I see most of you are waiting with abated breath for my blog update :) Sorry for the wee delay, I just got home from Halifax yesterday, and last night, Raymond & I went out for a nice leisurely supper for our anniversary/birthday.
Activation Day - July 29, 2008, wooha... it was a day to remember. I arrived at the NS Hearing & Speech Centre at 1:26 for my 1:30 pm appointment!!! Darn traffic/road construction work in Halifax, so just made it on time! Next time, we will leave little bit earlier!
In the waiting room, I met Kimberly Carter, the CEO of the Nova Scotia Hearing and Speech Foundation - she will be documenting my and Raymond's CI journey. I was happy to have her with us to experience my CI activation.
Heather Maessen, audiologist, greeted us in waiting room and off we go!! Raymond was still "out" there looking for a parking spot, it is a horror to find a spot in Halifax!!! Ugh. So we chatted for a little bit, I was nervous as heck as I was laughing alot, joking too.... sigh. Heather checked out the scar and implant area behind my ear and said I healed really well. She set up the computer getting ready, and Raymond arrived just on time... he parked the truck wayyyyyy over at the VG Hospital, ha!! Good exercise ;)
Heather explained step by step what she was going to do and what will happen. I really appreciated this part because I was stepping into an unknown territory and plus I was a bit nervous too. It was nice to have Raymond and Kim in the room with me, it made it more relaxing for me.
(Oh my, a dump truck just went by and I heard its motor running with a bit of clarity!!)
Heather showed me my new gold/beige processor and headpiece. She checked the magnetic strength of the headpiece on my head and had to change the magnetic to a stronger one. Tried again and it went plunk on the implant. Too cool!! Hooked the processor to the computer and put it on my ear.
(This keyboard is loud as I type!!)
There are four groups she will do and I am to tell her when I hear the first sound and she would gradually increase the sound until I find it loud but comfortable. That was the hard part as how do I know what is "comfortable"??
All 16 electrodes were now up and running. Heather spoke and I was puzzled... she sounded like a cartoon. She said that was normal and to be expected. I hear the words but alot of it is missing. I spoke and freaked out. Spoke again and freaked out again... then I accidently said, "Shit"....it was so shocking on how loud my voice was. Naturally, the mic is not far from my mouth, so it tends to sound louder from there.
Heather, Kim and Raymond all spoke for me so I could get the feel of the sound of their voices. They all sounded like a cartoon/tinny but there was a difference between all three of them, so that was a good beginning. Made some adjustments and then Heather turned on the HiRes Fidelity 120, which added more pitches to the electrodes. HiRes Fidelity 120 delivers on all 3 dimensions of sound for richer sound quality and a more natural hearing experience. I found this clearer than the 16 electrodes alone.
Before I go further, my degree of hearing loss is profound sensorineural hearing loss bilaterally. The audiologists do not describe hearing loss for pure tones in terms of a percentage, just to speech understanding. I had 0% speech understanding with my hearing alone - meaning with your mouth covered, I never understood anything you have said to me but I do hear your voice, that's all. So I am a visual lip-reader.
Heather tried something on me that really BLEW me out of the water!!!! Mind boggling!!!! She covered her mouth to say some words to me and I told her that I couldn't do it. She said for me to try it and she would be saying the days of the week to me and I have to say what she said. So off we go, she covered her mouth and said the words, and I repeated after her NOT knowing if I have them right or not. So kept right on along with her. Get this.... I got 6 out of 8 right!!! Sweet!!! First time in my life to actually understand a few words without lip-reading. I call that a huge accomplishment for me! Raymond was totally flabbergasted, jaw practically on the floor, lol.
Heather advised me that the first two months or so, things will not sound clearly to me, and things will sound distorted for a while. I must have patience and learn to go along with it. Made a few more adjustments and off I go.
The processor now has three settings and I am to try to get to the third setting before I see Heather again. Right now, I am on setting #1 and volume control is at 1 o'clock. Once the volume control increases to 3 or 4 o'clock I am to turn it back to 12 o'clock and turn it to setting #2 and work my way down to 3 or 4 o'clock and so on. Each setting is louder than the other. This is a little bit different than what Raymond did... interesting, but I like it this way as it gives me more control.
Here are a few things I heard for the first time on my first couple of days:
- tapping of the fingers - each one!
- scraping of a case
- my loud voice, ugh....
- blinker of the truck signal light
- clicking of coins together (can you see me doing this, lol!!)
- people sound like cartoons
- truck motor revving
- recognize words with mouth covered
- noise in restaurant - forks, knives on clinking on plates, people's conversation
- in same restaurant - waitress putting glasses away on a shelf in next room (knee wall) and I could hear the click of glasses touching each other, one by one
- my own deep breathing/inhaling
- rain on roof of truck
- clicked a coin on the metal shift stick of truck, then again on Tim Horton's cover, on window, on plastic, on leather console, and could hear the difference in sound of each one... lol...
- while Raymond was driving on the highway going back to Moncton, I complained how loud the truck was and said, "we need to buy a vehicle without a motor!"
- heard music in the background at the restaurant, but not with clarity, but know it is music
- clarity of water tap running
- clarity of piling the plates, ugh!
I go back to see Heather in two weeks for more adjustments and fine tuning. I am to write down the things I don't like, or what I am missing so we could work on these too. I will be seeing the speech pathologist as well, but not sure when that will start - this is to work on my speech/sounds, and provide me homework to do. Fun, eh??
The only thing I don't like it is the cartoon/tinny sounds, no soft sounds yet... this will take a few months. I have hardwood flooring in my house, and as I walk down the hall, it sounds tinny...
Raymond took some pictures, but I have not really looked at them yet so once I do, I will post some of them on here... more likely next week.
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