June 30, 2005

Interesting Point about dealing with the Cochlear Implant

Hey!
I was talking to this lady about my Cochlear Implant and she made an interesting point and I thought I'd share with you. She said that the proccess of learning to hear with the implant is like getting glasses. When you don't have your glasses on everything is fussy and when you have them on, you have to learn what the fuzzy thing really was. So with the implant...you may not hear any noise when doing the dishes but when you get the implant you'll hear noises and you have to get used to the fact that the sound is from the water.
And I think that is so true becuase when you get the implant, so don't all the sudden know what each sound is and where it is coming from. It takes time to "train" your brain what all the noises are coming from. So for the new implant users, don't get discouraged, becuase afterall in the the long run we will be able to hear a lot! Hey, maybe even more than the normal hearing people. haha. Wouldn't that be funny?? Well got to go.
Talk to you later!

June 29, 2005

Today - back to hearing great!


Hey!
Well today I am doing a whole lot better! I haven't turned on my hearing aid once today. In fact my mom has it. lol. I feel really wierd without my hearing aid but I know its for the best!! I can hear the T.V again - thats great news! Today at work I had to cut peices of paper and it was NOISY! Can you believe it?? I never thought cutting paper was going to be so noisy! At school when we were doing some in-classroom projects and everyone was cutting at the same time, I could kinda hear it and thats with a bunch of people. But now just one person cutting is really loud. lol. Some other nioses I have found to be loud is water. I heard water a little bit with my hearing aid, but that was when I was right next to it. And the other day I was washing the dishes and it was extremly loud! That was a shock to me. lol. That was really the first thing I noticed to be different from my cochlear Implant and my hearing aid. Another thing that I noticed to be louder is a light switch. lol. When I turn on a light switch I hear it. I've never really heard me turn on a light. lol. I could also hear a blinker on in someone elses car. I can never hear the blinker unless I know its on, cuz then I listen for it. But this time I didn't know it was on and I could hear it! But thats all I can think of right now...I'll make sure I have the whole list for you to read next time. ok? Well, got to go. Bye : )

Oh and here is a picture of me and my brother. We both have the Advanced Bionocs Cochlear Implant. He has the BTE and I have the new Auria. (up above) We both love it!

Not so good week

Hey! Well yesterday I got remapped. Lets just say it went okay. Before I got there I was having problems hearing. I kept getting this rattling, humming sound. I asked people if they heard it, but we couldn't really figure out what it was. They thought it was the air conditioning, or a boy banging a cup. But I don't think that was it. It sounded like my hearing aid when it got moisture in it. The rattling would get so annoying and loud that I couldn't hear or talk to people very well. I couldn't even hear the t.v with just my implant. And before this noise came I would turn off my hearing aid because I could actually hear the t.v better. But for the past week my hearing went down hill. I wasn't able to hear people without trying to figure out what they were saying, so I got fustrated and I went back to my hearing aid. I know I will regret wearing my hearing aid for the past week. But thank god I got remapped yesterday!! We were trying all sorts of programs to try to get rid of this sound but we couldn't really. But then they were talking about if it was my hormones, if it was me being tired, stressed, or whatever. They said that if your tired, sick, stressed, or hormonal your hearing would change. But that's not for everyone. So that could be the possibility why I was doing do bad last week. But now I'm doing better. I'm working at the office and hadn't turned on my hearing aid once. I could even hear Del, Mary, and Mary Ann (all soft speakers somtimes) talking.But It was soft but I could hear them!!! YAY! I would find myself reaching up to turn my hearing aid on to hear them better BUT I forced myself to not turn it on!
Sunday I did therapy (when I wasn't hearing very well) and I did horrible! I couldn't hear them call out the words to save my life!! My grandpa did it, my brother did it, my Aunt did it, and my Mom did it, I still couldn't understand them. We were thinking that it was because I haven't left my hearing aid out long enough. But this morning I did it, and I almost got 100% on the words. YAY! Skip (a good friend) and my Mom both did it. I was so happy because I'm back to where I was on the first week. We also tried to see if I could tell the difference between the voices. Between a mans voice and a womans voice. I could kinds do it. In't always right but I could sorta tell who was talking. So we'll see if I get it absolutely right later this week. Keep your fingers crossed!!! lol.
So what did I learn out of this?? That if your hormonal, tired, sick, lazy, stressed or whatever...Your hearing changes!!! So don't get frustrated like I did. Your hearing isn't going bad, you just may be emotional.
Well, I better go.......Got some listening to do. lol

June 22, 2005

Listening to Music for the first time!!!

