Activation Day

Well activation was three days ago on Tuesday December 9, 2008. I was excited going into activation because I was not really sure what to expect, but I was trying to be somewhat pessimistic about everything. I did not want to get my hopes dashed.

When they first connected the implant I had to listen to a series of beeps to judge my comfort level. This was somewhat difficult for me as the pitches increased in frequency. By the time we got to the last electrode the pitch was so high it was hard to judge comfort level. Anyways we got everything figured out and it was time to go live.

When I first went live with the CI, I was upset emotionally. The sounds I heard were horrible. They were atrocious and I just wanted to take the implant off and never put it back on. However, with my experience with implants and hearing aids I knew that it would get better with time so I tried to be patient. In the beginning there was a lot of static and voices had a Darth Vader quality to them.

One of the first sounds I heard was an annoying tapping sound. We finally figured out that I was hearing the clock ticking above my head. We continued on with the session consisting of the audiologist explaining all the equipment and how to operate everything. With every passing minute I was able to understand better and my hearing improved.

The audiologist had me put my other hearing aid on with the CI as well. I did not like that initially so I took the hearing aid off. I am not wearing the hearing aid and I do not plan to for several months in order to train my ear to hear with the CI.

Towards the end of my session the audiologist put me in the booth to see where my map was at this point. I came out at 30dB across the spectrum. My speech reception was at 35dB. I was pleased as I was hoping to be around 45-50dB.

Mom and I left the hospital and headed home. We stopped at the Burlington outlets to let me walk around and see what experiences I had. It was really not bad...there was still some static but it was getting better.

We stopped by my grandmothers on the way home and it was great to see my grandmother and aunt for the first time with my CI. I was able to hear my aunt laughing in the other room.

Some of the other sounds that I heard today were:

women's heels clicking as they walked
windshield wipers
rain
water splashing under my tires