One lady talking to her friend about me being " deaf" and the other started trying to sign ( she doesn't know how to). I hated that , making fun of my deafness.
looks like you will get it.
I think you will not have any problem with hearing afterwards, becasue you have been hearing most of your life, so it will be like hearing again as soon as you get the CI.
96% is a huge score. I bet not all normal hearing people can get his score :P.
What are things that you are still missing though having the implant? Can you hear birds? What about speech of little kids ? TV ? Radio ...etc?