Monday, June 1, 2015

Activation Day of my 2nd implant!

Today was my activation appointment for my second cochlear implant. Surround sound is amazing! I was nervous but excited going into my appointment. I kept reminding myself all morning to go in with no high expectations. I didn't want a repeat of the very first time my first implant was turned on. Oh my goodness, this went so much better than I expected! Having gone through this before and going in with a different mindset made all of the difference in the world. We started slow with listening to the the soft beeps to develop my comfort threshold level. We went through all 22 electrodes before turning it on. I was bracing myself before she turned it on. Keep in mind I had my left implant turned off. She switched my new one on and everything sounded cartoonish. Everything was coming back to me of how it sounded two years ago. But the only difference was I was much more comfortable and relaxed this time! A few minutes went by with my audiologist talking to help me get used to the new sound.  My brain was like, whoa that's a lot of high pitch sounds! The more she was talking, the speech sounds were coming through. Her voice was coming through. I kept looking at Todd because I knew he was experiencing my emotions with me. Once I got comfortable enough, my audiologist said, go ahead and put your other processor on. I can't even begin to describe that moment. That was the pivotal moment of my appointment. It was just AMAZING to hear surround sound! Then the tears started flowing. I was just beyond grateful for this moment. I looked at Todd and he was crying too....which doesn't happen too often! I knew instantly he was happy that my experience was much better this time around. He is my rock and supports me in everything I do. He hurts when I hurt and he has joy when I am happy. I am very blessed to have a husband that is in sync with my emotions. I could not have gotten through all of these experiences of my implants without him. Technology is so amazing and I am thankful for the gift of it happening in my lifetime. I have much work ahead of me with my brain adapting to all of the new sounds on the right side but I am so excited! And I think this will be a much smoother transition than my left side. One thing I'm really excited about is the new phone clip. Since I have the new upgrade processors, it is now wireless. I have a phone clip which is connected to my phone by Bluetooth. Instead of listening through my phone with the handset,  the conversation is streamed through my implants wirelessly! That eliminates the background noise for me so I can hear the conversation better. I couldn't wait to try it. When I came home from my appointment, I talked to my children at home. They were happy to see that I had a better experience. After talking with them,  I couldn't wait to call my son, Matt at UC with my new phone clip. WOW! I could almost understand every word he said without lipreading! And his voice....sounded so like Matt. I was happy nothing changed with the sound of his voice. Very cool! My Mom was in awe listening to me have a phone conversation without too much effort. This phone clip will allow me to have practice listening without lipreading. What a great first day it has been today! I am elated. The best is yet to come and I can't wait to experience the gift of bilateral hearing!