Made a phone call with the CI

I called the gym for their hours today, and I understood them!  7 am to 7pm. :)

Also called the pharmacy to refill a scrip. :)

Radio talk show

Listening to 91.1... I can hear they're talking about the fiscal cliff, republicans, the presidents... I'm surprised I'm actually making out as much as I am

Note to self- turn off the CI during a car wash!

Male/female voice test 100%

Merry Christmas!

Wow moment.....I'm listening to Pandora with only the ci and I'm able recognize songs I'm familiar with and follow them! Voices are getting clearer everyday!

I'm using just the ci at my brother in laws home, and I'm following as I normally did (with a hearing aid), but I'm not wearing it! Mostly face to face is good. Have to work on not facing the speaker and understanding their speech.

Random

See the volume block? Its on 1 block. The radio is loud. Hopefully my sensitivity decreases.

New Sound

They buzz

Mapping 3!

Understanding more speech this time. Got two everyday programs to play with to see which is better, a focus program, and music program. Audi told me I didn't have to use those just yet, but would give me a chance to try them.

What was my first song I listened to? Lol I only had one CD in my car, and it was old school Salt n Peppa... "Shoop"! Haha!

I Brought my laptop to work today, and practice with auditory rehab. Getting better! I can get 100% on consonant sounds, but not so well on vowel tests.

Last night I heard lance playing videos on his phone in the other room, even with the tv on. That's a weird one... Lol

Might as well have some fun with it

A-Day Video

Mapping 2 Day 1

Speech is a tad clearer. Volume got turned up. Let's see how this goes. My mappings are only about 45 minutes. She has me listen for the beeps,  I respond if I hear them, then she plays around with the volume.

Mapping 1 First Couple Days

Loud Sounds	Normal- OK Sounds	Soft Sounds	Don’t hear at all
*Paper Rustling *Breathing *Keyboard clicking *Turn Signal –When other sounds are quiet *Rubbing hands together *keys *Phone Vibrating on the desk *Lance blowing nose in the next room	*Elevator Dings *Mumbled voices *phone beeps	*Speech– feel the vibrations *water running *Toilet Flushing	*Vacuum *Drill *Car Running *Turn Signal – when background sounds present

How does speech sound? Speech sounds garbled depending on the person. I understood some words when facing a coworker, she said a client’s name, and I was able to recognize both first and last name. But I also have a pretty good memory of our current client names, so I could have picked it out from context.

GPS

So I'm driving to Melanie's, and I'm practicing with the CI in the car by listening to the gps. I'm familiar with the gps voice using my left ear, so I'm able to make out the words she (the gps) says. I test myself to make sure I heard it right, so far so good. I can when she's "drive point two miles" I can tell the difference between most numbers except 5 and 9.  "Right" and "left" sound too similar yet. I think most of it though is context recognition. If I didn't know it was a gps, I don't know if I would recognize what she's saying.

Day 2

I have been wearing the processor all day, and I've been getting a headache from all the unknown sounds. Still only hearing the quiet things.

Scratching my skin
Breathing

But nothing if there's too much background noise.

Snug fit? Small? Medium? Large earhook?

All of them hurt! Blah.

My handyman!

First day

Everything sounds like I'm in a bubble, in a tunnel, and underwater. Everything is muffled, makes my head vibrate, like a severe case of tinnitus. I can make out some sounds, like when lance dusted off the table, it sounded like sandpaper. When I counted change at work, I could tell it was money clinking. I can hear the clacking of my phone keyboard as I type this, but I can't really hear the drill lance is using to make holes.

Getting stuff ready to use...

All my chords for my bedside table, and lance drilling holes in my drawer to keep the stuff in. Man, sometimes being hard of hearing really sucks. Too much equipment.

Its on

Sounds

I hear voices talking but can only read lips at the same time to figure it out. I hear lots of environmental sounds, such as

Car blinker
Elevator dings
Feet rustling
Keyboard clacking on my phone
Toilet paper rustling

the audiologist said I did much better than expected for 23 years of deafness, and seem to be right on track for good progress. The weird part is the SH sounds are supposed to be the harder ones to hear, and I make those out the best.

lance recorded the whole turn on process, but my phone wont upload it. ill have to wait until i get home tonight from work

Hearing test and post op surgery eval done

So, I do in fact have a stitch under the skin at the incision. He said warm wet cloth twice a day and anti biotic should make them disolve.

Stupid Cold

I blew my nose a little too hard this morning, and now my ear won't stop being in pain. Not a huge pain, the pain is more localized near the jaw and my cheek bone.

Feeling normal!

I was able to sleep on my implanted side without the U pillow. Doesn't hurt much at all.  Aside from the head cold, I feel nearly normal. Some feeling in my ear has returned.

