My name is Joel and on Nov 6th, 2015 I had surgery on my left ear for a cochlear implant. My activation date is set for Dec 3rd 2015. I wanted to start this thread to document my journey in hopes of answering other peoples questions as well as show what changes one can expect when doing this. I'll keep this first post updated with pictures and videos as I go along. 
It all started when my parents took my twin brother and I to a program called "Child Find". It was a pre kindergarten screening that measured your skill levels. Like cognitive, speech, color and shape recognition, fine motor skills. There were stations that you went to and they had you do things like hammer a wood peg in a hole, color, put different shaped blocks into different shaped holes. They also tested vision and hearing.
My mom expected them to tell her that my brother Jay was blind or something because he was so active and hyper. My older sister Kadee has one really bad eye, so she just assumed Jay had a problem too...
They came back to tell her that Jay was a perfectly normal 4 year old and I was profoundly deaf!
So she took me to Children's Mercy for a second opinion and sure enough, I had a hearing problem.
After 28 years of wearing hearing aids, it was time for a change! Below is my most recent audiogram and it's pretty much the same as when I first started when I was 4 years old. The only thing that has really declined is my speech understandably. For those new to seeing an audiogram, 0-20 is "normal" hearing.
The big day:
Next day after removing the head band:
I am going with the Hybrid Cochlear Implant (http://www.cochlear.com/wps/wcm/con...ntVCyHecn1Qk6emy3SGEMxjEXCWX8V5mplBoC1rXw_wcB). The low sounds will be pushed through my ear just like a hearing aid and the mids/highs will be pushed through the implant.
As of day 5, everything has been very good and the pain is very minimal. I'm a very active person and finding it extremely difficult to sit around. IMO, the hardest part is sleeping upright and I'm looking forward to the day the doctor says I can lay back down! I also talk a lot and that too agitates my ear, so I'm trying to keep quiet. Outside of that, it's going much better than I expected (knock on wood).
UPDATE (11/12/2015): I met with the surgeon and the audiologist for a post op today. Everything is looking really good with very minimal swelling. Currently sounds like I have a lot fluid in my ear and it lightly pops from time to time if I bend over and stand back up. The top of my ear is still a numb but should regain feeling as time goes by. All in all, everything appears to be going smoothly and I can finally sleep normal wash my head!!!
UPDATE (12/02/2015): This last month has been slightly challenging since I only have one ear, but thanks to awesome family/coworkers I can make it through the day! I've healed up well and the incision is very hard to see. This week I have felt more "normal" because I no longer seem to be waking up with what feels like fluid in my ear. Without wearing hearing aids, my left ear is a little quieter than my right ear (which I expected). I assume that is because of the wire in the cochlea is somewhat restricting sound compared to without.
The good news is tomorrow is activation day!!! Yes I plan to record my reaction and yes I plan to post it up I still can't fathom what sounds I have been missing and I am excited for the next step. I do hope this was all worth it because I did very well with hearing aids. The end goal isn't really to hear more sounds, but to understand things more clearly. I always tell people that speaking loud and whatnot does not really help, because I can hear them, it's just that I cannot understand them.
UPDATE (12/03/2015): Getting fitted went really well and it's far different than I was expecting. At this current time, I cannot understand anything being said on the implant alone. I can hear extremely high pitches with ease (couldn’t before!), but the mids or lows appear non-existent. I’d say everything is high pitched and robotic (tingy) sounding. From what I've read on here this is expected and very common and with time becomes should become more natural sounding and the mids/lows will resurface. I think I'll eventually get the part that goes into my ear so that I can hear lows better. That won't be for at least another month or so.
When I first walked outside, a car slowed down so we could pass and without paying attention, I easily heard the brakes squeal. Then, at breakfast at First Watch, I heard a crumbling noise and about 15’ away and it was a guy wrapping a box with wrapping paper. That’s something I would never randomly hear that I did hear today!!!
