. It's really a big change from what I was hearing!!! Wheeeeeeee!!!
We finally did our taxes today. Nothing like waiting till the last minute!! Oh heck -- we actually still have a week --- why the big rush!???!
By the way, Rick has decided to take up blogging! I've read his first post and I'm not quite sure who he's talking about!!! I'm going to have to keep an eye on him!! He's at: http://www.bionicnut.blogspot.com/ He said that I'm the "fruit" and he's the "nut". Well, we ALL know he's a litte nutty!! Enough said.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Just Checking In
I thought I would write a smidge since it's been a few days. I was going to check in a couple of days ago, but we had some big ugly storms pass through so I wasn't on the computer. Then last night we had dinner at Cynthia's. We all brought part of the meal and let me just say, it was scrumptious!!! Mom made french fried chicken and green beans. I took corn and stuffed eggs. Cynthia made smashed potatoes and strawberry shortcake. We were eating high on the hog!! Oh my!!!!
There's not been any big changes, but still having little ones. Any change is nice!! I'm still noticing small changes in the way things sound. I'm also hearing more things. So far I've heard 3 of the kitties talking -- Sylvester, Scarlet and Baxter. I've not heard Lucy. But she doesn't talk a whole lot. She's a loner. Scarlet is the voice box of the group. She always lets me know when it's time for a snack!
The other day, Rick was making a phone call and as he was dialing, I heard the beep as he punched the numbers. I had no idea they beeped when you dialed!! That was pretty cool!!
Yesterday morning, I heard the water filling up the toilet tank after a flush. It's always nice to get a thrill from hearing the toilet. My life is so full of excitement.
Then, on my way home yesterday, as I was sitting at a stop light -- I didn't have the radio on -- I heard the turn signal. I've not been able to hear that!
Also, today at work, I heard some people coming down the hall talking. I thought that's what it was and amazingly enough, two people came around the corner chit chatting! So, things are coming along!!!
But I'm also having some kind of issue. Things will get loud and then get soft. The only way I know how to describe it is if somebody had a dial and they would dial the noise up and then dial the noise down, then up and then down. The first time it happened I thought that maybe the battery in my processor was dying. But then it kept happening, so I knew that wasn't it. Then I thought maybe I had a bad processor. I doubted that, but the next day a tried a different processor (I have 2). Still the same thing the next day. Then I thought, maybe the ringing in my ear is starting to go away. That would be FABULOUS because I have really loud ringing all the time. But then I noticed that as the ringing and noise got softer, I wasn't picking up as much from my implant either. So, who knows?? I wrote Meg (my audiologist) to ask her if she had any ideas. I really didn't see this being a normal thing. As of right now, I still don't know. I got a reply from her and she has given my email to Dr. Jones. We are waiting to hear from him. Meg said it kind of sounds like a fluid problem to her. So we shall see. Nothing is ever easy for me!! Trouble follows me wherever I go!! Watch out if you see me coming!!
There's not been any big changes, but still having little ones. Any change is nice!! I'm still noticing small changes in the way things sound. I'm also hearing more things. So far I've heard 3 of the kitties talking -- Sylvester, Scarlet and Baxter. I've not heard Lucy. But she doesn't talk a whole lot. She's a loner. Scarlet is the voice box of the group. She always lets me know when it's time for a snack!
The other day, Rick was making a phone call and as he was dialing, I heard the beep as he punched the numbers. I had no idea they beeped when you dialed!! That was pretty cool!!
Yesterday morning, I heard the water filling up the toilet tank after a flush. It's always nice to get a thrill from hearing the toilet. My life is so full of excitement.
Then, on my way home yesterday, as I was sitting at a stop light -- I didn't have the radio on -- I heard the turn signal. I've not been able to hear that!
Also, today at work, I heard some people coming down the hall talking. I thought that's what it was and amazingly enough, two people came around the corner chit chatting! So, things are coming along!!!
But I'm also having some kind of issue. Things will get loud and then get soft. The only way I know how to describe it is if somebody had a dial and they would dial the noise up and then dial the noise down, then up and then down. The first time it happened I thought that maybe the battery in my processor was dying. But then it kept happening, so I knew that wasn't it. Then I thought maybe I had a bad processor. I doubted that, but the next day a tried a different processor (I have 2). Still the same thing the next day. Then I thought, maybe the ringing in my ear is starting to go away. That would be FABULOUS because I have really loud ringing all the time. But then I noticed that as the ringing and noise got softer, I wasn't picking up as much from my implant either. So, who knows?? I wrote Meg (my audiologist) to ask her if she had any ideas. I really didn't see this being a normal thing. As of right now, I still don't know. I got a reply from her and she has given my email to Dr. Jones. We are waiting to hear from him. Meg said it kind of sounds like a fluid problem to her. So we shall see. Nothing is ever easy for me!! Trouble follows me wherever I go!! Watch out if you see me coming!!
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Thank You!!
I know there are so many people out there who are praying for me. Even people I don't know!! I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! That means more to me than anything. It's wonderful knowing that family, friends and friends of friends are sending a word up to God on my behalf. I really feel that God has led me to this place and He'll get me to wherever He wants me to go in His own time. I may have to take the scenic route, but I'll get there eventually!! Maybe with all of your prayers, He'll help me get there a little faster! We know that prayer can accomplish great things!! So, again, Thank You so very much and please continue to put in a little word for me every now and then. :-)
I am starting to see some slight changes. My beeping isn't just a high pitched squealing tone anymore. I still get a lot of that, but I'm also getting more variance in the sound. Just this evening, Rick, Mom and I were in the car. Mom was sitting in the back and was talking to Rick. I could hear her talking----couldn't understand a thing, but I could hear her talking. What I was hearing reminded me of the teacher on Charlie Brown --- wah wah waaah waah wah wah waah. If you've ever watched Charlie Brown, you know what I mean!!!
I don't know how to explain what I'm hearing. It's like I can hear the syllables and I'm picking up a variety in sound. I still don't get any actual word sounds, but I feel like if I could get a little more input, I think I could guess at what's being said.
I've only been hooked up for 4 days and I'm already seeing changes!! Life is good!!!
I can also get my head piece on much easier! Thank goodness!! The head piece is the part with the magnet that sticks to my head. It's too weird to reach towards the back of my head and stick a magnet to it!! It's just wild!!! Anyway.....the first couple of days I fought with that thing for 20 minutes in the morning!! Ohhh, I can get it to stick to my head, but as soon as I try to fluff my hair around it, it falls off. After I go through this about 15 times, it starts to get a little aggravating. Even if I fluff with one hand and hold the head piece with the other, it still manages to fall off!! When I saw Meg on Wednesday, she put a little stronger magnet in the head piece and that definitely helps, but I still have to be careful. However, this morning, I think it only came off about 3 times. I'm definitely improving!!!
However, on a whole 'nother topic that has nothing to do with anything.......I just have to tell you.......screws at Lowes are EXPENSIVE!! Rick needed to buy a few screws (it's been project day at our house!), so off to Lowes we go! I love going to Lowes. I can browse and browse.......always find something I need!! Weeeeelllllll, we picked up a few more things...we always do!! Those few little puny screws ended up costing us $156!!! See!!! I told you that screws from Lowes are EXPENSIVE!! Beware!!!
I am starting to see some slight changes. My beeping isn't just a high pitched squealing tone anymore. I still get a lot of that, but I'm also getting more variance in the sound. Just this evening, Rick, Mom and I were in the car. Mom was sitting in the back and was talking to Rick. I could hear her talking----couldn't understand a thing, but I could hear her talking. What I was hearing reminded me of the teacher on Charlie Brown --- wah wah waaah waah wah wah waah. If you've ever watched Charlie Brown, you know what I mean!!!
I don't know how to explain what I'm hearing. It's like I can hear the syllables and I'm picking up a variety in sound. I still don't get any actual word sounds, but I feel like if I could get a little more input, I think I could guess at what's being said.
I've only been hooked up for 4 days and I'm already seeing changes!! Life is good!!!
I can also get my head piece on much easier! Thank goodness!! The head piece is the part with the magnet that sticks to my head. It's too weird to reach towards the back of my head and stick a magnet to it!! It's just wild!!! Anyway.....the first couple of days I fought with that thing for 20 minutes in the morning!! Ohhh, I can get it to stick to my head, but as soon as I try to fluff my hair around it, it falls off. After I go through this about 15 times, it starts to get a little aggravating. Even if I fluff with one hand and hold the head piece with the other, it still manages to fall off!! When I saw Meg on Wednesday, she put a little stronger magnet in the head piece and that definitely helps, but I still have to be careful. However, this morning, I think it only came off about 3 times. I'm definitely improving!!!
However, on a whole 'nother topic that has nothing to do with anything.......I just have to tell you.......screws at Lowes are EXPENSIVE!! Rick needed to buy a few screws (it's been project day at our house!), so off to Lowes we go! I love going to Lowes. I can browse and browse.......always find something I need!! Weeeeelllllll, we picked up a few more things...we always do!! Those few little puny screws ended up costing us $156!!! See!!! I told you that screws from Lowes are EXPENSIVE!! Beware!!!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Day 2
Well, not a whole lot to report from today. We went back to see Meg and she tweaked my programs a little. I'm still hearing a high pitched tone, but sometimes it seems I may get a smidge of variety in the tone. I have 3 programs like I did yesterday. As I max out the volume on the first one, then I move up to the second, max it out, then move on to the third. I don't go back to the audiologist for 2 weeks. However, if something comes up and I feel the need to go in, she's just a phone call away!
