How to handle life when recovering from CI surgery?

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I need some advice. I plan on having CI surgery for my right ear the first of the year. I do not have any hair in my left ear so no real options there.

I'm self employed. I own a self storage, a large office building, and a large bakery with coffee shop. The self storage and office building more or less run them self. The problem comes in at the bakery. I run the back of the house.

I have been working with the front of the house manager and will be taking over more responsibilities. I'm also working with my head baker and turning him more into a manager.

My passion in life is baking. I would go crazy if I was not able to work in the bakery for more than a week. My doc tells me I will most likely need an interpreter for 4 to 8 weeks. I have also been told it could be 2 months before I'm able to hear on the same level as with the hearing aid. The people that I work with must know I'm hard of hearing and I'm sure most of them have seen my hearing aid at some point.

The closest family is about an hour away and they have offered to let me stay with them for a week or so. My mom asked me if I wanted to take off to the beach or something a few days after surgery for a vacation.

Last year I had my tonsil and adenoids out. My mom stayed with me for the first few days. I was at work every few days checking on everything and doing paperwork. It took 16 days before I could talk more than a few words at a time and it about killed me.

I can afford to hire an interpreter for a few days a week and will have on at least once a week for my weekly day in the office.

If you were in my situation what would would you do?
 
I dunno.....
But im a sucker for connoli......
You seem covered. You know sign, and can afford to hire terps, i dont think ci will exclude you from baking, so...
If i was you, as your asking, id just do what i do,sign. And.ditch the ci idea. Youve come this far with no drilled holes in your head, or computers in your skull,
Thats my awnser.
Since you asked
 
Ahh I love cannoli, but hate standing over the fryer to fry the shells.
I'm more into puff pastry deserts. So many different things you can do from one dough after you spend 4 hours to make 200 pounds of it. I'm so glade we only use around 800 pounds of puff pastry dough a week when were slow.

I'm at the point that my hearing aid is only so useful and with in the next year or so will be useless to me. I feel that if I don't have the CI surgery I will end up having to sell my self storage and my office building. I can not hear timers going off if there is any back round noise so I'm not able to do a lot of the work.

I don't know if I will be able to run my bakery as a deaf and not have an interpreter in a few years when my hearing gets worse.
 
nailed said:
Ahh I love cannoli, but hate standing over the fryer to fry the shells.
I'm more into puff pastry deserts. So many different things you can do from one dough after you spend 4 hours to make 200 pounds of it. I'm so glade we only use around 800 pounds of puff pastry dough a week when were slow.

I'm at the point that my hearing aid is only so useful and with in the next year or so will be useless to me. I feel that if I don't have the CI surgery I will end up having to sell my self storage and my office building. I can not hear timers going off if there is any back round noise so I'm not able to do a lot of the work.

I don't know if I will be able to run my bakery as a deaf and not have an interpreter in a few years when my hearing gets worse.
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There is tech that will allow you to see timers going off, or what ever we Deaf have that, all kinds of tech for those plms. You wont need to sell your storage or office building. Us Deaf can do that, so can you, trust me.

You certainly will be able to run your bakery as a Deaf. You can hire Deafies or your employees csn lesrn sign. And both. Terps are important, but sign and have people close to you kesrn it, seek out Deafies....
You dont need to see your bussiness oe bakery
We Deaf do all kinds of work,
 
If I'm working on something my self I set a timer on my cell phone. I have looked and I have not been able to find something that would work for us. There is 7 locations in the bakery room that have timers and I think there are 30 timers that could be set at any one time during the holidays.

I have asked my lawyer about how to write adds to find people that can sign. He says it's tricky on how to seek them out and hire them over someone that can not sign, but is more experienced.
He has referred me to a different lawyer and have an apportionment with him next week. I'm also going to ask about the best way to offer ALS classes to all my current employees.
 
nailed said:
If I'm working on something my self I set a timer on my cell phone. I have looked and I have not been able to find something that would work for us. There is 7 locations in the bakery room that have timers and I think there are 30 timers that could be set at any one time during the holidays.

I have asked my lawyer about how to write adds to find people that can sign. He says it's tricky on how to seek them out and hire them over someone that can not sign, but is more experienced.
He has referred me to a different lawyer and have an apportionment with him next week. I'm also going to ask about the best way to offer ALS classes to all my current employees.
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Interesting.
30 timers in 7 rooms should be a doable plm with tech these days...im sure some of the computer whizes on here could offer some suggestions.