Insurance Explanation

Lots of people have questions about insurance and how it will cover such an expensive procedure.
Here is my example.

Date of Service	Status	Billed Amount	Paid by Plan	Patient Responsibility	Explanation
Date of Service: 11/19/2012 University Of Minnesota Medical Center F Medical	Processed 12/12/2012	$60,157.20	$45,761.19	$1,891.86  HRA Payment: $938.85 HRA depleated.	Total out of pocket after deductible met: $959.01 not covered out of pocket max not reached
Date of Service: 11/19/2012 Levine Md, Samuel C Medical	Processed 12/12/2012	$5,500.00	$2,614.33	$0.00	Balance: $0
Date of Service: 11/19/2012 Swica Md, Henryk K Medical	Processed 12/12/2012	$3,825.00	$1,186.76	$0.00	Balance: $0
Date of Service: 11/19/2012 Nelson Crna, Tuanjai Medical	Processed 12/07/2012	$1,646.75	$0.00	$504.90Paid by HRA $504.90	Balance: $0

A cold

Having a cold, kind of sucks when your ear just had surgery.

Wire poking through the skin?

Yep, turned out to be a stitch. It dissolved with warm water application a few times a day. 

Friday 11/30

Nothing new to really report. I feel like my normal self, no vision or dizzyness issues, except I do feel like I was hit upside the head with a baseball bat! Ear drum pops every time I swallow, neck is still a little sore, there's a small lump (I will mention this to my surgeon next week) right below my ear, where the jaw meets the skull. Kinda feels like a swollen gland? All I know is the other side doesn't have it. My taste seems to have returned for the most part.

Mapping Dates!

One week post recovery flowers from friends!

From Brent, Nikki, and Annabell! I have good friends. :)

It sucks having a numb ear tip. I can feel my ear lobe on the lower, but nothing on the cartilage. :(

Saturday 10:30am

First time out of the house since Monday!
Seeing how it is in the car, if I can handle the bumps in the roads, walking around.

Saturday 7am

I haven't taken a pain pill since early yesterday evening,
I slept in bed last night and got more sleep than I have all week.
Swelling seems to have gone down a bit around the magnet on my skull.
Taste still hasn't returned.
Outside of the ear is still numb.
Range of motion in my neck has increased.

Friday 5pm

Wednesday 11pm

My tongue is still numb on the sides. Food tastes bland.
Washed my hair in the sink and took a shower with a shower cap.
Pain level: 4. Feels like a ear infection with swelling.
I feel really bad for missing my first thanksgiving at my dad's, but I do not feel ready enough to get in a car and deal with air pressure and road bumps.

Wednesday 8:45am

Swelling in photo
Last night I slept two hours straight at one point. Yay?
Had a few hours of feeling sick to my stomach but right now I feel ok.

Tuesday 11pm

I am ok. Just a lot of swelling around the ear, and a headache and body aches from sitting so much.

I REALLY want a shower, but instead, lance helped me spray dry shampoo in my hair.

flowers from the boss and coworkers

:)

Tuesday 1pm

Lots of swelling of half my face...
Tip of my ear is numb.
It's hard to hear out of my left ear, maybe because of the ringing in the right ear? Still traces of anesthesia? Pain killers?
Ate some oatmeal
Watched a movie
Lance's mom is over
Flowers were just delivered from my boss at HealthChoices :)

Tuesday 9am

Bleeding

Not sure if this is normal but I have blood coming up my mouth... There is also some sort of liquid coming out my ear canal but I haven't taken the cup off to find out. Anyone know if this is normal, or not?

Tinnitus

I never really used to have ringing of the ear on my right side, but right now it comes and goes extremely high and loud.

Surgery

Went in for prep at 5:30
Surgery at 730.
Surgery took 3 hours
I didn't know I came out of surgery, because when I got anesthetic for my teeth, my ears rang really loud. Then I asked why my right ear hurt so bad!
I had lots of nausea, and was in recovery for a while.
I went into the main room again for family to see me, and I couldn't keep my eyes open, I slept for a while.
They had me eat some crackers to see if I could keep some food down.
They almost wanted to keep me overnight...
I was on my way home at about 6:30pm and went to sleep.
Now I'm trying to sleep, but I'm every hour every going to the bathroom.
I ate some broth and crackers and lance gave me a pain killer,
And I went back to bed.
Its now 10:00pm as I type this, and I'm awake, but ready for another pain med..

Lance is making fun of my markings. Lol

Surgeon said I should be out of surgery about 10am.

Let's HOPE they don't forget what ear to operate on!! 

Blood drawn, peed in a cup. Oh fun fun

Sitting in room waiting for anestesialogist

Starving

Sent from my Kindle Fire

Waiting.....