Meg was pleased that I heard Scarlet "beep" at me last night! Even though I'm not hearing actual sounds, I'm still picking up things that I normally would not hear. My beeping is a normal occurrence and with time it will change into real sounds. It's just going to take a while. She also said that people with my type of steep slope hearing loss will generally have a little harder time. By "steep slope" I'm referring to the fact that I had hearing in the low tones, but it dropped off in a steep slope from there. People who have a more flat hearing loss will adapt more easily. Why do I always have to be in the "problem" category??? Somebody tell me WHY!!! Oh well, it will come. It may take a little longer, but it will happen eventually!!
I need to start hearing therapy soon! I need to get some books on tape and the actual book that goes along with it. That way I can listen to someone reading the words and I can follow along so that my brain can put the two together. Also I can read out loud to myself or have Rick read out loud and I follow along. That way the brain hears the word and sees the word and that will help it make sense of what it's hearing. This will really help things along, however, I can't rush things. The brain will adapt at it's own speed. I can help it, but I can't push it.
Right now my brain is getting information and sounds that it has not heard in a million years. It has no clue what to do with this info. It is also receiving the information in a weird way. It's not coming in by way of normal hearing, but there's an electronic device in my cochlea that is sending electronic impulses up my auditory nerve.......my poor brain is all confused!! It doesn't take much to send it into a frenzy!! But with time it will figure it all out.
Well, I just heard the phone ring!! That's something I don't usually hear. Right now it's fairly quiet. Rick has laid down to take a nap, the kitties are snoozing and I'm here at the computer. There's no other noise. If it's noisy, it's hard for me to pick out a specific sound because it all blends in together and gets overwhelming. All I hear is one big mass of noise. Quiet can be really nice sometimes!!!
Oh!! Something else!! After surgery, Dr. Jones told us that there was one electrode that wasn't functioning correctly. They can hook up the implant to a computer to get a reading from each electrode to see how it is doing. Meg explained more about it today. The first time he inserted the electrodes, they got bad readings on 6 electrodes. That was entirely too many. He took it out and tried again. The second time there was just the 1 electrode. That's not bad, so he left it alone. Usually the electrode may be too close to something in the cochlea, there may be swelling or it's just in a bad spot. However, she ran another test yesterday and they are all working great!! The "bad" one has adjusted or moved or whatever it does, and now its reading is right in line with all the others! YAY!!!!! That's great!
That's about it for today. I thought this was going to be a short post. That's what I get for thinking!!! Hopefully in a few days I'll have more juicy stuff to report!!
Here is Scarlet -- The Wonder Beeping Kitty!!
Meg was pleased that I heard Scarlet "beep" at me last night! Even though I'm not hearing actual sounds, I'm still picking up things that I normally would not hear. My beeping is a normal occurrence and with time it will change into real sounds. It's just going to take a while. She also said that people with my type of steep slope hearing loss will generally have a little harder time. By "steep slope" I'm referring to the fact that I had hearing in the low tones, but it dropped off in a steep slope from there. People who have a more flat hearing loss will adapt more easily. Why do I always have to be in the "problem" category??? Somebody tell me WHY!!! Oh well, it will come. It may take a little longer, but it will happen eventually!!
I need to start hearing therapy soon! I need to get some books on tape and the actual book that goes along with it. That way I can listen to someone reading the words and I can follow along so that my brain can put the two together. Also I can read out loud to myself or have Rick read out loud and I follow along. That way the brain hears the word and sees the word and that will help it make sense of what it's hearing. This will really help things along, however, I can't rush things. The brain will adapt at it's own speed. I can help it, but I can't push it.
Right now my brain is getting information and sounds that it has not heard in a million years. It has no clue what to do with this info. It is also receiving the information in a weird way. It's not coming in by way of normal hearing, but there's an electronic device in my cochlea that is sending electronic impulses up my auditory nerve.......my poor brain is all confused!! It doesn't take much to send it into a frenzy!! But with time it will figure it all out.
Well, I just heard the phone ring!! That's something I don't usually hear. Right now it's fairly quiet. Rick has laid down to take a nap, the kitties are snoozing and I'm here at the computer. There's no other noise. If it's noisy, it's hard for me to pick out a specific sound because it all blends in together and gets overwhelming. All I hear is one big mass of noise. Quiet can be really nice sometimes!!!
Oh!! Something else!! After surgery, Dr. Jones told us that there was one electrode that wasn't functioning correctly. They can hook up the implant to a computer to get a reading from each electrode to see how it is doing. Meg explained more about it today. The first time he inserted the electrodes, they got bad readings on 6 electrodes. That was entirely too many. He took it out and tried again. The second time there was just the 1 electrode. That's not bad, so he left it alone. Usually the electrode may be too close to something in the cochlea, there may be swelling or it's just in a bad spot. However, she ran another test yesterday and they are all working great!! The "bad" one has adjusted or moved or whatever it does, and now its reading is right in line with all the others! YAY!!!!! That's great!
That's about it for today. I thought this was going to be a short post. That's what I get for thinking!!! Hopefully in a few days I'll have more juicy stuff to report!!
Here is Scarlet -- The Wonder Beeping Kitty!!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Activation Day!!
Today was the day!! I had high hopes but no real expectations. I've been told over and over to not get my expectations up and then be disappointed. I knew that most likely things would not start out great. Of course, I HOPED they would, but didn't expect them to. Meg put the processor on my ear and the magnet on my head, then plugged me into the computer. Here I am getting ready to start the process.
Then Meg punched some buttons on the computer, started talking to me and I was to tell her when I either heard something or sensed something. I finally started hearing some noise which was very similar to all the ringing that I have. I had to wait for it to get fairly loud to be heard above the ringing. (I hope that once I start "hearing", that the ringing will quiet down. However, that's a wait and see kind of thing.) She would mess more with the volume and then ask me how loud it was. In this picture she's pointing to the chart and I'm trying to tell her what I'm experiencing.
Then Meg punched some buttons on the computer, started talking to me and I was to tell her when I either heard something or sensed something. I finally started hearing some noise which was very similar to all the ringing that I have. I had to wait for it to get fairly loud to be heard above the ringing. (I hope that once I start "hearing", that the ringing will quiet down. However, that's a wait and see kind of thing.) She would mess more with the volume and then ask me how loud it was. In this picture she's pointing to the chart and I'm trying to tell her what I'm experiencing.
We did this several times so that the volume is about a 7, which is fairly loud without being too loud. We want it loud so that the brain can start getting used to hearing. Also, most likely, the volume will start to decrease for me fairly quickly as the brain gets used to it. If things start getting softer this evening or tomorrow before I go back to see Meg, then I am to turn up the volume. Once I max out this program, there are 2 more programs on my processor which will increase the volume. As things get softer, I keep upping the volume.
As of right now, I'm not truly hearing any real sounds. Everything sounds the same. All I'm getting right now are beeps. All noises are just beeps. Just what I need......more beeping in my head to join all those voices that talk to me!!! We've decided that it could be aliens trying to communicate!! I've got to figure out what the beeps mean!! They could be telling me where the secret stash of money is!!! I'VE GOT TO FIGURE THIS OUT!!!!
Yes, I had high hopes that I would be one of those people who came home and really heard some things. I didn't truly expect it, but hoped for it just the same. I'm not disappointed because I know things will get better. Things will change quickly. It's a process that will take time, time and patience, patience, patience!!!
For the first 3 months, we will work mostly on volume. Then after that, move into more programming.
I do have to say that I am hearing beeps that go along with sounds that I don't normally hear. Rick rang our doorbell, which I have never heard, and I could hear a soft beep. We tried the cell phones, and I heard them ring........well...beep. As I said, all sounds right now are the same beep. As I type, the keyboard beeps. When we were coming home, Rick was messing with me and would be looking the other way and make soft sounds......well, I heard the beeps. I'm hearing a lot of beeping that goes with things I wouldn't usually hear........but a person can only listen to so many beeps!!!
I'm excited to see all the new upcoming changes!! Hopefully before too long, I'll start to really hear and be able to make out what the sound is. I guess I'm going to have to get to work on re-training this old brain!!
I just now heard Scarlet (one of my cats) beep for the first time!!!! I've never heard any of them meow. Well, she beeped for me!!!! Love that baby girl!! I'll throw some cat pictures on here before too long so you can see my babies..........I have 4 of them.
So, that's where I am right now. Just sitting here listening to lots of beeps!! I'll let you know tomorrow what's new.
Beep on!!!!!
Sunday, March 25, 2007
2 MORE DAYS!!
It's getting close!!! Thank goodness! I am soooo ready to get hooked up and see what happens. I sure hope I can make sense of things and I hope it's not all just a big jumble of noise. We'll see. It's different for everybody, and everybody adapts at their own speed. We will know pretty soon!!
Don't have any real news to report. Nothing going on.......just waiting.
While we're at the audiologist on Tuesday, I do plan to have the doctor look at my lump and see if everything is ok. I think it's just the way the implant sits, but I want to know for sure.