I think its great you want to hire Deafies. And sign at workplace....thats wicked...
We Deaf need to help eachother.
Its all we have.
What city are you in?
 
No I one room there are about 30 timers total in 7 locations; mixers, ovens, ext

I'm in Lynchburg
 
You got a start here in finding employees. Might be few that are interested and they can spread word by mouth.

Never know till you ask and I would ask on here first. :)
 
nailed said:
No I one room there are about 30 timers total in 7 locations; mixers, ovens, ext

I'm in Lynchburg
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Ok. Im certain that plm can be solved...."-)
Lynchburg......alright....
 
Don't count on being able to hear as well or better then your hearing aid in 2 months. Unlike hearing aids, success with a CI is very individualized and varies greatly. hard to predict success. Some People can here very well in just a few days. Others may take months or years. And your hearing history doesn't necessarily have a lot to do with it. So be prepared for all possibilities.
 
I gone through something like this.About 3years after going deaf I cooking some chips then forgot went into other room fell asleep my baby sleeping upstairs cut long story I woke up and kitchen on fire.i obliviously woke up see kitchen on fire it was firemans job insurance claim bad fire.My thinking is would you not smell it and colleagues help.I not sure being deaf would hinder you if fire..I know many deaf and employers have not put any extra safety in for that.Must be safety officer at work you could discuss this with ..i had neighbour who nor deaf they had fire and her 2 kids died.
Good luck with CI all be well don't give yourself extra anxiety for something that unlikely to happen
 
nailed said:
No I one room there are about 30 timers total in 7 locations; mixers, ovens, ext

I'm in Lynchburg
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I might know of a product that can help you. PM me if you are interested and I can provide you with a company name. My daughter works for them. They have sold their boards to NASA and some other top companies. Not sure if it would work for you, but worth a try.
 
southpaw
I know that when my doc told me I should be able to hear with the CI in 2 months he was just tossing a number out to satisfy me. It's kind of one of those uncontrollable goals.

caz.
I did a standing rib roast a few years back for xmas dinner with all the family coming over. I preheated the oven to 500*f. Tossed in the roast and set my phone timer for an hour. I set my phone down and went to the basement to work on stuff. After about 3 hours I heard a faint noise and turned around to see a flashing strobe light in the next room. I ran up stairs opened up both of my doors for the fire department, set the roast on the front porch, and sat down next to it.

At first I thought it was bad that the fire department was at my house on xmas. It was to smokey so I couldn't reset the alarm system and had to talk them through it. After they got the alarm off and searched the house one truck with 4 guys stayed to get the smoke out. I was lucky and the first trip in they picked up my cell phone and gave it to me. I had no idea where my hearing aid was and kept sending them back in to check different spots.

I killed that $150 chunk of prime rib, but was able to pass it off as pot roast. The best part was half way through dinner telling the story. I was lucky and only had smoke and pride damage.


I understand that a lot of deaf or hard of hearing people grew up with much more of the deaf culture than I did. If I would of grown up in a different city I’m sure I would have had more exposure to the culture. I my self live and own companies in a hearing world. It would be different if I had a family member I was going to pass my companies down to.

It's so hard to deal with sales men when you can not pick up the phone and just put your foot down. Text messages and emails just don't do the same. It's also hard when setting up new accounts or working out a new lease for someone when you can not sit down at a table and talk to who your dealing with.

I talked to my retired mother yesterday. She asked me if I wanted her to move in with me and to take part of the weight off my shoulders. She says she's done living in an apartment by her self and living 90 minutes away from any family. She also says she wants to work a day or two a week. Were going to have dinner this week and talk about it more.
 
I can't help you with the timers but I am surprised that no one has mentioned using CapTel or your state relay service for phone calls! I know the Deaf (with a capital D) make fun of a TTY as "old tech" but I still really like mine. I grew up in the hearing world and still prefer to speak for myself and with VCO can continue to do so. VRS is not usable for me as I do not sign. I also turn the CA's into my secretary by turning the printer in my TTY on to keep a printout of what someone is saying to me rather than take a note by hand.