OH MY GOSH!!! GUESS WHAT I'M DOING RIGHT NOW.....LISTENING TO MUSIC! Yep I am listening to music with my implant!!! YAY!!!! I'm so excited. I put my headphones on to listen to music while I blog and I could actually hear it. I didn't think I would but I did. YES!!! Its hard to understand 100% of what the singer is saying but thats ok!! I love music and I will listen to it whenever I can!! lol. Well got to go to work. Bye!

June 22, 05

Hey! Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. I "went" out of town with my dad. Okay so it was just a road trip to South Carolina and back, but it was fun. We had to pick up Jonathan's (my brother) new dirt bikes. They are awesome!!! I can't wait to ride them myself. lol. Anyways, today I had therepy. I got a little bit in trouble because I didn't go without my hearing aid last week. Ugh. That's what I really need to give up - my hearing aid. After so many years wearing it, it sort of becomes a habit. lol. But oh well, if I want to get better I have to get rid of my hearing aid!!!!
Anyways during therapy we did some games. They were fun. We played Goldfish and a rhyming game. Goldfish was kind of easy but when we got to the rhyming game, that was really hard. But that was only because I went with my hearing aid all week. Bad bad me!!! And of course you get homework - lol - I have to walk around the house to see what noises I hear (like the dishwasher, air conditioner, washing machine, phone, etc.), I have to play card games - the rhyming game and goldfish games. So I really need to be good and do all that before next Wednesday!!! Well I better get going. I'll blog later. Bye! : )

June 17, 2005

MY WILDEST EXPERIENCE SO FAR

Hey! You will never guess what happened to me today!!! I was outside with my mom and I was leaning against the car and I looked over the other way (the side with my implant) and all the sudden my implant goes flying off and attaches itself to the car!!! Oh my gosh!! I couldn't believe that happened!! People are always telling me that these kind of things happen but I never thought it would actually happen to me. Can you believe it?? So new implant users - BEWARE! THE IMPLANT IS A MAGNET SO IT WILL ATTACHE ITSELF TO METAL!!! lol.
Talk to you later!

June 16, 2005


This is me at my 16th birthday! Posted by Hello

My First Day into the New World

On May the 17th I went to get my Cochlear Implant turned on. I was so excited, sad, nervous, and everything you could possibly imagine. But most of all I was happy and very excited. But I will tell you this - if you are getting the implant PLEASE remember this.... Your parents WILL cry and get very emotional. I know this because my mom is a very strong woman, and she will do everything in her power to keep me happy. When I got into this, I made her promise me to not cry because I hate to see her cry. And what does she do?? She cries. She cries a lot. I think all parents would cry a lot when their kid is going into surgery. But just for the record, be aware that your parents, or your husband or wife will get very emotional from getting the news of having the implant to getting turned on.
But anyways, when my Mom and I arrived there we went into David's (my audiologist) office. It was just like any other appointment, we say hi and ask questions, look around, etc. But the first thing we did was that we got my implant out - most people would probably have to sit there and put it together - but you know me...I just had to put it together the day I got it to see what it was going to look like. I put all of my colors on it just to see what they looked like too. lol. And they all looked cool. But we I put it on my head I was sad. Because it was big. It was a lot bigger than I was expecting but I got over that because as soon as I thought about me hearing everyone and everything that "normal" people hear, I was excited!! I just couldn't wait to get turned on. So we got the implant out and hooked it to the computer with this long cord. Then we did some tests to set the volumes right and see if my nerves were "working". Basically in the test, you hear a bunch or sratchy noises and beeps and the computer reads weather or not your nerves were working. Then we did another test for me to tell how loud the noises are. I got this piece of paper with blue circles in a row. From smallest to the biggest. The smallest being the softest sounds and the biggest circle being the loudest sound. So we went through all these beeps and noise and I had to figure out if it was loud or soft or medium. That was really hard for me because I had no idea what would be really loud or what would be really soft for me. But to some people that may be easier. I don't know. So anyways the turning on point was here!!! David said he was going to turn me on so I waited and waited. David and my mom was looking at me wondering what I'm go to do. Finally I asked "was that it?!?!". I didn't even know he turned me on until they started talking a little bit. All I could hear were beeps for every syllable in a word. For example "Jon-a-than" I was hear "beep..beep..Beep". So I was quite surprised when I found that out! My mom was almost in tears, and I was! I was so sad because I was expecting to really hear a little bit off people talking, not beeps!! So later on we went home and we didn't say much because we were still shocked about what had happened.
But it gets better, and I'll tell you the rest in the next time I blog. Ok?? I guess I'll talk to you later!