Well, that's about it. Sorry nothing juicy!!
Don't have any real news to report. Nothing going on.......just waiting.
While we're at the audiologist on Tuesday, I do plan to have the doctor look at my lump and see if everything is ok. I think it's just the way the implant sits, but I want to know for sure.
Well, that's about it. Sorry nothing juicy!!
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
6 More Days!!
Less than a week till hook up day!! Wheeeeee!!! I am ready to get a move on!!
Now I'm having a weird issue. First of all, let me say, I have ringing in my ears all the time. For as long as I can remember, they ring and chirp and squeek and make all kinds of noise all the time!! Since surgery, the implanted ear rings continuously. That's not a problem. It happens to most everyone.
Last night Rick and I went to the gym for the first time since my surgery. We walked around the track for a while, then started to jog a little. Shortly after starting to jog, the ringing in the implanted ear started to get much worse. Well, I would jog a little and then walk some more, then jog a little, then walk. However, each time I tried jogging, the ringing got much worse. It got to the point that it was overwhelming and overpowerful. It was bad!!!! So I had to give up on the jogging. This morning Rick called the doctor to see if there might be a problem. They've never heard of this and have no clue what the problem is or why it is happening.
Well, this evening I figured I would see if it happened again. Rick and I went out walking and jogging in the neighborhood (spring is in the air!!!). As long as we were walking, everything was normal.....just the usual ringing. When we started jogging, it took about 45 seconds for the ringing to start intensifying. About that time we came to a little hill and stopped running. I'm just getting back into jogging, so I don't do hills yet. :-) But yes, it looked like it was going to be the same thing. However, the next time we ran, it was downhill. As long as we were going downhill, the ringing didn't get worse. As soon as things leveled out and I had to put forth more effort, the ringing started cranking up. If there was a little incline, it got much worse. We did either 4 or 5 jogging sections and it happened every time. I would always stop before the ringing got to the overwhelming point. However, the last time I just about pushed it too far and it started to cross the line to overpowerful/painful. I wonder if it has to do with a rise in pulse rate/blood pressure. It's just all so strange!
Also, I have a lump that is right behind the incision line. It's a pretty good lump. It doesn't hurt or anything. While Rick had the nurse on the line this morning, he asked about that too. They said if it's not swollen or painful, it's probably just the way the implant is sitting on the bone. When we came in from our walk/run this evening, I happened to feel of it. Wow! It's much bigger!! Still not painful, but MUCH bigger!
It looks like I'm going to be one of those problem patients!!! They will start talking ugly about me before too long!
So, I guess Rick is going to call them back tomorrow and let them know that the lump grew! If it goes down by tomorrow morning, we'll probably just ask about seeing a doctor when I go to the audiologist on Tuesday. If it looks like there might be a problem, they may want to check me out sooner. I sure hope I don't have issues! I don't like being a problem child. I swannie!!
I guess we won't be doing any more running until I get things checked out. I don't want to screw something up!
Now I'm having a weird issue. First of all, let me say, I have ringing in my ears all the time. For as long as I can remember, they ring and chirp and squeek and make all kinds of noise all the time!! Since surgery, the implanted ear rings continuously. That's not a problem. It happens to most everyone.
Last night Rick and I went to the gym for the first time since my surgery. We walked around the track for a while, then started to jog a little. Shortly after starting to jog, the ringing in the implanted ear started to get much worse. Well, I would jog a little and then walk some more, then jog a little, then walk. However, each time I tried jogging, the ringing got much worse. It got to the point that it was overwhelming and overpowerful. It was bad!!!! So I had to give up on the jogging. This morning Rick called the doctor to see if there might be a problem. They've never heard of this and have no clue what the problem is or why it is happening.
Well, this evening I figured I would see if it happened again. Rick and I went out walking and jogging in the neighborhood (spring is in the air!!!). As long as we were walking, everything was normal.....just the usual ringing. When we started jogging, it took about 45 seconds for the ringing to start intensifying. About that time we came to a little hill and stopped running. I'm just getting back into jogging, so I don't do hills yet. :-) But yes, it looked like it was going to be the same thing. However, the next time we ran, it was downhill. As long as we were going downhill, the ringing didn't get worse. As soon as things leveled out and I had to put forth more effort, the ringing started cranking up. If there was a little incline, it got much worse. We did either 4 or 5 jogging sections and it happened every time. I would always stop before the ringing got to the overwhelming point. However, the last time I just about pushed it too far and it started to cross the line to overpowerful/painful. I wonder if it has to do with a rise in pulse rate/blood pressure. It's just all so strange!
Also, I have a lump that is right behind the incision line. It's a pretty good lump. It doesn't hurt or anything. While Rick had the nurse on the line this morning, he asked about that too. They said if it's not swollen or painful, it's probably just the way the implant is sitting on the bone. When we came in from our walk/run this evening, I happened to feel of it. Wow! It's much bigger!! Still not painful, but MUCH bigger!
It looks like I'm going to be one of those problem patients!!! They will start talking ugly about me before too long!
So, I guess Rick is going to call them back tomorrow and let them know that the lump grew! If it goes down by tomorrow morning, we'll probably just ask about seeing a doctor when I go to the audiologist on Tuesday. If it looks like there might be a problem, they may want to check me out sooner. I sure hope I don't have issues! I don't like being a problem child. I swannie!!
I guess we won't be doing any more running until I get things checked out. I don't want to screw something up!
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Fun With An Implant!
Not much has been happening this week. Well, I've been busy, but there's nothing juicy to write about. We tried several times to find the magnet in my head, but never could get anything to stick to it. Well, last night we found it!!! It sits back a lot farther than we thought. If you have an implant, you can stick refrigerator magnets to your head!! I know you all are jealous!!
This one actually has different colored lights that blink on and off.....you can't see it in the picture.....but it looked really cool!! When I walked in the bathroom to check it out, I could just see all the lights blinking......I felt like Data from Star Trek Enterprise!!! Not too many people can stick a flashing magnet to their head! I feel so special!
This one actually has different colored lights that blink on and off.....you can't see it in the picture.....but it looked really cool!! When I walked in the bathroom to check it out, I could just see all the lights blinking......I felt like Data from Star Trek Enterprise!!! Not too many people can stick a flashing magnet to their head! I feel so special!Things are healing up nicely. You can't tell it from the pictures because we've been messing with my hair, but my bald spot is mostly covered and you really can't see it when my hair is fixed right. Also, my hair is growing back fast. It won't be long before it's even with the rest of it!
I've got 2 or 3 little scabs at the top of the incission, but for the most part, it's just a faint line. Still somewhat red, but not bad at all!! I'm very impressed with the whole hair/incission part. Yay!!!
Here is a picture of Romy, Rick and Keegan. (My husband and my 2 little nieces) They are anxiously awaiting the Easter bunny!!
Here is Keegan hording the cat toys!!
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Staple Free!!
Today was staple day!! I was very surprised.......it was not bad at all! There were 25 in all. The 3 at the top have been very sore. Any time that I touched them, they were pretty painful, so I really expected them to be bad. They did hurt. Not like OH MY GOSH I'M GOING TO DIE!!!, but more like OOUUWWIIEEEE!!! The rest of them were nothing. No pain. Barely felt them. I was a happy girl!!! The doctor said everything looked great. I guess I won't be seeing him anymore, but will now just be seeing my audiologist, Meg.
Meg saw us as we were going in at the office and while we were waiting for Dr. Jones, she came back and talked to us. We had misunderstood something that Dr. Jones told us in the hospital and thought that one of the electrodes was not able to be inserted into the cochlea. However, Meg said that the first time Dr. Jones inserted them, they did not get good readings. (While I was in surgery, after Dr. Jones did the implant, Meg then came in and hooked me up. They make sure the implant is working ok and that everything looks good.) Since they were not happy with the readings, Dr. Jones re-inserted the electrodes and the second time they were much happier with the readings. She said there was one electrode that had a higher reading than it should have, but lots of times, after things have time to settle down, then they will get the reading they want. She talked to us quite a while about what to expect and things to come! Of course, Rick had to ask her lots of technical questions. Poor Meg......I felt sorry for her!!
Things are going great!! I have felt really good and haven't had any more episodes. I think all of that is behind me now. Thank the Good Lord!! I've not had any problems driving and no problems with going to work. The only trouble there is the piles and piles of stuff staring me in the face needing to be done NOW!!!
So now we just wait.......and wait.......and wait. Hook up day is 2 weeks from today!!! I am very anxious for that!! At times, all of this just seems surreal. I guess it's the not-knowing exactly how things are going to be and also all the waiting. Sometimes I'm just sitting there minding my own business and all of a sudden I get that WHAT IN THE WORLD HAVE I DONE feeling. For a brief second I'll feel like I have made a horrible mistake. But that passes and I know that I have done the right thing. Also, I guess part of it is that right now since the implanted ear is useless, things are much harder for me to hear and understand. Today has been especially bad. I don't have a clue why, but my left ear has been very stopped up so I'm not hearing much of squat out of that ear! It's been a hard day.
Then to beat it all......I scooped 5 bags of dog poop this evening and there's still tons more!!! Oh my gosh!!!! How can they poop that much!!???
