I'm On!

Wow! This is a whole new experience. I tried to prepare myself for what I would hear, but I came nowhere near. I'm hearing again from my right ear. It is a sound like nothing I have heard before. When I was first turned on it was a constant noise of nothing, continuous noise of nothing just everything. I have put my hearing aid for my left ear away for now and all I hear is coming from my new cochlear implant. We had a 5 hour session today and put 2 programs on my CI. Environmental noise is just that, noise. Cannot tell one thing from the other. Voice is very difficult to hear and describe. Right now it is like someone talking through a microphone in an empty room after they have inhaled helium. But I can hear that messed up voice and am able to have a conversation in a quiet room still relying on lip-reading. I count this as a success and look forward to it improving daily. Tomorrow we start working on fine tuning and hoping we can get something nailed down before I head back. Today went beyond my expectations and we are very happy.

Minor Set back

Had a tough week, started out on Tuesday experiencing some pain from what felt like behind my implant. Was sensitive to touch but the area looked okay? Wednesday came and the pain seemed to be getting worse with even more sensitivity. Spoke with my Doctor in Vancouver and he said the pain is probably part of the healing process nothing to worry about. On Thursday that changed! Skin broke open and started to bleed right on the implant. By this time I am an emotional wreck, waiting for 6 weeks with everything going so well, the incision had completely healed and then all of a sudden we get bleeding and pain. My doctor in Vancouver had a new concern, the implant may be infected and there was a chance I could lose it if I didn't get to Vancouver right away. I live 400 km away so that's a bit of a bugger. We decided to attack it a couple of ways. We took pictures and emailed to the doctors in Vancouver to look at, I went to my local family doctor early on Thursday and then my local ear specialist later in the day. I went from waiting excitingly for Monday for my "Turn On" to maybe having to postpone until this wound heels, to the possibility of losing the implant all together! Like I said it was a rough couple of days. As it turned out I had a stitch abscess. One of the dissolving stitches that were used during my surgery poked through the skin right on the implant. It caused the sensitivity and bleeding but as long as it wasn't infected should not be a big problem. I was put on antibiotics as a precaution and we are back on for my "Turn On" for Monday.

Dog Days

It's the dog days of summer and it is really dragging on. Especially due to the fact that I can't wait for August to end. Well 10 more days until I get my "new sound" and it seems like this has dragged on forever. Feeling really good and just want to go to the next step. I did work up the courage to watch a cochlear implant surgery and it is quite interesting and graphic. If you want to watch, just click here. I have been in contact with the cochlear team in Vancouver and we have got all the details worked out for "turn on" week. My doctor keeps me pretty level headed, making sure I know what to expect and not have very high hopes for immediate success. I know I get the external hardware on the 27th but that will just be the beginning of another long journey that will have a happy ending. So the dog days of summer drag on......

Half Way

Three weeks after surgery and 3 weeks to go until "Turn-On". As we get closer for some reason my expectations have diminished. I have followed and talked to many other people that have received a cochlear implant and they all rave about hearing things like the door squeak, a bird sing, their footsteps and other environmental sounds. I really am not hoping to hear those things, I'm sure it will be nice but what I am really after is to hear voice again. I want to hear my wife say I love you in the dark, my daughter singing from the backseat of the car, my son call me from the other room to tell me the game is on. This is what I am hoping for. Voice will be the most difficult thing to master with my new hearing but I will not stop until I have succeeded.