June 14, 2005

June 14 - again

Hey hey hey! What's up? Today I had a fun day working. I got a lot of stuff done and for most of the day I went with out my hearing aid. YAY!!! So its getting better. It sounds like the other hearing aids that I've tried (p-4, superos, perseros, otcons etc.) It sounds "roboty" like "Darth Vader" hahaha. But I can function with it just fine. It just takes time to get used to it. lol. That's the part I absolutely hate!!! Waiting....And waiting....And waiting for it to sound perfect. But I sure can't wait for those days to come. Anyways I guess I'll blog again tomorrow. Talk to ya later!!! Chao!

June 14

Well, today I had my hearing aid off. Its hard but its getting easier every time I take it out. I like the looks but the sound is still weird. Right now I have a color cap on it to match my outfit! yay!

Pictures from the first week
























The Week of Surgey

On April 14th I had my surgery at Northside Hospital. Suprisenly we were all calm but i think deep down we were all very worried. I mean, I'm going into surgery...who wouldn't be?!? when we got there, we went into this big waiting room and the lady would call us for us to go into a room to fill out paper work, then they would call us again for us to go into another room, I think my mom ended up going into like 4 rooms to fill out paperwork. But I sat in the waiting room with my dad. But then we went into a "holding" room. There I had to change into the most ugliest outfits! And they put and IV in me. And later they gave me this drug (I guess) that made me "crazy" and "woozy". haha. Then it was time to go into surgery. We asked if I can get pictures of me in there and with all my nurses and doctor. And let me tell you, even though I was a little "woozy" I still remeber how nice they were! You can even tell by the pictures. They probably thought I was crazy for wanting to get pcitures but they still did it anyways. So now I got all these wonderful pictures for my photo alblums at home. I would definatly regretted it if I didn't get pictures. haha. But anyways, you'll see the pictures in the next blog. Then I was in surgery. The nurses gave my mom a "pager" that would buzz when I was out of surgery so she didn't have to worry if I was done every 5 minutes. haha. The surgery took about 3 hours. And then I was put into another "holding" room until I woke up. When I don't have my hearing aid in I sleep like a baby, and so I never really woke up completly because I couldn't hear anything. So finally they let my mom come in to put my hearing aid in. And then I was basically forced to stay "awake". haha. I remember when the nurse would try to talk to me but I couldn't hear her and so she finally started writing everything she was saying on paper. So that was very helpful. I also rememeber that I had a little pain. But I don't think I was really noticing it until I got my room and was really awake. I didn't move that much at all. If I did I would get very dizzy and sick. So it took me awhile to get on my feet to move. I remmber it was very hard to go to the bathroom or even to sit my head up. But by that night and the next morning I was able to move a little bit. Some of my friends and family came to the hospital to see me. I thought that was really nice knowing that they were there for me. But then when I got home I didn't do much. I just slept and watched some T.V. Although there is never really anything on when I want to watch T.V. Only when I'm not. haha. But I got lots of cards and gifts from all my friends and family. Then after a few days of doing nothing I had to try to go to school again. I remember that was kinda hard becuase going a whole day in high school and going up and down those stairs all day long ws exausting. But for the first day I think i went for a helf a day and went home to rest. But the next day I was able to do a whole day. I was exausted but I could do it. It just takes time to get back on your feet again. So that was the first week of having my Implant.