Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Thoughts and Research

I really should be going to bed after a long day at work but I need to add some thoughts and research information before I forget. I joined a CI forum on the Cochlear website and am getting a wealth of information from other members. I am so thankful that technology has advanced enough in this day and age to help the deaf and hearing impaired in such an incredible way! I wish my mom was here to share and experience this special time in my life. I know she would have loved the Internet, computers, and email. We used to use a special program years ago that allowed us to talk via computer to computer through modems but we had to make arrangements ahead of time to have our phones and modems turned on at the same time.

Some forum members are saying that one needs to get a meningitis shot a month before the surgery as a precaution. The Dr. didn't say anything about that so I will have to call him and ask the question.

Also, I've been told that I will lose my lipreading skills after the implant because I won't need them anymore. I have a hard time believing that. That is all I've ever done for the last 46+ years! Maybe everyone is different. I will also have to re-train my brain to understand speech by listening and reading to children's books on tape. Imagine that! Me at my age listening to Dr. Suess and Curious George!

I have decided to implant my left ear. Since I have a choice, I think it would be wise to save my "good" ear, which seems to have more comprehension in it. Since the implant destroys residual hearing in the implanted ear, I don't want to sacrifice my better ear. It doesn't seem to make sense to take the chance on losing my speech understanding in that ear. Is this God talking to me? I think so. By getting my "bad" ear implanted. I would still have the choice to continue using my hearing aid in the "good" ear along with the CI if needed. This would give me sound input and direction from both sides. Preserving the bilateral effect seems to make a lot of sense at this point. There doesn't seem to be any valid data that says the better ear should be implanted.

I will add to this section later. . . so keep checking back. . .time for bed

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Boy, you're so right about how any sound adjustments/changes makes you need to retrain your brain to understand the words. My husband just can't understand that. I don't know how to explain it to him, but yes, when there's any change to you hearing, you have to adjust and retrain your brain! :)

Why not include some familiar music to your "retraining"? I love challenging myself to a mix of known songs and figuring out how fast I can recognize them.