The plan now is to rarely use my hearing aid so that I can start processing how the cochlear works. I go in tomorrow morning to do some more mapping and hopefully things start to make more sense. Sadly no video was made and all you'd get was me cracking jokes and smiling a lot
It all started when my parents took my twin brother and I to a program called "Child Find". It was a pre kindergarten screening that measured your skill levels. Like cognitive, speech, color and shape recognition, fine motor skills. There were stations that you went to and they had you do things like hammer a wood peg in a hole, color, put different shaped blocks into different shaped holes. They also tested vision and hearing.
My mom expected them to tell her that my brother Jay was blind or something because he was so active and hyper. My older sister Kadee has one really bad eye, so she just assumed Jay had a problem too...
They came back to tell her that Jay was a perfectly normal 4 year old and I was profoundly deaf!
So she took me to Children's Mercy for a second opinion and sure enough, I had a hearing problem.After 28 years of wearing hearing aids, it was time for a change! Below is my most recent audiogram and it's pretty much the same as when I first started when I was 4 years old. The only thing that has really declined is my speech understandably. For those new to seeing an audiogram, 0-20 is "normal" hearing.
The big day:
Next day after removing the head band:
I am going with the Hybrid Cochlear Implant (http://www.cochlear.com/wps/wcm/con...ntVCyHecn1Qk6emy3SGEMxjEXCWX8V5mplBoC1rXw_wcB). The low sounds will be pushed through my ear just like a hearing aid and the mids/highs will be pushed through the implant.
As of day 5, everything has been very good and the pain is very minimal. I'm a very active person and finding it extremely difficult to sit around. IMO, the hardest part is sleeping upright and I'm looking forward to the day the doctor says I can lay back down! I also talk a lot and that too agitates my ear, so I'm trying to keep quiet. Outside of that, it's going much better than I expected (knock on wood).
UPDATE (11/12/2015): I met with the surgeon and the audiologist for a post op today. Everything is looking really good with very minimal swelling. Currently sounds like I have a lot fluid in my ear and it lightly pops from time to time if I bend over and stand back up. The top of my ear is still a numb but should regain feeling as time goes by. All in all, everything appears to be going smoothly and I can finally sleep normal wash my head!!!
UPDATE (12/02/2015): This last month has been slightly challenging since I only have one ear, but thanks to awesome family/coworkers I can make it through the day! I've healed up well and the incision is very hard to see. This week I have felt more "normal" because I no longer seem to be waking up with what feels like fluid in my ear. Without wearing hearing aids, my left ear is a little quieter than my right ear (which I expected). I assume that is because of the wire in the cochlea is somewhat restricting sound compared to without.
The good news is tomorrow is activation day!!! Yes I plan to record my reaction and yes I plan to post it up I still can't fathom what sounds I have been missing and I am excited for the next step. I do hope this was all worth it because I did very well with hearing aids. The end goal isn't really to hear more sounds, but to understand things more clearly. I always tell people that speaking loud and whatnot does not really help, because I can hear them, it's just that I cannot understand them.
UPDATE (12/03/2015): Getting fitted went really well and it's far different than I was expecting. At this current time, I cannot understand anything being said on the implant alone. I can hear extremely high pitches with ease (couldn’t before!), but the mids or lows appear non-existent. I’d say everything is high pitched and robotic (tingy) sounding. From what I've read on here this is expected and very common and with time becomes should become more natural sounding and the mids/lows will resurface. I think I'll eventually get the part that goes into my ear so that I can hear lows better. That won't be for at least another month or so.
When I first walked outside, a car slowed down so we could pass and without paying attention, I easily heard the brakes squeal. Then, at breakfast at First Watch, I heard a crumbling noise and about 15’ away and it was a guy wrapping a box with wrapping paper. That’s something I would never randomly hear that I did hear today!!!
The plan now is to rarely use my hearing aid so that I can start processing how the cochlear works. I go in tomorrow morning to do some more mapping and hopefully things start to make more sense. Sadly no video was made and all you'd get was me cracking jokes and smiling a lot
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