Cochlear Implant Surgery Date

[contradica]

I just received notification that my insurance company authorized my surgery.

My surgery date is August 27th and my activation date is September 17th.

41 days to go! Weeee! The countdown begins.

For those who do not know my history and could offer any advice, I am getting my worst ear which is my left implanted with Advanced Bionics. My loss is at 105db and I hear pure tones in the low frequencies and 8000hz but speech discrimination is 0% with my left ear. I use to wear hearing aid in my left ear until I was 12-13. My right ear is 95db with 23% speech discrimination with a hearing aid.

Does anyone else have similar hearing loss that has been implanted with a CI?

 

[Hear Again]

Congratulations on the insurance approval and surgery date!

My hearing history sounds similar to yours in regards to the amount of speech I could understand prior to implantation. Before my first CI, I could understand 22% of speech in quiet with hearing aids.

My audiogram indicated (right ear) a 90 dB loss at 250 Hz, 95 dB loss at 500 Hz, 120 dB loss at 750 Hz and no measurable hearing aided or unaided at 1000 Hz or above. The left ear started at 95 dB at 250 Hz, dropped to 110 dB at 500 Hz, 120 dB at 750 Hz and no measurable hearing aided or unaided at 1000 Hz and above.

By the way, I also chose to have my worse ear implanted (because I wanted to continue using a HA in my other ear) and the results have been amazing.

All the best to you in your CI journey! I will be happily counting down the days with you!

 

[R2D2]

Congrats on getting a date for surgery! Will you be staying overnight or just for the day at the hospital?

 

[deafmama78]

Congrats on getting your surgery date!! I am very excited for you.

I also got the worst ear implanted, but in my case it was also the ear I couldn't use my heairng aids for the last 6 yrs so it didn't matter to me. They recommended I use that ear because I had nothing to lose at that point since I wasn't wearing a HA & if doing a CI on the left ear, that'd take away my ability to wear my hearing aid which I didn't want 'cause I knew having the HA will help me in learning how to hear things with the CI. Altho I am now at the point where I really don't need the HA as much and wouldn't be surprised if I completely drop it someday down the road. lol. Anyways, good luck!!!

 

[contradica]

Congratulations on the insurance approval and surgery date!

My hearing history sounds similar to yours in regards to the amount of speech I could understand prior to implantation. Before my first CI, I could understand 22% of speech in quiet with hearing aids.

My audiogram indicated (right ear) a 90 dB loss at 250 Hz, 95 dB loss at 500 Hz, 120 dB loss at 750 Hz and no measurable hearing aided or unaided at 1000 Hz or above. The left ear started at 95 dB at 250 Hz, dropped to 110 dB at 500 Hz, 120 dB at 750 Hz and no measurable hearing aided or unaided at 1000 Hz and above.

By the way, I also chose to have my worse ear implanted (because I wanted to continue using a HA in my other ear) and the results have been amazing.

All the best to you in your CI journey! I will be happily counting down the days with you!

Hear Again, you prompted me to pull out the old audiogram and break it down by frequency.

Pure tone measures without hearing aids for my Left ear are:
95db at 250hz, 105db at 500hz, 110db at 1000hz, 115db at 1050hz and no response at 2000hz and up. I read it incorrectly about the 8000hz.

Right ear:
90 db at 250hz, 95db at 500hz, 100db at 1000hz and 2000hz, 95db at 3000hz, 100db at 4000hz, 95db at 6000hz, 90db at 8000hz

With hearing aids in the pure tones ranged from 30-50db with no response seen over 3000hz.

The speech discrimination with a hearing aid for my left ear was 0% in quiet, +10 and +5. Its pathetic

For my right ear with my trusty hearing aid, sentences in quiet was 30%, words 6%, and phonemes is 30%.

Binaural was ranged from 35-42%.

I am not quite ready to throw caution to the wind and give up what little bitty hearing I got left in my right ear. Your words are a great source of encouragement.

 

[contradica]

Congrats on getting a date for surgery! Will you be staying overnight or just for the day at the hospital?

Thank you R2D2!! I'm looking forwarded to this. They assured me it was same day surgery. Was yours an overnight stay?

 

[Hear Again]

Hear Again, you prompted me to pull out the old audiogram and break it down by frequency.

Pure tone measures without hearing aids for my Left ear are:
95db at 250hz, 105db at 500hz, 110db at 1000hz, 115db at 1050hz and no response at 2000hz and up. I read it incorrectly about the 8000hz.

