Please read this - it's about me & why I'm starting the process...
Hi all. :]
Only one more week til I go in for my CI evaluation! I can't wait! I am sooo nervous & sooo anxious!!! I have spent a few hours on my laptop researching and learning everything I can about CI & all that way I can show up to my appt already understanding and knowing things without having to feel lost wondering 'wtf are they talking about?' ya know? Ack. I hate the waiting part! All I want right now is to hear "Yes, you're a candiate!" and then I'll be impatient for the surgery date & activation date! The waiting game is soooooo hard!!!!
I realize since most of you don't know me, let me tell you a lil about myself & how I became Deaf. I'm 28, a mother of two hearing children. I've been Deaf since birth due to my Mother contracting Rubella while pregnant with me, sucks eh? :/ Anyways, as soon as they realized that I was deaf, I was fitted for hearing aids ASAP as I could handle it when I was a lil older due to it being the old fashioned body HA. I had Early Intervention & a teacher came out to work with me so that I'd not be behind when entering Preschool. I went to 2 different Preschool & then entered Kindergarten in a neighboring city from home that had a awesome Total Communication Program. I basiclly grew up there til I graduated with some yrs of from attenging 2 different schools for awhile, one being the state school for the Deaf as I wanted to be around Deaf culture and learn more ASL. I graduated & went on to college. I met a hearing man and married him & have two children right now, hoping for more soon.
The reason I'm considering CI is because I've not been able to wear 1 of my HA for the last 6 yrs - long story. As for my other ear, I was getting by just fine with my HA hearing environmental sounds & everything else, I mean I hear so well that I had no problem learning how to talk well [thanks to years of speech classes while growing up at the TC program]. But, unfortutely, one day last summer, all of that changed. I started having awful Tinnitus, which is nothing new since I've experienced them before but not as intense as this. And I'd notice at the onset of Tinnitus, I'd lose my residul hearing temporarily and it'll last for days on end at times. It drove me nuts. It also got to the point where I'd get my hearing back when I'm at home but once I'm out the door, it's temporarily gone again. I've gone to the ENT to express my feelings on all this and ask for help on what to do & how to get my other ear get used to wearing HA again since I've tried on and off for the last 6 yrs but it is just terribile. I'd put them on and immeditely Tinnitus would start so bad & I couldn't even balance myself when I'd try to walk, I'd always lean over to the right, which is strange cause I do not have a walking or balance problem! It was like I was walking drunk or something. Heh. It sucks!!! The ENT was someone I didn't know and he just didn't really listen. All he said was "Ahh, I don't know what's going on or what's causing all this, how about I send you to >name of place< so you can start the process to see if you're a candiate for CI" umm. I haven't even said anything about CI so I was really shocked when he brought CI's up. I told him "Um, wait a minute, my parents were told while I was growing up that it'd most likely be useful for me..." and he blabbed on and on about how CI's has changed alot in the last 20+ yrs. So, I went home telling my Husband all this & being the sweet husband he is, he wants me to get it checked out. So that's where I am at now!
Sorry for all my typos. I am kinda in a hurry as I am waiting for Grey's Anatomy to start due to our PVR being messed up yesterday and only taping the last 10 minutes! :P
If you read this whole thing, here's a cookie for you. :]
-DeafMama78
here and enjoy AD! :d good lucky