But when I want to be out I use a cell phone and the CapTel app from Hamilton. There is also a version for landlines. The link below is to the cell phone section of their site but you can easily get to the rest of it from there.

http://www.hamiltoncaptel.com/smartphone/
 
soutthpaw said:
Don't count on being able to hear as well or better then your hearing aid in 2 months. Unlike hearing aids, success with a CI is very individualized and varies greatly. hard to predict success. Some People can here very well in just a few days. Others may take months or years. And your hearing history doesn't necessarily have a lot to do with it. So be prepared for all possibilities.
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That I agree with based on just one week with mine.
 
I know the Deaf (with a capital D) make fun of a TTY as "old tech"
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I don't know who you've talked to but for the most part yes many see it as "old tech" but I don't think they're 'making fun' of it. I still have my compact TTY and regular size TTY (both in a box somewhere). I'd use them if I could but more and more places are moving away from the TTY technology/method unfortunately.

It's so hard to deal with sales men when you can not pick up the phone and just put your foot down. Text messages and emails just don't do the same. It's also hard when setting up new accounts or working out a new lease for someone when you can not sit down at a table and talk to who your dealing with.
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Oh boy do I understand that well. The phone has pretty much entrenched itself into the human race even with the newer technology today of Skype/FaceTime and other video chat options (VP/VRS for deaf who sign). I can't tell you how many job recruiters rely so heavily on the phone and will still email me with "Please call me" or "Can I have your phone number" AFTER I sent a email/reply with "Please contact me by EMAIL/I'm willing to meet in person (if it's near where I live)/text options" No matter what I do to avoid voice calls- they still do it anyway.

As for CapTel, for me personally the last time I tried to use it (I still have the stupid phone too) it was a complete disaster to use. It's the same issue IMHO- the hearing person gets frustrated or don't understand. I would think he'd run into the same problem with CapTel or if on a cell phone InnoCaption. Maybe you're lucky with your communications. I and many others sure aren't.
 
I had Cap-Tel for awhile. I didn't like it, too many errors, people didn't like calling me on it. I gave it back.
 
I tried cap-tel and there were to many issues to be able to use it for working with distributors looking to get better prices. Then on top of that there was to much lag. I have had issues with just about all the phone systems...
 
DeafDucky said:
I don't know who you've talked to but for the most part yes many see it as "old tech" but I don't think they're 'making fun' of it. I still have my compact TTY and regular size TTY (both in a box somewhere). I'd use them if I could but more and more places are moving away from the TTY technology/method unfortunately.



Oh boy do I understand that well. The phone has pretty much entrenched itself into the human race even with the newer technology today of Skype/FaceTime and other video chat options (VP/VRS for deaf who sign). I can't tell you how many job recruiters rely so heavily on the phone and will still email me with "Please call me" or "Can I have your phone number" AFTER I sent a email/reply with "Please contact me by EMAIL/I'm willing to meet in person (if it's near where I live)/text options" No matter what I do to avoid voice calls- they still do it anyway.

As for CapTel, for me personally the last time I tried to use it (I still have the stupid phone too) it was a complete disaster to use. It's the same issue IMHO- the hearing person gets frustrated or don't understand. I would think he'd run into the same problem with CapTel or if on a cell phone InnoCaption. Maybe you're lucky with your communications. I and many others sure aren't.
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I am in a different situation than a number of you. Being retired I am not dealing with frequent incoming business calls. Also I speak and really prefer that for calls even though I learned to touch type back in the 1950's.

So. . .my landline calls are using the Illinois Relay Service with a TTY and regular phone combination chained together from the same phone outlet. I use VCO on all calls in order to speak rather then key my side of the conversation. Illinois has contracted their service to Sprint and by far most of the CA'S seem to be really good. I have never used CapTel on a landline.

For my cell phone I currently use Hamilton's version of CapTel. I do hear enough to know when the other person finishes their greeting at the start of a call and can respond with a explanation of what type of call it is even though I have probably not finished reading all of what they said (I do need to read as I do not have word discrimination without supplementing sound with lipreading). This really helps prevent hangups.

My preferred app for the cell phone was InnoCaption but they are still down to work out issues with emergency calls. The only thing I didn't like from them was that they were just giving out numbers with California Area Codes at the time I registered and I am in Illinois. This resulted in anyone with a landline local to me would be paying long distance rates to call me on that number even if physically they were actually a neighbor of mine.
 
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