Meg saw us as we were going in at the office and while we were waiting for Dr. Jones, she came back and talked to us. We had misunderstood something that Dr. Jones told us in the hospital and thought that one of the electrodes was not able to be inserted into the cochlea. However, Meg said that the first time Dr. Jones inserted them, they did not get good readings. (While I was in surgery, after Dr. Jones did the implant, Meg then came in and hooked me up. They make sure the implant is working ok and that everything looks good.) Since they were not happy with the readings, Dr. Jones re-inserted the electrodes and the second time they were much happier with the readings. She said there was one electrode that had a higher reading than it should have, but lots of times, after things have time to settle down, then they will get the reading they want. She talked to us quite a while about what to expect and things to come! Of course, Rick had to ask her lots of technical questions. Poor Meg......I felt sorry for her!!
Things are going great!! I have felt really good and haven't had any more episodes. I think all of that is behind me now. Thank the Good Lord!! I've not had any problems driving and no problems with going to work. The only trouble there is the piles and piles of stuff staring me in the face needing to be done NOW!!!
So now we just wait.......and wait.......and wait. Hook up day is 2 weeks from today!!! I am very anxious for that!! At times, all of this just seems surreal. I guess it's the not-knowing exactly how things are going to be and also all the waiting. Sometimes I'm just sitting there minding my own business and all of a sudden I get that WHAT IN THE WORLD HAVE I DONE feeling. For a brief second I'll feel like I have made a horrible mistake. But that passes and I know that I have done the right thing. Also, I guess part of it is that right now since the implanted ear is useless, things are much harder for me to hear and understand. Today has been especially bad. I don't have a clue why, but my left ear has been very stopped up so I'm not hearing much of squat out of that ear! It's been a hard day.
Then to beat it all......I scooped 5 bags of dog poop this evening and there's still tons more!!! Oh my gosh!!!! How can they poop that much!!???
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Much Better!
I think I'm finally over it!! Thank the Good Lord!!! I've had a really good weekend. I've been out and about a lot and have felt good the whole time. Yesterday I got a hair cut and then visited with my friend Holly. Today was church and lunch at PF Chang's, then home to do some cleaning. A few days ago I realized why it was taking me so long to feel better -- it wasn't actually a surgery problem -- it was PF Chang's withdrawals!!!! My close friends and family know that PF Chang's is my very FAVORITEST EVER!!! They finally built one in town and it opened in mid December. Let me just say.....I have eaten there often! However, with everything else going on, I've not been for almost a month --- SEE....I'm having withdrawals!!!! So, today, Mom and I went and chowed down on lettuce wraps!! OH MY!!! They are sooooooooooooooo good!!!
Tomorrow I go back to work. I've been off almost 2 weeks. I'm sure Dana and Regina will be so glad to see me......they won't have to do my work anymore!
I want to send a HUGE Thank You to lots of people. I have had so many people send me flowers, gifts, food, cards, and I've gotten a lot of emails and phone calls. I greatly appreciate everyone's prayers, concern and love!! It has truly meant so much to me.
Also, Rick has taken such good care of me. He has really waited on me hand and foot. He's such a good boy!!
Tuesday is back to the doctor to get the staples removed. I hope that's not too bad. That area is still pretty sore. Then I have to wait 2 more weeks for hook up day. WooHoo!!! That's probably going to be a long 2 weeks.
Tomorrow I go back to work. I've been off almost 2 weeks. I'm sure Dana and Regina will be so glad to see me......they won't have to do my work anymore!
I want to send a HUGE Thank You to lots of people. I have had so many people send me flowers, gifts, food, cards, and I've gotten a lot of emails and phone calls. I greatly appreciate everyone's prayers, concern and love!! It has truly meant so much to me.
Also, Rick has taken such good care of me. He has really waited on me hand and foot. He's such a good boy!!
Tuesday is back to the doctor to get the staples removed. I hope that's not too bad. That area is still pretty sore. Then I have to wait 2 more weeks for hook up day. WooHoo!!! That's probably going to be a long 2 weeks.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Getting There!!
Well, I think I'm finally on the home stretch!! I had another bad evening on Wednesday, but Thursday was a very good day. Rick called the doctor's office to let them know what was going on. They wanted me to remove the motion sickness patch and also to get up and about more. Apparently I have to get used to the way things are and work at getting my equilibrium back. I was nervous about taking the patch off, but everything went great and I was never dizzy or woozy. It was the best day I've had since the surgery. Today I ventured out. Mom and I went out for lunch and I drove. I figured I needed to see how it was going to affect me. All went well!! It was nice to actually get out of the house.
Today is just a FABULOUS day!! It's sunny and about 70 degrees. So, I went out and cut back my rose bushes. I only have 4 so it took about 5 minutes. Then I went out back and started scooping dog poop. That's always a fun job!!! I've just barely got started. There's TONS of it out there!! Joy, joy, joy.
So, things are finally starting to get better. I go back to the doctor on Tuesday to get my staples taken out. That is making me nervous!! I really didn't think that it would be too bad. But today while I was getting ready, my fingernail hit a staple twice. OUCH!!! That really hurt!!! So I can't imagine what it's going to be like when somebody starts ripping them out of my head.
Well, that's about all for today. I may actually go to Walmart later on. Wheeeee!! It's a big day for me!!!!
Today is just a FABULOUS day!! It's sunny and about 70 degrees. So, I went out and cut back my rose bushes. I only have 4 so it took about 5 minutes. Then I went out back and started scooping dog poop. That's always a fun job!!! I've just barely got started. There's TONS of it out there!! Joy, joy, joy.
So, things are finally starting to get better. I go back to the doctor on Tuesday to get my staples taken out. That is making me nervous!! I really didn't think that it would be too bad. But today while I was getting ready, my fingernail hit a staple twice. OUCH!!! That really hurt!!! So I can't imagine what it's going to be like when somebody starts ripping them out of my head.
Well, that's about all for today. I may actually go to Walmart later on. Wheeeee!! It's a big day for me!!!!
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Boy, That Was A Bad Idea!!!!!
Well, I was doing pretty good yesterday and thought I would go to work today. Yesterday I was up and about more and felt good. I still got light headed after a while, but it was a big improvement from previous days. So, I thought I would be able to make it to work. Big, Big mistake!!! I got up and got ready. I was tired, but still feeling good. However, as soon as I started driving, all of that changed. I started feeling horrible. I don't know if it was the motion of the car or the vibration or what. And I can't explain what it felt like. It was totally different. I wasn't dizzy or light headed, but just felt very weird and spacey. I was scared for me and everybody else on the road. I just kept praying that God would get me there safely. Well, I did make it to work, but knew I couldn't stay and I DEFINITELY wasn't going to try to drive home. Rick called and I told him I needed to come home. He drove down and picked me up. Now he's going to have to have somebody take him back so that he can drive his truck home. I swannie!!! I won't even try to go to work tomorrow. I'll see how tomorrow goes and if I'm feeling good, maybe I'll go out driving around the neighborhood in the evening and see how it affects me. I may make it to work this week and I may not!
When I got home, I took a pill and laid on the couch. I've dozed away the afternoon. I still don't feel very good. I have spent quality time on the couch and see that there's more of that in my future!! Please continue to keep me in your prayers! Apparently this surgery was harder on me than I was expecting.
Here is a picture. You can't see the spot from the front.
From the side, there's only a little bald spot peeking through!! Rick said you really don't notice it until you see the shinyness of the staples. So, the hair issue is not bad.
When I got home, I took a pill and laid on the couch. I've dozed away the afternoon. I still don't feel very good. I have spent quality time on the couch and see that there's more of that in my future!! Please continue to keep me in your prayers! Apparently this surgery was harder on me than I was expecting.
Here is a picture. You can't see the spot from the front.
From the side, there's only a little bald spot peeking through!! Rick said you really don't notice it until you see the shinyness of the staples. So, the hair issue is not bad.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
I'm Alive!!!
Hello all!!! I'm still alive, but barely!! The last couple of days have been very rough. After the surgery on Tuesday, I was mostly tired and kind of out-of-it. Didn't have any real pain. I was feeling nauseaous and they gave me something for that. Later on I felt much better. Wednesday morning, all of Dr. Jones' doctors came in about 6:30 that morning and took my bandages off. Everything looked fine. Dr. Jones came in about 9:30 and said all was well and I could go home. Well, it wasn't until about 11:30 that I finally got the paperwork and was released. I was very anxious to get home. I just laid around and took it easy. Thursday I didn't feel real good. Achy and lightheaded. Then on Friday, I got up and was feeling pretty good. I took a shower and washed my hair. That was FABULOUS!!! I had some company later on that day and I think I moved my head around too much. Later in the afternoon, I got to feeling HORRIBLE!!! Extremely lightheaded, dizzy and sick to my stomach. Nothing seemed to help. I got up this morning and was feeling the same. Rick called Dr. Jones' office and talked to the doctor on call. If I'm not better by tomorrow, they will see me on Monday. However, Cynthia had a motion sickness patch and also some valium from her trip to China. She brought those over and I quickly applied the patch, took the valium and also a phenergan!! After a little while I was feeling much better! I finally ate some lunch and thought I would try to update my blog while I'm able to sit up for a few minutes. I'm still very lightheaded and will lay back down as soon as I'm done here. Thanks to everyone for all the prayers!! They are the main thing I need!!
