First appointment

Too bad about your BF, but then I think he's more important than your CI surgery. I hope he feel better soon.

Grin. Too bad it doesn't come in lime green. It's my fav color. I think if I were to get a CI, I'd spray paint it a lime green color. :cool:
 
I spoke with my surgery coordinator at the clinic and she has confirmed it for SURE for October 11th! :hyper:
 
RedheadGrrl said:
Hey thats good to hear that. Good luck with it

How's ur bf doing? he's doing well so far?
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He's doing ok, but has yet to pass the kidney stone. Also he is still on painkillers for it so I don't want him driving around until he is off the painkillers. He is doing better now compared to the other night in the ER. We are hoping that he will pass the stone very soon and get it over with.
 
LuciaDisturbed said:
He's doing ok, but has yet to pass the kidney stone. Also he is still on painkillers for it so I don't want him driving around until he is off the painkillers. He is doing better now compared to the other night in the ER. We are hoping that he will pass the stone very soon and get it over with.
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You were wise to wait until he is better. Is he going to do the driving and after care for you? If so, then he needs to be feeling healthy himself. You will need some after surgery pampering and care.

I'm hearing, so I've never had a CI myself but I do know friends and consumers with CIs. I sat with one friend's family member while the friend went thru the surgery. It was a long day. Tell your boy friend to bring a good book with him. :)

I'm glad that you are now getting the interpreting service that you need. That's very important because you want to go into surgery well informed. My friend didn't have a terp at the pre- and post- op meetings, and missed a lot of vital information, especially about possible side effects. When my friend experienced some effects later, he/she was frightened because he/she didn't know that the effect was common and "normal". Don't hesitate to ask every question you can think of.

The cover options are cool (still not yet enough), and you can make a high tech "fashion accessory" with some of the covers. My friend did find out the hard way that they are more fragile than expected, so just be careful with the covers.

One practical reminder. Your CI will gobble up battery life, even with rechargeables. Just keep up with the recharging, and carry a spare. It's like Murphy's Law; your battery will always go dead in the middle of an important conversation (just kidding :D ).

Best wishes to you on surgery day!

In the meantime, stay :cool:
 
Reba said:
You were wise to wait until he is better. Is he going to do the driving and after care for you? If so, then he needs to be feeling healthy himself. You will need some after surgery pampering and care.
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We are planning on him taking his grandfather's truck to take me to the hospital and back from the hospital, and I think he will stay a few days at my apartment to make sure I am ok afterwards. (He lives about a mile away from me)

I'm hearing, so I've never had a CI myself but I do know friends and consumers with CIs. I sat with one friend's family member while the friend went thru the surgery. It was a long day. Tell your boy friend to bring a good book with him. :)
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I sure will!

I'm glad that you are now getting the interpreting service that you need. That's very important because you want to go into surgery well informed. My friend didn't have a terp at the pre- and post- op meetings, and missed a lot of vital information, especially about possible side effects. When my friend experienced some effects later, he/she was frightened because he/she didn't know that the effect was common and "normal". Don't hesitate to ask every question you can think of.
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Agreed. I was not very pleased with the first interpreter I had, and I am very glad that I requested that this interpreter not be sent to my appointment anymore. I think the interpreter did not have enough training, also she kind of had an attitude...not sure if she did, but I was getting bad vibes from her...so, yeah. I recall reading somewhere about this lady who was going through the candicacy process of getting CIs and she had an interpreter present at her appointments, but her interpreter fed her doctor biased information while interpreting for the lady (such as interpreting that the lady did NOT want a CI when in reality she DID want a CI) and this resulted in her candicacy being DENIED...now no surgeons will do her surgery. That really scared me and I was very vigilant and if something was off, I do something about it FAST! Call me paranoid, but it just...scares me.

The cover options are cool (still not yet enough), and you can make a high tech "fashion accessory" with some of the covers. My friend did find out the hard way that they are more fragile than expected, so just be careful with the covers.
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Yeah, I will be careful with my covers. I also did a bit of googling, and found some rubberish covers for the speech processors as well, so I could use those as well.

One practical reminder. Your CI will gobble up battery life, even with rechargeables. Just keep up with the recharging, and carry a spare. It's like Murphy's Law; your battery will always go dead in the middle of an important conversation (just kidding :D ).
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Ah yes. For the time being, Medicaid and Medicare does not pay for rechargeables or the disposables, but my audiologist has told me that I will get 9 months' worth of batteries from Cochlear and in the meantime I will be saving up for the rechargeables.