Why dont I have one of these all the time?

"Fall precautions"

Haha

Don't let the smiles fool you.... I'm actually scared. Lol showing lance how to post on my phone

2AM Day of Surgery

Im up. We are getting ready to leave for the hospital - morgan

Day of Surgery Plans

Night Before:

1. Take a shower the night before with prescribed soap
2. Dont eat 8 hours before
3. Take a shower in the morning with prescribed soap
4. Only clear liquids

Day of:

• Driver: Fiance
• Family support: Lance's parents, Shawn and Cathy, 
• Friend/blogger: Shelby? 

1. Bring copy of Pre Op exam results
2. Arrive at 5:30am
1. Go to admissions at University of Minnesota Medical Center - East Bank
3. Time of Surgery: 7:30am

3 days

Task completed: pre register with surgery clinic.

Task completed: pre register with surgery clinic. Now I just need to figure out WHERE to go on that day.

Advanced bionics plans to come out with a similar looking processor as the N5. I hope someday Cochlear comes out with a similar t-mic.

Pre-Op Physical Completed

Mengingitis vaccine (PPSV23/pnuemoccocal 23), and flu shot given. Blood test (finger poke), and paperwork completed. T minus 30 days.

Hospital Set to Live-Tweet a Cochlear Implant (@swedish)

" In an effort to raise awareness and to provide the public more information on cochlear implant surgery as a viable treatment for hearing loss, the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle is set to combine surgery with social media.

On Tuesday, October 2nd, the hospital will become the first in history to live-tweet a cochlear implant surgery. Not only that, but the live-tweeting will also include live-instagramming of photos from inside the operating room. If you ever wanted to get behind the scenes on one of these groundbreaking surgeries, this is going to be your only chance (short of getting your medical license, of course). "

 For tweets and photos https://twitter.com/Swedish

48 Days

Made the pre-op appointment for vaccination shots. October 19th @ 11am.

Cochlear's Aqua Accessory

Interesting. Wonder how this will work. How does it fit on the ear now? What about if your headpiece is not in that position? I can see how it might fit under a swim cap though.

Rants

Today at work, we supposedly had a unannounced fire drill. I heard there was an announcement made, but couldn't hear the words, and figured like always, it didn't pertain to me.  So I continued doing my work, until someone made their rounds around the building to make sure everyone was out. Two seconds later, the alarm starts blaring... Everyone else was already outside. I was so irritated that my office is the first office next to the stairwell... and not one person thought to inform me there was a drill. I have reminded them a lot, that if there is something important on the announcements or if there is a meeting, and I'm still in my office, to tell me something is going on... I hate being so dependent on others, and they often forget. Of course, if there was a real fire, I would hear the alarm. But I hate being forgotten all the time. I have missed many meetings, because I get so stuck in my tasks I lose track of time.

Then, at my OTHER job, my coworker seems to be getting very irritated with me lately. I have worked with her for four years, and this year it just seems like I'm on her bad side lately. It is always noisy on deck, there is always a million things going on, and yet, I'm expected to know everything that goes on. Lately, my coworker, has been seemingly irritated with the fact that I ask "what?" all the time. Sometimes it's a reflex reaction, but most of the time, she doesn't grab my attention first before speaking, so I didn't catch the whole sentence. My hearing is really getting in the way of this job lately. It's LOUD and echo-y on the pool deck. I have girls always coming up to me, asking questions, or discussing things. Apparently something happened to the equipment last week, and it wasn't working today. I got lectured about how I am not paying enough attention to my surroundings... I felt like that was a blow to my face. I can only pay attention to so much. And just because I'm hard of hearing, doesn't mean I will catch everything with my eyes either. Most of the time, even when I DO see something, if I don't know what's being said or if there's an issue, I don't realize it was anything I should have bothered to pay more attention to, or know it was important to know. Today, we ran a "mock meet", and even when I SEE, it doesn't mean I KNOW what's going on, or if we are ready to start. I am getting the "brush off" a lot lately. Where my coworker, instead of answering my seemingly 'not paying attention' questions, she will lecture me about "paying attention". It makes me feel like I am stupid. Sometimes, I even catch myself "listening", but not comprehending, and not realizing it until after. Or, I'm paying so much attention  to the words, I don't comprehend the sentence. What does it even mean to pay attention to your surroundings when you're deaf or hard of hearing? It makes sense when you're talking about walking in a parking lot, watching for cars. But many everyday things... I honestly cannot understand... Especially when you're in a loud area, there is a lot of things going on at once, etc. Lately, I feel like there's no brain in my head anymore... just eyes and wasted space, because I can't connect the dots to what I see and the actual situation happening or going down right in front of me.

