Well today was the big day. I had my appointment today at Chapel Hill to determine if I was an implant candidate. Well all went well and I am in fact a bilateral implant candidate. The most shocking part was trying to schedule a surgery date. I was thinking at least two to three weeks at the earliest. Well how is four days. My surgery is on Tuesday November 25th. My right ear will be implanted with Med-El.
I will update more later. I go for my pre-op work tomorrow.
Lauren
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Starting my Journey
I am a 23 year old female with a severe profound hearing loss in both ears. I was born with a hearing loss however I was not identified until I was three years old. I started wearing hearing aids at three years of age and I have worn them ever since. It has been 20 years now. My hearing loss started becoming progressive in 2000, and since then has deteriorated quickly. I struggle every day to hear anything whether it is my husband or my mom, or the students I teach.I have known for years that I would probably have to go the route of a cochlear implant at some point, but now that it is here I am terrified. I don't know why I am scared....the thought of hearing better, the thought of giving up my ear permanently.
I know I should not be scared because a CI will end many of my battles with hearing. One of my primary battles takes place everyday at my job. I am a teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in a small rural community. I have three students and they all hear better than me (2 CIs, 1 HA). On a daily basis I will think they said something they didn't or that they left off an important speech marker such as plural s and almost every time they have to tell me what they said a second or third time sometimes. These are just the struggles at work. Not to mention my struggles with family, and graduate school. My graduate classes can be a nightmare sometimes depending on the number of people and style of classroom and not to mention the professor. So one would think that after fighting all of these battles on a daily basis that I would be ready to give up one ear for a CI...I would think so to, but I am still terrified.
However, I am tired at the end of the day and I know within me that a CI would make my life better so I am going to take the first step this morning and call the University of NC and schedule my initial evaluation. We will see what happens from there.
Lauren
I know I should not be scared because a CI will end many of my battles with hearing. One of my primary battles takes place everyday at my job. I am a teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in a small rural community. I have three students and they all hear better than me (2 CIs, 1 HA). On a daily basis I will think they said something they didn't or that they left off an important speech marker such as plural s and almost every time they have to tell me what they said a second or third time sometimes. These are just the struggles at work. Not to mention my struggles with family, and graduate school. My graduate classes can be a nightmare sometimes depending on the number of people and style of classroom and not to mention the professor. So one would think that after fighting all of these battles on a daily basis that I would be ready to give up one ear for a CI...I would think so to, but I am still terrified.
However, I am tired at the end of the day and I know within me that a CI would make my life better so I am going to take the first step this morning and call the University of NC and schedule my initial evaluation. We will see what happens from there.
Lauren
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