Right now the right side of my head is still a little numbish, but not as much as yesterday. However, my right ear is VERY numb. It hurts when I touch it and doesn't even feel like it's part of my body. It will itch, but I can't scratch it. Oh well. Dr. Jones said it may take a few months for that to pass but it will eventually move on.
OHHHH!!! I got a letter from Meg yesterday. She's my audiologist. I go for my hook up on March 27!!!!! Just a little over 3 weeks!!! YAAAAAYYYYY!!!!!
Here are some pictures. They aren't very good, but I thought I would post them anyway. You will get the basic idea. I don't feel like messing with them a lot right now, so this is what you get!!!
Here I am with the "Yes" written on the ear I want implanted!!
Just waiting to go into surgery. It's a very comfy room!!! They also gave me snappy socks to put on my feet. They were just lovely!!
Another bandage shot with the drainage tube sticking out. Pretty, pretty.
Right now the right side of my head is still a little numbish, but not as much as yesterday. However, my right ear is VERY numb. It hurts when I touch it and doesn't even feel like it's part of my body. It will itch, but I can't scratch it. Oh well. Dr. Jones said it may take a few months for that to pass but it will eventually move on.
OHHHH!!! I got a letter from Meg yesterday. She's my audiologist. I go for my hook up on March 27!!!!! Just a little over 3 weeks!!! YAAAAAYYYYY!!!!!
Here are some pictures. They aren't very good, but I thought I would post them anyway. You will get the basic idea. I don't feel like messing with them a lot right now, so this is what you get!!!
Here I am with the "Yes" written on the ear I want implanted!!
Just waiting to go into surgery. It's a very comfy room!!! They also gave me snappy socks to put on my feet. They were just lovely!!
After the surgery with the bandage on. On the right hand side they have a string tied around the bandage......I guess to hold it all together. That's the main thing that hurt. I ended up with a BIG ol' whelp right there when they finally removed the bandage.
Another bandage shot with the drainage tube sticking out. Pretty, pretty.
Waiting to leave the hospital.
This is what they shaved. It's really not bad!! I was expecting much, much worse. My hair mostly covers the spot. I'm a happy girl!!!
Another view of the incision.
My hair is already growing back!! It's unreal!!! Cynthia said something about it yesterday and I'm like noooooooooo, there's no way!! But I felt of it and YES!! There's hair there!! There's even more today!! Wheeee doggies!!
Friday, March 2, 2007
Secret posting
Poor Cherri doesn't know I am posting to her blog, but I have heard from many of you that are inquiring as to her healing. Here is a recap of the last couple of days:
Cherri got released from the hospital on Wednesday about noon. One of her best friends made her dinner so they were well provided for in the dinner category! That day she was pretty sore and achy.........ready to be home.
Thursday - not a good day............very, VERY sore, achy, woozy, etc............not a good day.
Friday - MUCH better day.......Cherri took a shower and got to wash her hair! That HAS to make you feel better getting all the "surgery" funk out of her hair! BUT I believe she over did it today......I think since she felt SO nasty yesterday and today she felt SO much better - she did a smidge too much. She was quite queasy tonight......puke bucket and all! Poor thing - we (the whole Farley clan) dropped off some Krispy Kreme donuts (good for curing what ails you) and she was on the couch with her cold rag and puke trash can (complete with trash bag liners) just ready to go at any minute!
She has some serious healing to do so please continue the much appreciated prayers! I will post pictures for everyone tomorrow! Until then have a blessed evening! Cynthia
Cherri got released from the hospital on Wednesday about noon. One of her best friends made her dinner so they were well provided for in the dinner category! That day she was pretty sore and achy.........ready to be home.
Thursday - not a good day............very, VERY sore, achy, woozy, etc............not a good day.
Friday - MUCH better day.......Cherri took a shower and got to wash her hair! That HAS to make you feel better getting all the "surgery" funk out of her hair! BUT I believe she over did it today......I think since she felt SO nasty yesterday and today she felt SO much better - she did a smidge too much. She was quite queasy tonight......puke bucket and all! Poor thing - we (the whole Farley clan) dropped off some Krispy Kreme donuts (good for curing what ails you) and she was on the couch with her cold rag and puke trash can (complete with trash bag liners) just ready to go at any minute!
She has some serious healing to do so please continue the much appreciated prayers! I will post pictures for everyone tomorrow! Until then have a blessed evening! Cynthia
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Whew!!! That part is over........
Well, this is Cynthia - Cherri's sister. Today was surgery day. I am sure Cherri will go into greater detail later.....but.....here is a recap of today's events:
9:45 am - arrived at hospital - did pre-op stuff
10:05 am - sent to waiting room
11:15 am - taken back for surgery (with a quick "potty" break on the way)
3:45 pm - surgery was complete
4:30 pm - sent to hospital room
It was the coolest thing - Cherri was assigned a "number" so the family members could keep track of her progress. There was a screen out in the waiting area that showed all the numbers and the numbers were highlighted to reflect what stage the patient was in.........pink for "in OR" blue for "surgery complete" and so on...........very nifty!
Ok - so much for the short version of the story............yes, this is Cynthia...........anyway, apparently she did great...........in true Cherri form - however she did have a slight complication. The surgeon said this was his 206th surgery and this one was the most difficult yet! While putting in the electrode.........she began leaking spinal fluid..........nice. So, the doctor had to get that under control and stopped. Then back to the implanting of the electrode - he had to do this twice - the first time it wouldn't "register" so he had to remove it and re-insert............it worked the second time! The surgeon came into her room late this evening and he seemed very pleased with the outcome......she should get to come home tomorrow!!! I am sure she will post soon!
Thanks to everyone for their prayers! Please keep them coming - we won't know how the implant actually is working until it's "hooked up" in early April! Just pray for quick healing and no more complications!! The Good Lord knows she needs all that fluid inside her body around her brain........not OUTSIDE of the body!
Oh yeah, when mom and I got to the hospital this morning and saw Cherri - she had a little note written in ink on her skin under her right ear............YES. (picture to follow)
9:45 am - arrived at hospital - did pre-op stuff
10:05 am - sent to waiting room
11:15 am - taken back for surgery (with a quick "potty" break on the way)
3:45 pm - surgery was complete
4:30 pm - sent to hospital room
It was the coolest thing - Cherri was assigned a "number" so the family members could keep track of her progress. There was a screen out in the waiting area that showed all the numbers and the numbers were highlighted to reflect what stage the patient was in.........pink for "in OR" blue for "surgery complete" and so on...........very nifty!
Ok - so much for the short version of the story............yes, this is Cynthia...........anyway, apparently she did great...........in true Cherri form - however she did have a slight complication. The surgeon said this was his 206th surgery and this one was the most difficult yet! While putting in the electrode.........she began leaking spinal fluid..........nice. So, the doctor had to get that under control and stopped. Then back to the implanting of the electrode - he had to do this twice - the first time it wouldn't "register" so he had to remove it and re-insert............it worked the second time! The surgeon came into her room late this evening and he seemed very pleased with the outcome......she should get to come home tomorrow!!! I am sure she will post soon!
Thanks to everyone for their prayers! Please keep them coming - we won't know how the implant actually is working until it's "hooked up" in early April! Just pray for quick healing and no more complications!! The Good Lord knows she needs all that fluid inside her body around her brain........not OUTSIDE of the body!
Oh yeah, when mom and I got to the hospital this morning and saw Cherri - she had a little note written in ink on her skin under her right ear............YES. (picture to follow)
SURGERY DAY!!!!!
Yes!! The day has finally arrived!! I can't believe it!!! Ohhhh myyyyy!!! I slept good last night.....no nervous breakdowns!! And I'm all pilled up!! They gave me a patch to put on last night and also a pill to take. This is to counteract any nauseaous feelings. I also have a pill to take this morning and ANOTHER one to take once we get to the hospital.
I'm just about parched! However, I do get to have 1 cup of water before 7:45. Getting ready to have my cup!! And looking forward to it!!
We have to be at the hospital at 9:45 with surgery to begin around 11:15 to 11:30. Surgery should be over about 3:00. I do spend one night in the hospital, but should be home in the morning.
Maybe Cynthia can add a post this evening to let you know how surgery went. I'll be back to post all the exciting happenings in a couple of days!!
Remember me in your prayers!! I'll catch you all later!!!
I'm just about parched! However, I do get to have 1 cup of water before 7:45. Getting ready to have my cup!! And looking forward to it!!
We have to be at the hospital at 9:45 with surgery to begin around 11:15 to 11:30. Surgery should be over about 3:00. I do spend one night in the hospital, but should be home in the morning.
Maybe Cynthia can add a post this evening to let you know how surgery went. I'll be back to post all the exciting happenings in a couple of days!!
Remember me in your prayers!! I'll catch you all later!!!
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Before and After
It's almost time!!! The hospital called and I'm suppose to be at the surgery center at 9:45 Tuesday morning. I don't know exactly what time surgery is scheduled for, but I figure it will probably be between 10:30 and 11:00. Say lots of prayers for me!!