Right ear:
90 db at 250hz, 95db at 500hz, 100db at 1000hz and 2000hz, 95db at 3000hz, 100db at 4000hz, 95db at 6000hz, 90db at 8000hz

With hearing aids in the pure tones ranged from 30-50db with no response seen over 3000hz.

The speech discrimination with a hearing aid for my left ear was 0% in quiet, +10 and +5. Its pathetic

For my right ear with my trusty hearing aid, sentences in quiet was 30%, words 6%, and phonemes is 30%.

Binaural was ranged from 35-42%.

I am not quite ready to throw caution to the wind and give up what little bitty hearing I got left in my right ear. Your words are a great source of encouragement.

Thanks for sharing your audiogram information.

My single word and sentences in noise percentage was 0% while my sentence in quiet percentage (binaurally with HAs) was 22%. I don't know what my percentages were for each ear -- my CI audi never told me.

I don't blame you one bit for being unwilling to sacrifice your residual hearing. When I wore a HA in my nonimplanted ear (activation day until 6 months post activation), it complimented my CI by bringing in the low frequencies while my CI emphasized the high frequencies. The CI/HA combo also provided a sense of binaural sound and helped give speech and music a more "natural" sounding quality.

I'm anxiously looking forward to following your CI journey and wish you all the best with surgery, recovery, activation, etc.

P.S. You asked R2D2 about whether or not she had an overnight hospital stay. I stayed overnight following both of my surgeries as a precaution so I could be monitored for signs of dizziness (my surgeon was particularly concerned about this given my blindness) and nausea.

 

[contradica]

Congrats on getting your surgery date!! I am very excited for you.

I also got the worst ear implanted, but in my case it was also the ear I couldn't use my heairng aids for the last 6 yrs so it didn't matter to me. They recommended I use that ear because I had nothing to lose at that point since I wasn't wearing a HA & if doing a CI on the left ear, that'd take away my ability to wear my hearing aid which I didn't want 'cause I knew having the HA will help me in learning how to hear things with the CI. Altho I am now at the point where I really don't need the HA as much and wouldn't be surprised if I completely drop it someday down the road. lol. Anyways, good luck!!!

Wow, you are doing that well with your CI and it hasn't even reached your one month anniversary yet. That is awesome!! My audiologist told me she wanted me to keep my hearing aid turned off to get my left ear used to hearing sounds again. I like the idea being able to have surround sound by wearing the CI and HA together better then keeping it turned off until i absolutely need it.

 

[Dogirl]

Hi contradica,

I am new here and I want to wish you good luck with your surgery. My hearing loss is not bad enough to warrant a CI yet, but I it may in the future...who knows?

I joined this BB to find what options are availble to those of us who are late deafened. This BB seems to be a wealth of information as well as a great place for meeting people and sharing stories and good news like yours.

dogirl

 

[contradica]

I'm embarrassed to ask this, but what does "phonemes" mean? Do you (or anyone else) know?

My single word and sentences in quiet percentage were both 0% while my sentence in quiet percentage (binaurally with HAs) was 22%. I don't know what my percentages were for each ear -- my CI audi never told me.

I don't blame you one bit for being unwilling to sacrifice your residual hearing. When I wore a HA in my nonimplanted ear, it complimented my CI by bringing in the low frequencies while my CI emphasized the high frequencies. The CI/HA combo also provided a sense of binaural sound and helped give speech and music a more "natural" sounding quality.

I'm anxiously looking forward to following your CI journey and wish you all the best with surgery, recovery, activation, etc.

Being the technical junkie that I am, when I first started looking into getting a cochlear implant, I went crazy trying to find people that posted their before CI results. I discovered that a few people post their after CI results. I just hope this will help other people.

Don't be embarrassed, I will be embarrassing myself trying to explain this lol.

I know that each letter of the alphabet is a phoneme, and if you replace a letter or group of letters (which are called phonemes) in a word, it will change its meaning, but lets skip that and go right to the examples to save me some embarrassment.

Pin and Tin (P and T are the phonemes)
Mat and Bat (M and B are the phonemes)
Rip and Lip (R and L are the phonemes)
Tan and Van (T and V are the phonemes)
Chip and Ship (Ch and Sh are the phonemes)
Bay and Boy (A and O are phonemes)

Anyone a English major here to shed a little more light on this subject? lol I know it is a little more in depth then that.

Hear Again, was it instantaneously that it sounded amazing with your CI/HA or did it take some time to get use to when you got your first implant?

I have a problem with nausea and anesthesia. However the last time I had surgery, they put this anti-nausea medication and I was right as rain with no problem. They did mention if I experience vertigo that I would have to stay. Did you experience any of that?