*EDIT* I did a little bit of research and it look like Medicare does cover batteries...I guess my audiologist was wrong. I'll have to check up on it and find out for sure, though.

Best wishes to you on surgery day!

In the meantime, stay :cool:
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Thank you!
 
LuciaDisturbed said:
*EDIT* I did a little bit of research and it look like Medicare does cover batteries...I guess my audiologist was wrong. I'll have to check up on it and find out for sure, though.
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Um, I think I'm mistaken...Medicare do cover batteries, but Medicaid does NOT cover them for ADULTS. They will cover batteries for CHILDREN only, I think.
 
Reba said:
...

One practical reminder. Your CI will gobble up battery life, even with rechargeables. Just keep up with the recharging, and carry a spare. It's like Murphy's Law; your battery will always go dead in the middle of an important conversation (just kidding :D ).

....
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While that is definitely true, it really depends mostly on the "speed" of the software of the CI. The Freedom with three batteries can vary from about a day and 1/2 to nearly a week. I get basically three days worth on the speed setting I have and prefer. Everybody is different and you may like a faster or slower setting. That will take time to figure what works for you.

FYI - I know you can get 300 batteries that should last a year (at my speed :D) for about $80+ via the internet (don't get them from Cochlear as they are rather expensive unless insurance will cover it). I hadn't had to do that yet as I was in a study and they gave me about three years worth. They will probably last longer than that at the rate I'm chewing through them.
 
sr171soars said:
While that is definitely true, it really depends mostly on the "speed" of the software of the CI. The Freedom with three batteries can vary from about a day and 1/2 to nearly a week. I get basically three days worth on the speed setting I have and prefer. Everybody is different and you may like a faster or slower setting. That will take time to figure what works for you.

FYI - I know you can get 300 batteries that should last a year (at my speed :D) for about $80+ via the internet (don't get them from Cochlear as they are rather expensive unless insurance will cover it). I hadn't had to do that yet as I was in a study and they gave me about three years worth. They will probably last longer than that at the rate I'm chewing through them.
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I was told that I would be better off getting batteries through Cochlear because their batteries would last about 3 days. I was told that regular batteries like hearing aid batteries would only last a few hours to a day at the most...:dunno:

EDIT: I was talking about disposable batteries.
 
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It would depend...one guy I know lasted him 1 day! Cuz it comsume so much to hear.

My friend's last about 4 days. Not too bad. So it is really depend.

LuciaDisturbed said:
I was told that I would be better off getting batteries through Cochlear because their batteries would last about 3 days. I was told that regular batteries like hearing aid batteries would only last a few hours to a day at the most...:dunno:
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My friend changes rechargable batteries every day.

Over time, rechargables lose their holding capacity, just like rechargable phones do. After several months, they begin to decrease their usable time.

Of course, there is a wide range of battery types. Maybe there is a Consumer Reports rating somewhere that compares prices and capacities?
 
LuciaDisturbed said:
I was told that I would be better off getting batteries through Cochlear because their batteries would last about 3 days. I was told that regular batteries like hearing aid batteries would only last a few hours to a day at the most...:dunno:

EDIT: I was talking about disposable batteries.
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You are right, what you need is "Hi-Power 675" not standard 675 used by HA wearers.

"Hi-Power 675" are the type used by CI users.
 
Really, I Wish You Alot Of Luck. Keep Us Updated. I Am Happy For You To Be Able To Have This Operation.
 
LuciaDisturbed said:
I was told that I would be better off getting batteries through Cochlear because their batteries would last about 3 days. I was told that regular batteries like hearing aid batteries would only last a few hours to a day at the most...:dunno:

EDIT: I was talking about disposable batteries.
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I wasn't talking about "regular" batteries for hearing aids even though you could use them in a "pinch" when necessary. They just don't last that long. I was referring to the "Hi-Power" batteries that Boult mentioned. You simply need to make sure that you get those that are specified specifically for CIs. That is what I found on the internet at $80+ for 300. I heard people have tried them and found them to be basically the same as the ones Cochlear supplies people with. Sorry for any confusion...
 
sr171soars said:
I wasn't talking about "regular" batteries for hearing aids even though you could use them in a "pinch" when necessary. They just don't last that long. I was referring to the "Hi-Power" batteries that Boult mentioned. You simply need to make sure that you get those that are specified specifically for CIs. That is what I found on the internet at $80+ for 300. I heard people have tried them and found them to be basically the same as the ones Cochlear supplies people with. Sorry for any confusion...
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Ohhh, thanks for clearing it up for me! $80 is not bad at all! Where on the internet did you find it?
 
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