I thought I would show you some before and after pictures. Well, so far, I only have "before" pictures!! "After" will come in a few days. The "before" pictures are scary enough, I doubt you'll be able to handle the "after" pictures!!
Let the fun begin!!!!!
I thought I would show you some before and after pictures. Well, so far, I only have "before" pictures!! "After" will come in a few days. The "before" pictures are scary enough, I doubt you'll be able to handle the "after" pictures!!
Let the fun begin!!!!!
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
San Antonio
Well, it's been a few days. Rick and I went to San Antonio this past weekend for the Cochlear Celebration. This was a convention kind-of-thing put on by Cochlear Americas. They have seminars, guest speakers, fun things to do and it's a time for people who have cochlear implants to get together. Yes, this one is mostly for people who use the Cochlear brand, but I thought anyone was welcome. A lot of the seminars sounded like they were just basic information that I thought would benefit me. Also, I wanted to meet people who have a cochlear implant. However, I am going to be implanted with a CI made by Advanced Bionics. To make a long story short, when we went to check in with the Cochlear representative, we were taken aside and, in as nice a way as possible, we were told that we were not welcome, we were not wanted there and we should not attend. They would gladly refund our money. Apparently someone had been researching me online and knew who I was, when I was having surgery and also knew that I was going with Advanced Bionics. Apparently they did not like this at all. We were totally speechless!!! Beyond shocked!!! Needless to say, we got our money refunded and did not attend any of the seminars. So, we had a couple of days to see San Antonio.
We went to the Alamo, the Riverwalk and the Market Square. The Market Square is 2 blocks of Mexican shops. And let me just say....the smell from the restaurants was FABULOUS!! But we had just eaten breakfast, so we didn't get to eat there. We did eat at 2 Mexican places at the Riverwalk. They were wonderful! The Riverwalk is a snappy place! I would love to see it in the spring when everything is bloomed out. I bet it is absolutely gorgeous!!!
Cherri & Rick at the Riverwalk.....aren't they smashing??!!!
A pretty spot on the Riverwalk.
We went to the Alamo, the Riverwalk and the Market Square. The Market Square is 2 blocks of Mexican shops. And let me just say....the smell from the restaurants was FABULOUS!! But we had just eaten breakfast, so we didn't get to eat there. We did eat at 2 Mexican places at the Riverwalk. They were wonderful! The Riverwalk is a snappy place! I would love to see it in the spring when everything is bloomed out. I bet it is absolutely gorgeous!!!
Cherri & Rick at the Riverwalk.....aren't they smashing??!!!
A view along the Riverwalk.
A pretty spot on the Riverwalk.
Oh, and by the way -- SURGERY IS 6 DAYS FROM TODAY!!!!!
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
The Beginning....
2/11/07
Hello everybody!! For those of you who may not know me, I’m Cherri. I’m almost 46 years old……yep, I have a birthday coming up in a few days…..I really wish these things would leave me alone!!.....and I'm in the process of getting a cochlear implant.
I’ve had it suggested to me several times that I needed to keep a blog of my journey. At first I thought noooooooo, I don’t want to do that!! However, I did want to keep my own journal so that I could look back at it to see how things went for me and note all the changes. So, after people kept mentioning it strongly, I thought I might as well!! Maybe it could help out someone else who is considering a cochlear implant and it would also keep my family and friends up to date with what’s happening to me.
So, here I am. Since I’m already in the process, I’ll give you a little background and get you up to speed. Well, “little” might be a smidge deceptive. This could take a while to bring you up to date. However, once you are caught up, the rest of my posts should not be so long. But I make no promises!!! So, let’s get started!!
In the beginning………
Let’s see……where to start…….hhmmmmm….well, it seems I’ve had hearing problems my whole life. The first time Mom really noticed and took me to the doctor was when I was about 13. It has progressively gotten worse over time. I don’t remember having problems in high school, but I did try to go to college and that’s when it really hit me. I was totally lost. But, I didn’t want to face up to it, so I never said anything and didn’t even finish one semester. I tried hearing aids somewhere around 1990, but they didn’t help a lick. They just made noises louder, but didn’t help me understand speech or anything that was important. Those didn’t last long. So….life goes on and I just learned to deal with it. You learn to manage with what you have. Over the past several years, I have gone to the doctor to see how things were and if anything new had come up that might help me. A cochlear implant has been mentioned here and there, but it was never talked about seriously and I surely wanted nothing to do with it. I could still hear the low tones and I was scared of losing what I have. I didn’t want to take the chance of sacrificing what I had with no guarantee that things would be better. Well, first off, I never really knew what a cochlear implant (CI) did, how it worked, what I might gain, or anything. I never checked into it and never did any research. I just knew that I wanted nothing to do with it.
Then in the spring of 2006, I started having a lot of pressure in my ears. I thought I was getting a cold and I kept waiting around for it to hit. Well, the cold never hit and the pressure in the ears never went away. So, after waiting several months, I finally went to my ear doctor. He saw nothing wrong, had no idea why I had the pressure and therefore, couldn’t do a thing to help me. After waiting several more months, I decided to try a different doctor just to see if he had any ideas.
Now, I must tell you, I truly believe that God has totally directed my path during this whole process. I feel He has guided me, directed me and just took control to lead me along the way, because I know, without His divine intervention, I would not be in the process of getting a CI right now. I would just be getting deeper and deeper into the non-hearing hole. I can tell that over the past year my hearing has gotten worse. Things are harder to hear and my understanding is less than it was.
Here’s how it went – we had no idea what doctor to choose. I didn’t just want any ol’ doctor…..I wanted a really GOOD doctor. Rick called my thyroid cancer specialist, Dr. Ain, to see if he had any idea who was top in the “ear” field. My thyroid doctor is top-of-the-line in his field, so we thought he might be able to direct us to a great ear doctor. He suggested Dr. Jones at the University of Kentucky. He is chairman of the board and head of the otolaryngology department at UK. So, off we go to see Dr. Jones. At my appointment, they did the standard hearing tests and of course I did baaaaad. The audiologist started talking about a CI. I still kind of tuned her out. When I saw Dr. Jones, we talked about the pressure situation and again, he didn’t see any reason why I was having the pressure. We ended up putting a tube in one ear to see if that helped. Well, it did somewhat, but it caused me other issues and I’m not happy with the tube, so I’m going to have him take it out. However, that’s neither here nor there………. After that appointment, he sent me on my way, but I had to go back in a week to see how my ear was doing. At my next appointment he starts talking about how a CI would really help me and all that. Well, the next thing I know, he’s giving me informational packages to take home to read over and watch the dvd’s. There are 2 different companies. He said it’s basically like Ford and Chevy……I asked him if they had any Toyotas!!!!!! Then, I found myself sitting in the audiologist’s office getting fitted with some loaner hearing aids because I had to try hearing aids to prove they don’t help……this is part of the process of getting approved for a CI. I’m thinking HEY!!!!!…..DID I SAY I WANTED ONE OF THESE THINGS????!!!!! I felt like I went to the doctor for one issue and was being pushed along another route that I really didn’t want to be on. I never said I wanted a CI…..I never said I was interested……apparently somebody got the wrong idea!!!! However, I went along for the ride. I really don’t know if they thought that’s what I was there for, or if they just saw that I really needed it and kind of helped me along the way. But it just appeared that everybody thought that was what I was there for.
Well, I tried the hearing aids for about a month and again……no help at all. I knew that’s the way it would be and they knew that’s the way it would be, but it must be proven during the evaluation process. So, during this time, I go back to my thyroid doctor for my annual checkup. We told him that I was in the process of getting a CI. He told us to ask the doctor about his surgeries and don’t let anybody new operate on me. He said he knows that somebody has to be the first, but you really don’t want to me that person!!! He said….make sure he’s done about 200.
During this time, I’ve been doing lots and LOTS of research on CI’s. I’ve signed up on a couple of forums so I could read about other people’s experiences and also ask questions. I learned that a CI could do a lot more than what I thought. Plus, technology is advancing so fast that things are changing all the time.
Well, at my next appointment in mid January 2007, we talked about the surgery, the different things that can go wrong, all the risks and whatnot. We asked about his experience and he said……well, I’ve done about 200. I immediately thought…..that’s exactly what Dr. Ain said!! As I said before, I really believe God has had His hands all over this situation!! There’s just been too many coincidences. Dr. Jones told me about any problems that had occurred with his patients, and there was nothing really bad. Everything was taken care of and all was well!! I told him I sure didn’t want to be the first one that got screwed up!!!!
Now, from reading on the forums, I thought surgery would be several months in the future. I was pretty well set on getting a CI at this point, but yet, it was in the future. Not something I had to worry about right now. I knew there were still more tests to be done, so it was going to be a while. So, yes, I was seriously thinking about it, but it would be later on and so I could live in denial for a while longer.
