Great news. I know exactly how you feel because I just got mine turned on a month ago. I've been deaf for almost 20 years and I've been able to hear again in the last month.
Because it's so recent for me, and there are others on this forum who've recently gotten there's too, feel free to ask any questions. As for me you can Email or PM me any time about it.
Just to tell you a few "tech" terms or abbreviations you might read in here. I'll tell you a few of them you might run into.
CI = Cochlear Implant.
HOH = Hard of Hearing (not quite deaf)
Activation = The day the implant is turned on for the first time.
When I first started coming to this forum read those things I had no idea what they where talking about. LOL
Now for some things you might want to know that you'll have to think about.
You'll have to decide what brand of CI you'll want to get. I just got the
Nucleus 5 and I'm very happy with it. I'm not trying to push your decision for you should do your homework and make your decision. But I'll tell you why I got the Nucleus 5. It's made by the company that has been around the longest and about 70% of the people who get a cochlear implant get their from this company. It's smaller. It uses less batteries and it comes with a remote. So those where my main deciding factors on choosing this one.
The other two are
Med-El and
Advanced Bionics
Every one of these are going to claim to be the best. So I suggest you do some research not only on their sites but also ask around and when the time comes your audiologist will discuss this with you too.
The surgery wasn't to bad for me. I didn't experience and real pain. Nothing that the pain killers they gave me didn't cure anyway. What little I did experience happened the first couple of days but it wasn't bad at all. Each experience will be a little different though.
The recover was very fast. In fact the most annoying part was having to wait a month after the surgery to get it turned on. A few days after the surgery I was ready to go but of course I had to wait for it to heal more.
When it first gets turned on nothing will sound right but you will be able to hear. Over time sounds will start to sound more and more natural. I've had mine a month and although I really can't understand much speech yet. I can hear their voices and I can pick up words here and there already. But every single day I can tell it's improving and I'm discovering new sounds. Was funny the other day when I heard a squirrel for the first time.
Well, I just wanted to share some of those things. I'm sure you can tell by this long post that I'm still excited about mine.
Like I said, feel free to ask any questions. Many of us here have gone through what you are about to do.
Ron Jaxon