 

[Hear Again]

Hear Again, was it instantaneously that it sounded amazing with your CI/HA or did it take some time to get use to when you got your first implant?

I have a problem with nausea and anesthesia. However the last time I had surgery, they put this anti-nausea medication and I was right as rain with no problem. They did mention if I experience vertigo that I would have to stay. Did you experience any of that?

Thanks for the explanation of what phonemes are -- and don't worry about embarrassing yourself. Your explanation was clear and understandable.

Being able to hear binaurally with my CI and HA sounded beautiful right from the start because it had been many, many years since I've had balanced hearing (my left ear has always been worse than my right ear). For the first time in over 20 years, I could hear speech and environmental sounds on either side of me without everything sounding louder on my right side compared to my left. The only thing that took some getting used to was the sound difference between the CI and HA -- especially during the first few months following activation. It wasn't until speech started to take on a "normal" sounding quality with my CI that my CI/HA started to blend together. By 6 months post activation, I was able to really notice the difference in my ability to hear binaurally.

As for vertigo, I never experienced that but I did have some mild dizziness following both of my surgeries. However, in both cases, that disappeared several days following surgery. Yes, I would definitely request anti-nausea meds. I made this request both times and it worked like a charm.

 

[contradica]

Hi contradica,

I am new here and I want to wish you good luck with your surgery. My hearing loss is not bad enough to warrant a CI yet, but I it may in the future...who knows?

I joined this BB to find what options are availble to those of us who are late deafened. This BB seems to be a wealth of information as well as a great place for meeting people and sharing stories and good news like yours.

dogirl

I think this site has been the most active and incredibly informative regarding losing your hearing. I know a few other sites but they aren't as hip and happening like this one. I wish I discovered this a long time ago. Welcome aboard

PS: What kind of dog do you have? I have a 8 lb shih tzu

 

[Cheri]

Congratulation, Wish you the best of luck.

 

[jillio]

Wishing you the best of luck and a speedy recovery.

 

[Dogirl]

I think this site has been the most active and incredibly informative regarding losing your hearing. I know a few other sites but they aren't as hip and happening like this one. I wish I discovered this a long time ago. Welcome aboard

I ran across it on accident looking up info on BTE's and CI's.

PS: What kind of dog do you have? I have a 8 lb shih tzu

I have 3...

15 year old Lab Retr.
1 1/2 year old German Wirehaired Pointer (Avatar Dog)
1 1/2 year old Shih Tzu/Poodle mix (see below...click to enlarge)



I just gave him a summer cut so his hair is a lot shorter at the moment.

dogirl

 

[Hear Again]

I ran across it on accident looking up info on BTE's and CI's.



I have 3...

15 year old Lab Retr.
1 1/2 year old German Wirehaired Pointer (Avatar Dog)
1 1/2 year old Shih Tzu/Poodle mix (see below...)



I just gave him a summer cut so his hair is a lot shorter at the moment.

dogirl

I don't want to hijack this thread, but what kind of a lab do you have? I'm deafblind and am working with my second guide dog -- a 45 pound yellow lab. She's one of the sweetest, lovable, mellow dogs you could ever meet. (My first guide dog was a 65 pound golden retriever -- also very lovable and sweet, but a bit on the high strung side. )

 

[deafskeptic]

GL with your implant and congrats on qualfifying for the implantation!

 

[Dogirl]

I don't want to hijack this thread, but what kind of a lab do you have? I'm deafblind and am working with my second guide dog -- a 45 pound yellow lab. She's one of the sweetest, lovable, mellow dogs you could ever meet. (My first guide dog was a 65 pound golden retreiver -- also very lovable but a bit on the high strung side. )

My Zoe is a 68 lb. black Lab. I rescued her when she was about 4 years old. A man brought her in as a stray to the vet I was working for. She is the best dog. When I first got my HA's about 4 years ago...I investigted training her to be a hearing ear dog with an organization here in Florida. While they said she was a perfect candidate, they could not accept her because of her age. Ironically, she is pretty much deaf herself now.

Because I do train dogs for a living, I have helped a few deaf and HOH people with acquiring a hearing dog. I also have a friend that works for CCI here in Florida. That is an amazing place with an amazing program. Another friend of mine just returned from working with Paws With a Cause. Did you aquire your dog from an organization or some other means?

dogirl

 

[contradica]

Here is my pride and joy.

 

[Dogirl]

Here is my pride and joy.

That is a cutey...pets are good therapy...don't ya think?

dogirl