Email from Allison

Today's post is an email that I received from another hearing impaired person who had a CI done several years ago. I met her mother, Karen, through an online quilt group that I belong to. I met her face to face for the first time when she and her husband travelled to Tennessee from California a few years ago. She realized right away that I was hearing impaired and shared with me that she had twin daughters who also had hearing losses similar to mine. We have continued to stay in touch all these years. It has been nice to "connect" with another person who understands the trials and tribulations of the silent world. I knew that one of her daughters had had a CI done recently so I contacted Karen again to ask her some questions about it. She gave me Allison's email address because she felt that Allison would be able to answer my questions better than she could. So, the following is Allison's response to my first email. I thought I would share!

Hi Laurie,

My mom gave me the heads up to keep an eye out for your name and that you wanted to learn more about my CI. OK. Here we go.

I had my surgery 2 1/2 years ago on my right ear, because at that time I was experiencing horrible tinnitus (that ringing in the ear) and the doctor said that there was a 70% chance of it going away with surgery. So, I decided to go ahead with it. My surgery was no more than 2 hours. Hook up was 3 1/2 weeks later and that's a whole another story.

The sounds, when it was first turned on, triggered that,"ohh my god, what have I done!" feeling. Fortunately, my audiologist was so sweet and sensitive and told me to hang in there. I mean these sounds were so high pitched that they sounded like Cinderella's mice sucking helium! Within a few days I noticed the sounds were softening up. This was continuous and I think about 3 months after hook up is when I was really beginning to understand words without lipreading. And my audiologist told me to go ahead and use the hearing aid on the other ear.

It has been said that after getting the CI people usually don't like to wear the hearing aid but I do... I think of it as a bridge to what I heard before and then understand what it sounds like with the CI. The sounds are very different. The hearing aid side is very muffled as compared to the CI. But it doesn't bother me because the CI is really doing all the work. I can localize sounds better with the hearing aid on. Also, my audiologist also said that it's a good idea to keep that auditory nerve stimulated regardless of what benefit it is getting, in the event that years down the road I want to try out the newest technology. I will remain a good candidate.

I love my CI! The only thing that I don't like about my BTE N24 is that it is a "Battery Guzzler!" Just as an SUV is a "gas guzzler!" You know it requires three 675 batteries per change. So I buy the batteries by the cartons!

The one thing that I emphasize strongly is to have patience if you do decide to go and get a CI. And I mean it. There were times when I cried and thought I had made a mistake and even had a few venting outbursts due to the frustration of not understanding what I was hearing. Breathe often if you get frustrated and even turn it off for a little while. When I got to that point of auditory overload, I had to tell myself to "breathe..... give myself a break...... this is new...... change can be hard.....etc... I even meditated a little and that helped tremendously!

I will have had my CI for three years on August 5. And I don't regret it one bit... I'm still hearing new things and loving it!!! It's more about fine details of sounds and sounds that are far away that I'm getting into now. It's pretty cool.

Please, by all means, if you have any more questions please ask away, ok?! Good luck on your journey! Allison