Well, at this appointment, after Dr. Jones told me about the surgery, possible problems and all, he then asks if this is what I want to do. I said……weeeeeeelllllll, yeah…..I suppose. He said I still needed to get a ct scan. He said we would schedule that. So, he sent one of his people in and I thought we were scheduling the ct scan. The helper guy said, how about February 27, that’s about 6 weeks. My first thought was – it takes 6 weeks just to get a ct scan???!!!!! I said something to Rick and he said, nooooooooo, we’re scheduling surgery. I’m like WHAT?????? SURGERY!!!!???? Did I say I wanted surgery???? Apparently I missed something here!!! OH MY GOSH!!! Well, needless to say, my heart was jumping around in my chest!!! Before we left, I got the ct scan scheduled for mid February. I left the doctor’s office and went on to work. I was a nervous wreck!!! Excited!!! Nervous!!! Felt like I was going to jump out of my skin!! Did I say excited??!! Yes, I was very excited, but also scared to death!! I had no clue that we would be scheduling surgery so quickly!!! I mean speedy weedy!!!!
On my way to work, I called Cynthia, who was also on her way to work…….95% of our conversation was -- OOOOOHHHHHHH MMMMMMYYYYYYYYY!!!!!! OOOOOOOHHHHHH MMMMYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!
YES!!!!!! That’s exactly what I was feeling……….OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH MMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!
I got to work and told my friends Kerri, Holly and Regina. I was excited! I was jumpy!! I was nervous!! OH MY GOSH!! Was it really happening!!??!! I finally settled down and got on with my day!
At that point, February 27 seemed like it was going to be in about 2 days!! Here much too soon!! I wasn’t ready!!! However, after reading more and learning more…..I want it NOW!! February 27 will NEVER get here!!!
I still have continued my quest for information. As part of the process, I had to choose which company I wanted to go with. The 2 main ones are Cochlear and Advanced Bionics. After lots of research, I decided to go with Advanced Bionics (AB). They are just coming out with the newest, latest and greatest processor. Things change so quickly with CI’s that something is always new!! Technology is changing rapidly. About every 3 to 5 years, they come out with a new processor. It upgrades the ability to hear, improves what you hear, gives more understanding, and such things as more depth, sound is more normal……….those kinds of things. If you want to look at AB’s website, it is http://www.bionicear.com/.
In my opinion, there are 2 bad things…no…..make that 3. Thing number 1 is that after my surgery, I have to wait 4-6 weeks before my hook up. We have to wait for the incision to heal. During that time, I will be deaf in that ear. I’m definitely not looking forward to that. It will be even harder to understand what people are saying. That’s going to be a long month!!! Thing number 2 – when I take the processor off, such as at bedtime or while taking a shower and doing my hair or swimming, I will be totally deaf in that ear. Yes, that will be a little more of a pain in the beehootie, but it’s a small price to pay for being able to hear the rest of the time. THEN, there’s thing number 3!!!! For the surgery, they have to shave off a chunk of my hair!!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I’m not real sure how I’m going to manage for the 3-6 months that it will take for it to grow back. Scarves!! Lots and lots of scarves!! Or hats!! Or a head band!!! Or there’s always Cynthia’s wonderful suggestion – going to the Walmart craft section and buying a square of fake fur…..stick it to my head!!! Nobody will know the difference!! Cynthia is FULL of wonderful ideas.
For those who have no clue about a CI, I will give a brief description……as brief as I can. At the surgery, they will rudely shave off some of my hair, then make a fairly big incision behind the ear. Kind of above the ear and back a little then down to the bottom of the ear, they will remove some of the bone on my skull to make an indention for the implant. The internal implant will be “fixed” to that area and then they will drill through some more of my skull so that the electrodes can then be inserted into my cochlea. Once all of that is done, they will sew me up……but notice….they don’t put my hair back on!!!!
At this point, my normal ear is of absolutely no use other than a place to hang earrings!! I will no longer use my ear for its intended purpose. After the 4-6 weeks, I will then start the journey back to hearing!! This is where it will get real exciting!! At my hook up, I will get the processor, which basically looks like a behind the ear hearing aid. There is a thin cable that connects to a piece that is about the size of a quarter. This has a magnet in it and there’s a magnet in the internal implant. So, that piece sticks to my head. Kind of weird looking!! But most likely, no one will see that part because it will be in my hair…..so it will be covered up. WELL, that is…..AFTER my hair grows back.
So, sound is picked up by the processor, travels up the cable and passes through the head piece to the implant by radio waves, then travels down to the electrodes that are in my cochlea and the electrodes will fire away!!! The info will go up my auditory nerve, move on to my brain, which then has to make sense of it all.
When I am first hooked up, everyone says that sounds are very weird, very mechanical and that people sound like cartoon characters. My brain has not heard high tones in many, many years, so it has to figure out what it’s hearing and what it’s suppose to do with that noise. I basically have to learn to hear again. Everyone is different….some adjust very quickly, some take longer, but it’s a process for everybody. Time…..lots of time. I must be patient. My audiologist said it will take about 6 months for me to feel confident with what I’m hearing.
I will go through a lot of mappings (that’s what it’s called when I go to the audiologist to get the programs in my processor tweaked.) As the brain learns to hear again, the programs in the processor need to be changed. So, I will go get mapped pretty often in the beginning because the brain will change a lot when I am first hooked up. Well, I sure hope my brain has not forgotten how to re-learn some things!!! It’s pretty old and feeble!! I’m kind of worried!!!!
That’s a very quick version of what’s ahead. Now we just wait. And wait.
If you ever have questions about any of this stuff, just let me know and I’ll answer as best I can!
2/13/07
Today was the last doctor appointment before my surgery. First I went to get the ct scan, then over to see Dr. Jones, then on to Pre Op. The ct scan was just peachy…..they saw no problems. We went over all the surgery info again and he answered any remaining questions that I had. I also had him remove the tube in my left ear. That was OUCH! Not deadly, but OUCH!!! He said it would take about 3 days for my eardrum to heal. As of right now, I’m not hearing squat in that ear. I sure hope I will be hearing my usual puny amount when it heals up!!! I’m supposing it’s just the trauma to the eardrum. At least I hope so. At Pre Op we went over the same stuff…….what to do, what not to do, don’t eat, don’t drink, blah, blah, blah. Just the standard stuff. Right now, I don’t know what time my surgery will be. All I know is that it’s the 27th. They will call the day before and tell me what time to be there. That’s about all the exciting news of the day.
Hello everybody!! For those of you who may not know me, I’m Cherri. I’m almost 46 years old……yep, I have a birthday coming up in a few days…..I really wish these things would leave me alone!!.....and I'm in the process of getting a cochlear implant.
I’ve had it suggested to me several times that I needed to keep a blog of my journey. At first I thought noooooooo, I don’t want to do that!! However, I did want to keep my own journal so that I could look back at it to see how things went for me and note all the changes. So, after people kept mentioning it strongly, I thought I might as well!! Maybe it could help out someone else who is considering a cochlear implant and it would also keep my family and friends up to date with what’s happening to me.
So, here I am. Since I’m already in the process, I’ll give you a little background and get you up to speed. Well, “little” might be a smidge deceptive. This could take a while to bring you up to date. However, once you are caught up, the rest of my posts should not be so long. But I make no promises!!! So, let’s get started!!
In the beginning………
Let’s see……where to start…….hhmmmmm….well, it seems I’ve had hearing problems my whole life. The first time Mom really noticed and took me to the doctor was when I was about 13. It has progressively gotten worse over time. I don’t remember having problems in high school, but I did try to go to college and that’s when it really hit me. I was totally lost. But, I didn’t want to face up to it, so I never said anything and didn’t even finish one semester. I tried hearing aids somewhere around 1990, but they didn’t help a lick. They just made noises louder, but didn’t help me understand speech or anything that was important. Those didn’t last long. So….life goes on and I just learned to deal with it. You learn to manage with what you have. Over the past several years, I have gone to the doctor to see how things were and if anything new had come up that might help me. A cochlear implant has been mentioned here and there, but it was never talked about seriously and I surely wanted nothing to do with it. I could still hear the low tones and I was scared of losing what I have. I didn’t want to take the chance of sacrificing what I had with no guarantee that things would be better. Well, first off, I never really knew what a cochlear implant (CI) did, how it worked, what I might gain, or anything. I never checked into it and never did any research. I just knew that I wanted nothing to do with it.
Then in the spring of 2006, I started having a lot of pressure in my ears. I thought I was getting a cold and I kept waiting around for it to hit. Well, the cold never hit and the pressure in the ears never went away. So, after waiting several months, I finally went to my ear doctor. He saw nothing wrong, had no idea why I had the pressure and therefore, couldn’t do a thing to help me. After waiting several more months, I decided to try a different doctor just to see if he had any ideas.
Now, I must tell you, I truly believe that God has totally directed my path during this whole process. I feel He has guided me, directed me and just took control to lead me along the way, because I know, without His divine intervention, I would not be in the process of getting a CI right now. I would just be getting deeper and deeper into the non-hearing hole. I can tell that over the past year my hearing has gotten worse. Things are harder to hear and my understanding is less than it was.