I'm tired of being a burden. I hate having conversations explaining myself, constantly. I am tired of being "bored" when surrounded by people. Tired of being called rude when I do my own thing. Tired of being so dependent.

Made My Decision!

Cochlear Americas it is! Whew, with all this research, and talking to people, it all really comes down to what you're comfortable with. AB has some really amazing options, and advancements, and I leaned toward AB frequently. But it wasn't until I made the lean toward Cochlear again, that the stressed out feeling reduced significantly. I took this as a sign, that Cochlear is what I'm comfortable with. Given my history with BTE's, I am a set it and go type person. I also like control sometimes (the remote). As much as I would LOVE to have a water proof Neptune, I just personally don't think I would use that much, because I want to put it on and forget.

9 Days to Make a Decision...

At the moment, I am leaning toward Cochlear. I love AB's choices, and technology.... and had been focusing on AB for the past few weeks... however, I think I will be more comfortable with Cochlear's slimmer processor, tested reliablity, disposible battery option, and feeling more at peace with choosing Cochlear.

Here's some more photos trying on the AB Harmony... it really wasnt that heavy at all. I kind of ended up liking it.

UPGRADEABILITY?

Consider how much unused hardware and software capability is available on your implant for upgrades without surgery.

AB - 25% 

CA -  ?

Cochlear Bling

http://cicircle.blogspot.com/2009/09/decorating-ci-processors.html

I am totally doing this.

Visit to the Audiologist

I went to visit the cochlear specialist again, to see Advanced Bionics and Cochlear in my hands and on the ear again.

*What I liked about advanced bionics... the t-mic option. The Neptune (not shown) as an off the ear option because this behind the ear processor is big. It's noticeable, and heavy. I guess a plus would be, that the processor does feel snug.

I wish I could have seen what it would look like from the front. My ear looks a little bent and sticking out like dumbo.

My clinic gives you 2 processors... so I could have both harmony and neptune.

*What I like about Cochlear... the minute I put on the processor, I didn't even notice it was there. If I'm going to get two of these, this would be the best feel.









So, at the moment, I want AB... mainly for the off the ear/waterproof neptune... I have until September 14th to make my choice.

First Bionic Dream

I had my first dream I that I had a cochlear implant. Wish my dream told me which one I chose. haha.

COCHLEAR IMPLANT PICNIC

COCHLEAR IMPLANT PICNIC

When:       Sunday, September 16, 2012

                   11:00-3:00

                   Magician Matt Dunn from 12:30-1:30

**Special thanks to the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview Audiology & Aural Rehabilitation Clinic and to the Multiple District 5M Lions Hearing Foundation for sponsoring our entertainment!                

Location:  Brookview Park, Golden Valley

                   See directions on reverse side.

                        We have reserved the Large Picnic Shelter.

Weather:   Always great!

                   The pavilion is covered, so come rain or shine.

Who:                   Adults and children with cochlear implants, prospective recipients, and anyone curious about cochlear implants.

We have many older kids and teens with implants we hope will attend and meet each other.

Food:        Provided: Pop, water, coffee, tablecloths, and plastic-ware

**Thank you to the Multiple District 5M Lions Hearing Foundation for donating the hamburgers and hot dogs, and for grilling at the event!

                         

You bring:  a dish to share. To make this easier we have this set up as follows: 

If your last name begins with A-I:   Bring a salad.

If your last name begins with J-R:  Bring an appetizer.       

If your last name begins with S-Z:  Bring a dessert or side dish.

                                   

R.S.V.P. Be sure to RSVP to Dianna Hart by September 7, 2012 with the number of people in your party: (612) 625-7907 or dhart3@fairview.org

Please let us know if you are coming – thanks!

Bring your headpiece covers to decorate or unused ones to donate!!!

Directions to Brookview Community Center Golf Course & Park

From the southeast:  Hwy 100 north to west Hwy 55 to Winnetka Ave.  South on Winnetka one block, then west on Brookview Pkwy to parking area. 

OR I-394 to Louisiana exit, then north to Laurel Ave.  West to Winnetka Ave, then north to Western Ave and west to Brookview Pkwy. Go south to parking area.

From the southwest:  Hwy 169 north to east Hwy 55 to Winnetka Ave. south on Winnetka one block, then west on Brookview Pkwy, to the parking area.

OR I-394 to General Mills Blvd., then exit on the Frontage Rd.  Go east to Winnetka, then north to Western Avenue, then west to Brookview Pkwy.  Go South to the parking area.

From the northeast:  Hwy 100 south to west Hwy 55 to Winnetka Ave.  South on Winnetka one block, then west on Brookview Pkwy to parking area.

From the northwest:  Hwy 169 south to east Hwy 55 to Winnetka Ave.  South on Winnetka

one block then west on Brookview Pkwy to parking area.