how it started...
IT ALL STARTED WHEN I WAS 15!!! my speech therapist who is now deceased... my mom and family/friends all encouraged me to go for it...
i freaked out when i saw an
old friend of mine with a big scar on her head and half shaved! i said HELL NO WAY!!! everyone pested me... i refused... and told them to leave me alone... they finally left me alone (this was in
pa with my speech therapist)...
then many years later... i was living in
conn with my mom... somehow CI was brought up again in 1999- a dr. kveton was supposed to be one of the best drs in conn at yale...
(yea right!) :sure: .. since CI had improved tremendously over the years... so i decided to give it a shot... i sought dr. kveton in '99... took some tests.. the last test (forget the name of the test- but it is a test where they use a needle to test the cochlea instead of the ct scan that they do now...) he poked my ear drum big time ---
i will NEVER FORGET TO THIS DAY THE PAIN THAT I ENDURED!!! (my mom was with me!!!) i cried with pain cuz it was so painful that it went from my left ear, DOWN TO MY FACE and all the way down on my left side!
IMAGINE THAT! know what the dr said!???
"YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY NOT READY FOR THE CI!!!" i was TAKEN BACK AND TURNED OFF!!! (i mean a doctor should never say such a thing like that to a patient!!!??? SHEESH!!!) my mom was shocked to hear him say it and then she got mad at me!!! i was mad at her for taking his side!!!
and guess what!!??? i ended up getting A FOOKING EAR INFECTION!!! that lasted 4 FOOKING MONTHS!!! IMAGINE THAT!??? (i went to my ENT to be treated for it--- unfortunately he retired- so i have no proof to show dr. kveton what he did to me! :rl: ) my mom felt bad for me afterwards! thanks a lot!!!
so anyway... so i changed my mind about CI AGAIN after this horrendous ordeal!!! so whenever i hear conn CI people talk about how wonderful dr. kveton is, i shudder cuz i can't even stand him or think about what he did to me!!! and can't ipicture how or what he does to other people!??? yikesss!
i went to rit for a few years and got my fooking degree at last! then moved back to conn... my mom said well why don't you get CI???
i said HELL NO!!! she said, "maybe he changed his techniques in the last 5 years??? and became nicer?" i was like YEA RIGHT!!! she said, YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!?? i made her reminise (sp?) that terrible infection/experience that i endured/went through, she felt very bad but kept insisting!!!
after weeks of persisting,
i GAVE IN!!! (don't ask me why!) :roll: ... (i never liked him anyway, cuz he was always rushing, impatient, etc..)... so when i went to see him, he didn't change a bit!!! and
GUESS WHAT!??? HIS TECHNIQUES WERE STILL THE SAME!!! AND I SAID TO MY MOM!!! SEE!!! I KNEW IT!!! SAME TESTS! AND SAME SCARS!!!! (HE STILL DOES THE OLD FASHIONED SCARS ON THE HEAD- NOT BEHIND THE EAR TYPE!!! ISN'T THAT CREEPY!!???) MY MOM WAS SHOCKED!!!) she couldn't beleive that my instincts were right!!! so i said
FORGET IT!!! and left the office and never went back!!! this was in the spring of 2005...
i met the love of my life in may of 2005!
then in the fall of 2005 there was a deafnation expo in chicago... sure enough they had a booth for CI... it piqued my curiousity... i met a woman named kathy allen.. she is an advocate for the cochlear americas.. and there were long lines of people at the booth to my surprise!!! i thought to myself... it must be that good and it couldn't hurt to find out what was happening at the booth... so i went over there... and met a woman from colorado who introduced me to kathy... i ended up talking to kathy... i told her about my experiences with dr. kveton and his techniques... the first thing she said was that...
my dr's techniques (using the needles to test the cochlea and cutting the head in the old fashioned way) were OUTDATED!!! i gulped!!! and she showed me her scar... my mouth dropped! :jaw:
(kathy and i became friendly- we went out to lunch a few weeks later 
)
she had her first CI done in st. louis where she grew up and then her 2nd implant at northwestern in chicago... so i asked who her dr and audiologist were... she gave me their names.. and said
WONDERFUL THINGS ABOUT THEM.. AND EVEN GAVE ME THEIR WEBSITE!!! dr. kveton doesn't even have a damn website which says a lot!!! so i made an appt with the audiologist the following week!!!
and met with the doctor as well!!! and
LOVED THEM!!! then i met them again a few months later when i brought my records with me.... and amazingly... i didn't need anymore tests!!! they said i was ready to go as soon i transferred my medicare/medicaid (more likely medicaid) from conn to illinois!!!
i was
SO EXCITED!!! i told my mom all of this... she couldn't believe this... she cried... and apologized for not being on my side with dr. kveton...and i even showed her their website and it had
some patients' successful stories!!! and then i tried to pull up dr. kveton's website.. it didn't come up!!! she gulped.. i said..
SEE!!! and gave her the raspberries 
she was so EXCITED... YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN HER! she acted like a mom who had just gotten pregnant or something!!! I'M NOT KIDDING!
I AM JUST SO GLAD THAT I WAITED ALL THESE YEARS! for the RIGHT TIME/MODEL (TECHNOLOGY) AND DR/AUDIOLOGIST because i LOVE them!!!
so this is the story of how it all started!
TO BE CONTINUED!
i guess each doctor is different... i will post pictures when i get a chance as well! 
and congrats on your CI 
Glad it all went well and activation has been a good start for you.
