My hearing journey starts again

At long last it’s done and dusted! To say I was scared :poop:less this morning is an understatement. I was approved in January ‘18 for a bimodal Cochlear implant. Surgery was originally scheduled for May ‘18, but the surgeon cancelled that due my ongoing issues with a faulty hip replacement. I wasn’t able to reschedule my implant until my hip had stabilized sufficiently and my orthopedic surgeon was happy with my progress. As a CI implant patient can’t have monopolar diathermy used during surgery.

Take 2 at rescheduling my implant has been just as rocky 5 weeks out from surgery. I felt I was going to have to reschedule yet again, due to a bacterial infection and allergic rhinitis. Fortunately my surgeon left it until 6 days prior to surgery to see me for my final pre op assessment and to see if he was happy to go ahead with the surgery or I needed to reschedule yet again. I had a CT which was all clear from any infection. And I had 2 tympanigrams which were both normal.

Today I had my R) ear CI surgery with a CI 522 slim straight array. So far my residual is still good but this could very well change as the days go by. Due to my L ear being a congenital loss I will only ever be bimodal. So in the near future I will be getting a new Resound HA. As too which one, at this stage I don’t know. It will no doubt have a lot to do with the fitting criteria of the HA.

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Congratulations.
Sounds like you got over a difficult hurdle.
I would be interested in updates about how you are doing.
Are you in pain?

@Raudrive yes, after having a Burr hole drilled through my mastoid bone I would expect some pain. I’m surprised though I’m only taking Panadeine 2 tablets about every 5 hours. So it’s not all that bad fortunately. But then I’ve been told I have a high pain tolerance. (That’s 500mg panadol & 8mg codeine per tablet). Here in Melbourne we have 1 night in hospital then home in the morning.

Maybe that was a bad question, just curious. I may be in needing a CI one of these days too.
The Naida aids I bought recently was from a man who has had 2 CIs over the past 1.5 years. He talked about it some to me when buying his aids. He was very clear to say he wished had done it sooner. His word recognition is in the 90’s with both sides.

@Raudrive my word recognition in my L) was 22 my R) was 26.

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I wish you luck with the new roads in your journey!

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May this new road lead to success. Best wishes.

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keep us in the loop as you continue your journey. Best wishes for a speedy recovery and successful outcome

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Hope the Implants go well for you. Keep us posted on your progress :slight_smile:

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Good deal. Hope you have a brief, uneventful recovery. :grinning:

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Any news on your CI?
How are you doing?

Thanks for thinking of me, I’m ok thanks, just don’t like being not able to hear from post op fluid build up. But that takes approx 4-6 weeks to resolve. Otherwise no other nasty post op complications fortunately. Activation isn’t until the 24/7 so another 8 days to go before the hard work begins.

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Sounds like all is on schedule and doing well.
I don’t understand what the activation means causing hard work. I’ll look it up.

Just looked up CI activation Major day for you.

Yes major day for me. I have to retrain my brain how to hear word, sounds, environmental sounds through an electronic device. Some of the environmental sounds I haven’t heard for years. Eg microwave beeps, washing machine beeps, car indicator clicks, and other noises from the inside of the car. The electronic sounds I’m going to hear will will be different from the sounds that I remember hearing. So I now have to recognize these new sounds. Also the same with all the phonic sounds of speech. I have to relearn all over again through the electronic device. Hence the hard work!

As I will only ever be bimodal I then have to try and balance the two sounds. The electronic sounds/speech and the normal hearing sounds/speech and blend them together into my new normal. It all sounds a wee tad daunting, I’m hoping it’s easier than it sounds when reading.

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It looks like this guy has had good success in the retraining, maybe he could be of help?
Thank you for sharing your experience and best wishes for this journey into new sound :smile:

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By the way, I just checked your audiogram and, after a moment of displacement, I checked mine and confirmed they are almost the same.
This makes me even more curious and eager to know why you chose to go for the CI and results.

@Vogon that’s a simple answer, when your aids are not doing the job properly and you’re struggling to communicate with people in general. You can’t hear on the phone, you can’t hear when you’re in important appointments.

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My audiogram is similar, too. I am looking forward for the day when I take my decission to follow dead_piper’s journey. I can follow conversations on the phone and face to face talkings. But I am struggling in rooms with many peoples (much more than in earlier days). Watching TV is very difficult, too, although I use a TV connector. And although I diy.
I feel very sad if I understand not even a third. My word recognition in calm situations is 55%. I am hoping to get this increased with CI in the (near?) future. That’s why I am following deaf_piper’s posts.

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@Dani you crack me up! I’m sorry for laughing, but I’m not dead_piper well not just yet :joy: will be one day though.

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Ooops, I am so sorry :zipper_mouth_face:
I’m writing on a mobile phone.