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Surgery Tinnitus was blaring the evening of the surgery. I had experienced Tinnitus before surgery but did not expect the magnitude of sound from it after surgery. Three weeks later it came back. I took some Tylenol and rested and it lessened in severity. The Tinnitus came and went over the next few weeks and lessened in severity each day. There was some swelling and bruising around the left eye. The swelling was gone within four days. The area of the implant remained swollen until after hookup but did not interfere with hookup. I did experience some vertigo. I had experienced it prior to surgery so I expected to experience it after surgery. I had to hold on to things while walking for a couple of weeks. By the time hookup came around, I was doing quite well with it and was comfortable walking. The time between the surgery and hookup was the most difficult part of the whole procedure. I'm so glad that I had some support from others who had gone through the process. I didn't know how I would do with my CI. I was very nervous about the outcome. I was able to get through this time and hookup day finally came. |
Hookup Hookup went extremely well. I was able to hear sound! I set my threshold levels where I could just begin to hear beeps. Then I set my comfort levels to where it felt loud, but not too loud; a sound I could listen to for a long period of time. Then the audiologist turned on the sound. I laughed at my own voice. It sounded like Mickey Mouse. I went up to the cafeteria to try out the new sound in a noisy environment. I was amazed at how much quieter it was from my hearing aid days. I could understand speech much better with lip reading. Speech seemed a bit delayed. The delay effect went away over time as my brain adjusted to the sound. I could hear some words from a women seated behind me. That was so rewarding and exciting! Over the next few months, with more mapping sessions, my hearing began to take on new dimensions. It began to sound more normal and men's and women's voices began to be easily recognizable. At this point in time, I have excellent speech discrimination in quiet with 100% on sentence testing. My single word testing is right up the top of the spectrum for CI users. Read my journals that cover the time of hookup up to the first year anniversary. If you are looking into the prospect of getting a CI, you should definitely read this journal. It will give you a good perspective on what you can expect from the begging days of hookup and how quickly the learning process goes. |