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!!

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!!!

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.

ps -- Jim, I checked out "my" picture!! That's beautiful!! Thank you, oh kind one!!!!

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!!!

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.

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!

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!!!!

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!

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!!!