Here’s how it went – we had no idea what doctor to choose. I didn’t just want any ol’ doctor…..I wanted a really GOOD doctor. Rick called my thyroid cancer specialist, Dr. Ain, to see if he had any idea who was top in the “ear” field. My thyroid doctor is top-of-the-line in his field, so we thought he might be able to direct us to a great ear doctor. He suggested Dr. Jones at the University of Kentucky. He is chairman of the board and head of the otolaryngology department at UK. So, off we go to see Dr. Jones. At my appointment, they did the standard hearing tests and of course I did baaaaad. The audiologist started talking about a CI. I still kind of tuned her out. When I saw Dr. Jones, we talked about the pressure situation and again, he didn’t see any reason why I was having the pressure. We ended up putting a tube in one ear to see if that helped. Well, it did somewhat, but it caused me other issues and I’m not happy with the tube, so I’m going to have him take it out. However, that’s neither here nor there………. After that appointment, he sent me on my way, but I had to go back in a week to see how my ear was doing. At my next appointment he starts talking about how a CI would really help me and all that. Well, the next thing I know, he’s giving me informational packages to take home to read over and watch the dvd’s. There are 2 different companies. He said it’s basically like Ford and Chevy……I asked him if they had any Toyotas!!!!!! Then, I found myself sitting in the audiologist’s office getting fitted with some loaner hearing aids because I had to try hearing aids to prove they don’t help……this is part of the process of getting approved for a CI. I’m thinking HEY!!!!!…..DID I SAY I WANTED ONE OF THESE THINGS????!!!!! I felt like I went to the doctor for one issue and was being pushed along another route that I really didn’t want to be on. I never said I wanted a CI…..I never said I was interested……apparently somebody got the wrong idea!!!! However, I went along for the ride. I really don’t know if they thought that’s what I was there for, or if they just saw that I really needed it and kind of helped me along the way. But it just appeared that everybody thought that was what I was there for.
Well, I tried the hearing aids for about a month and again……no help at all. I knew that’s the way it would be and they knew that’s the way it would be, but it must be proven during the evaluation process. So, during this time, I go back to my thyroid doctor for my annual checkup. We told him that I was in the process of getting a CI. He told us to ask the doctor about his surgeries and don’t let anybody new operate on me. He said he knows that somebody has to be the first, but you really don’t want to me that person!!! He said….make sure he’s done about 200.
During this time, I’ve been doing lots and LOTS of research on CI’s. I’ve signed up on a couple of forums so I could read about other people’s experiences and also ask questions. I learned that a CI could do a lot more than what I thought. Plus, technology is advancing so fast that things are changing all the time.
Well, at my next appointment in mid January 2007, we talked about the surgery, the different things that can go wrong, all the risks and whatnot. We asked about his experience and he said……well, I’ve done about 200. I immediately thought…..that’s exactly what Dr. Ain said!! As I said before, I really believe God has had His hands all over this situation!! There’s just been too many coincidences. Dr. Jones told me about any problems that had occurred with his patients, and there was nothing really bad. Everything was taken care of and all was well!! I told him I sure didn’t want to be the first one that got screwed up!!!!
Now, from reading on the forums, I thought surgery would be several months in the future. I was pretty well set on getting a CI at this point, but yet, it was in the future. Not something I had to worry about right now. I knew there were still more tests to be done, so it was going to be a while. So, yes, I was seriously thinking about it, but it would be later on and so I could live in denial for a while longer.
Well, at this appointment, after Dr. Jones told me about the surgery, possible problems and all, he then asks if this is what I want to do. I said……weeeeeeelllllll, yeah…..I suppose. He said I still needed to get a ct scan. He said we would schedule that. So, he sent one of his people in and I thought we were scheduling the ct scan. The helper guy said, how about February 27, that’s about 6 weeks. My first thought was – it takes 6 weeks just to get a ct scan???!!!!! I said something to Rick and he said, nooooooooo, we’re scheduling surgery. I’m like WHAT?????? SURGERY!!!!???? Did I say I wanted surgery???? Apparently I missed something here!!! OH MY GOSH!!! Well, needless to say, my heart was jumping around in my chest!!! Before we left, I got the ct scan scheduled for mid February. I left the doctor’s office and went on to work. I was a nervous wreck!!! Excited!!! Nervous!!! Felt like I was going to jump out of my skin!! Did I say excited??!! Yes, I was very excited, but also scared to death!! I had no clue that we would be scheduling surgery so quickly!!! I mean speedy weedy!!!!
On my way to work, I called Cynthia, who was also on her way to work…….95% of our conversation was -- OOOOOHHHHHHH MMMMMMYYYYYYYYY!!!!!! OOOOOOOHHHHHH MMMMYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!
YES!!!!!! That’s exactly what I was feeling……….OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH MMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!
I got to work and told my friends Kerri, Holly and Regina. I was excited! I was jumpy!! I was nervous!! OH MY GOSH!! Was it really happening!!??!! I finally settled down and got on with my day!
At that point, February 27 seemed like it was going to be in about 2 days!! Here much too soon!! I wasn’t ready!!! However, after reading more and learning more…..I want it NOW!! February 27 will NEVER get here!!!
I still have continued my quest for information. As part of the process, I had to choose which company I wanted to go with. The 2 main ones are Cochlear and Advanced Bionics. After lots of research, I decided to go with Advanced Bionics (AB). They are just coming out with the newest, latest and greatest processor. Things change so quickly with CI’s that something is always new!! Technology is changing rapidly. About every 3 to 5 years, they come out with a new processor. It upgrades the ability to hear, improves what you hear, gives more understanding, and such things as more depth, sound is more normal……….those kinds of things. If you want to look at AB’s website, it is http://www.bionicear.com/.
In my opinion, there are 2 bad things…no…..make that 3. Thing number 1 is that after my surgery, I have to wait 4-6 weeks before my hook up. We have to wait for the incision to heal. During that time, I will be deaf in that ear. I’m definitely not looking forward to that. It will be even harder to understand what people are saying. That’s going to be a long month!!! Thing number 2 – when I take the processor off, such as at bedtime or while taking a shower and doing my hair or swimming, I will be totally deaf in that ear. Yes, that will be a little more of a pain in the beehootie, but it’s a small price to pay for being able to hear the rest of the time. THEN, there’s thing number 3!!!! For the surgery, they have to shave off a chunk of my hair!!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I’m not real sure how I’m going to manage for the 3-6 months that it will take for it to grow back. Scarves!! Lots and lots of scarves!! Or hats!! Or a head band!!! Or there’s always Cynthia’s wonderful suggestion – going to the Walmart craft section and buying a square of fake fur…..stick it to my head!!! Nobody will know the difference!! Cynthia is FULL of wonderful ideas.
For those who have no clue about a CI, I will give a brief description……as brief as I can. At the surgery, they will rudely shave off some of my hair, then make a fairly big incision behind the ear. Kind of above the ear and back a little then down to the bottom of the ear, they will remove some of the bone on my skull to make an indention for the implant. The internal implant will be “fixed” to that area and then they will drill through some more of my skull so that the electrodes can then be inserted into my cochlea. Once all of that is done, they will sew me up……but notice….they don’t put my hair back on!!!!
At this point, my normal ear is of absolutely no use other than a place to hang earrings!! I will no longer use my ear for its intended purpose. After the 4-6 weeks, I will then start the journey back to hearing!! This is where it will get real exciting!! At my hook up, I will get the processor, which basically looks like a behind the ear hearing aid. There is a thin cable that connects to a piece that is about the size of a quarter. This has a magnet in it and there’s a magnet in the internal implant. So, that piece sticks to my head. Kind of weird looking!! But most likely, no one will see that part because it will be in my hair…..so it will be covered up. WELL, that is…..AFTER my hair grows back.
So, sound is picked up by the processor, travels up the cable and passes through the head piece to the implant by radio waves, then travels down to the electrodes that are in my cochlea and the electrodes will fire away!!! The info will go up my auditory nerve, move on to my brain, which then has to make sense of it all.
When I am first hooked up, everyone says that sounds are very weird, very mechanical and that people sound like cartoon characters. My brain has not heard high tones in many, many years, so it has to figure out what it’s hearing and what it’s suppose to do with that noise. I basically have to learn to hear again. Everyone is different….some adjust very quickly, some take longer, but it’s a process for everybody. Time…..lots of time. I must be patient. My audiologist said it will take about 6 months for me to feel confident with what I’m hearing.
I will go through a lot of mappings (that’s what it’s called when I go to the audiologist to get the programs in my processor tweaked.) As the brain learns to hear again, the programs in the processor need to be changed. So, I will go get mapped pretty often in the beginning because the brain will change a lot when I am first hooked up. Well, I sure hope my brain has not forgotten how to re-learn some things!!! It’s pretty old and feeble!! I’m kind of worried!!!!
That’s a very quick version of what’s ahead. Now we just wait. And wait.
If you ever have questions about any of this stuff, just let me know and I’ll answer as best I can!
2/13/07
Today was the last doctor appointment before my surgery. First I went to get the ct scan, then over to see Dr. Jones, then on to Pre Op. The ct scan was just peachy…..they saw no problems. We went over all the surgery info again and he answered any remaining questions that I had. I also had him remove the tube in my left ear. That was OUCH! Not deadly, but OUCH!!! He said it would take about 3 days for my eardrum to heal. As of right now, I’m not hearing squat in that ear. I sure hope I will be hearing my usual puny amount when it heals up!!! I’m supposing it’s just the trauma to the eardrum. At least I hope so. At Pre Op we went over the same stuff…….what to do, what not to do, don’t eat, don’t drink, blah, blah, blah. Just the standard stuff. Right now, I don’t know what time my surgery will be. All I know is that it’s the 27th. They will call the day before and tell me what time to be there. That’s about all the exciting news of the day.
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