Off the Track Tidbit - about Cheryl

Some of you already know, some of you don’t yet…..druuuummmmm rollllll - that I, Cheryl, am on the waiting list for the cochlear implant.

:)

I wanted to announce this now so it would not come as a surprise when it is time for me to have the surgery, which is not far from now.

This may be a surprise to some of you as some of you think I am deaf and cannot talk because I do ASL. The prerequisite to have the CI, you must be wearing hearing aids full time and have a speech pattern. Actually, I am hard of hearing and speak fairly well, as most of you know. I wore hearing aids all my life, have mainstreamed in public school and am a lip-reader. I only just learned ASL when I was age 26.

My mother has asked me to go for the CI surgery several years ago and I said no. I have always said no, until earlier this year. In the past 10 years, I have lost a lot of my hearing and needless to say, it is frustrating at times. I noticed I am losing some of my lip-reading skills. Funny, how you lose your hearing, you can lose your other senses/or skills….that may not happen to all, but it did happen to me.

As all of you knew Raymond had the CI surgery in December. This past March, he went for the assessment test to see if he was a qualified candidate for the CI. He passed and then the audiologist gave us a very informative session about the CI itself and we asked a lot of questions and gave us some resources to review. That day changed my mind about the CI. It is an amazing technology and it is available for those who are qualified.

On the way home from this appointment, Raymond and I talked about the CI and how advanced it is now and how we have learned so much. He said to me, “Why not you go for an assessment to see if you are qualified or not? It is free and does not cost us anything, what’s there to lose?” If I did not pass, then I will never think about it again and also if I did not take the test, I will always ‘wonder’. On the very next day, I made arrangements to have the assessment test.

Appointment was set for August 2007 in Halifax and passed the test. Next were the balance test and the CT scan, all completed in Moncton. These are done now and next is to wait to meet the surgeon for the final “yes” or “no”. No appointment has been set yet.

During this waiting time after the August appointment, I can always have my name removed from the waiting list. I have decided to proceed with the CI surgery, why not? I have a good many years left ahead of me and would like to hear again like I did in the past. Seeing Raymond’s CI success has put a fire in me in hoping that the surgery will be sooner, not later.

Again, Raymond’s success does not mean that I will have the same results, no. Everybody is different and all have a different outcome.

Will CI work for me 100%? No. It will help me with sounds around me, hear voices, etc., but I will never be able to talk on the phone, listen to the radio, etc., because in my brain, I am a trained lip-reader and a visual person. I don’t have the skills to “listen” to voices without looking. The CI will help me in my daily life, like Raymond or others calling my name, hearing thing around me clearly and communicate easier in conversation settings.

I was not with Raymond when he had his assessment test, however, I can share with you my experience on what happens during this test.

First of all, the audiologist checked the insides of my ears and checked my hearing aid. I forgot to clean my ears, so if you go, make sure you clean yours. :) Next was another kind of test, where she placed ear piece in my ear and wire is connected to the computer. There was a chart on the computer screen, I forget what this was for.

Then she put me in a sound booth:

- Hearing test, push the button each time you hear a sound
- Listening to audiologist as she said some words. She did not cover her mouth, so I was able to get all words. Then she covered her mouth, I did not get anything at all. Only could hear her voice.
- Listening to a CD and I must tell her what it says. I couldn’t do this one but I was able to identify that it was a man’s voice.
- She gave me a sheet of paper. It had 4 columns of a total of 24 or 25 sets of words. Each set was 4 words. I had to listen to a CD and on the first set of words, the man would say one of the words and I had to tell the audiologist which word he said. I passed this with flying colors with only 2 errors, meaning I am a visual person.

After this assessment, some reviews and some discussions, the audiologist said I was a qualified candidate for the CI surgery.

Next was the balance test. I shall tell you this was a “trip” for me. The lady, I forget her profession, but she worked in the Audiologist department of the Moncton hospital, got me to look at a long LED board and follow its dots back and forth. Again follow it up and down, all keeping my head still, and only just move my eyes. Piece of cake.

Then she placed cold water in my ears and I had to close my eyes and count backwards by 2’s starting from 100. It sounds simple, but as soon I hit around number 50 I became extremely dizzy. Once I got dizzy, I still had to keep counting backwards until she tapped me on the shoulders. It was a challenge to focus on counting the numbers by 2's backwards because I had to say it out loud. By then I was around number 30 when I opened my eyes, oh my lands, everything was spinning. I had to focus on a dot on the ceiling which was “supposed” help to stop the spinning. It didn’t work. Luckily, the LED board was straight up, so I focused on that until the LED board looked straight.

She repeated this step on my other ear with cold water. Then gave me a break for a couple of minutes and started all over again with hot water in both ears separately.

By the time I left this place, it took me about two hours before finally feeling “normal”. I will never understand this, when Raymond had the balance test, he walked out of the room just like nothing had happened and went straight for Tim's coffee! Me, Raymond took one look at me and said, "What happened to you??" ;)

I asked the lady what was the purpose of this test and she said it was to measure my balance. She said as long as there is balance and spinning, which means all is normal. Gee...nice to know.

Lastly was the CT scan which took all of 2 minutes. Now am waiting for an appointment date to see the surgeon.

Stay tuned….