Activation Day

[Guest guest]

January 16, 2008- Activation Day:

Here is some of what I wrote in my Cochlear Implant Surgery Journal

regarding ACTIVATION DAY. I was just great!

Today 1/16/08 was my ACTIVATION day. It was a very long day but

productive. I do hear through my implant which seems like a miracle.

I do not understand the technology, but I will take the miracle no

matter how it works.

My appointment was at 9 a.m. which is extremely early for me. But I

did arise but maybe not shine. We had to take our two dogs, Biscuit

and , to the groomers before we headed to the medical center

to meet with Carole, my audiologist.

The first 2 hours I sat hooked up to the computer trying to listen

to beeps so Carole could start the programming of the processor. I

had to look into a mirror to see how noticeable the thing is, but I

could not see, needed two mirrors. I am concerned because I wear my

hair very short and I have been thinking about letting it grow a

little so that the processor and tubing would not be too conspicuous.

I read from others on the group about their activation days,

but when you are in there having your own done, all those

suggestions and pieces of advice seem to vanish. I do remember

people saying that when they first heard it sounded like an echo and

voices are cartooney. Well, that is what happened to me. I had

voice recognition immediately, but the audiologist sounded like

Minnie Mouse. Later when my husband came into the room, he sounded

like Duck.

I actually was able to better understand the audiologist than I was

my husband. Carole, the Audi, tells me that I have to be patient and

continue to use the implant so that my brain can adapt to the new

signals it is getting. At the end of the day, she had me turn on my

hearing aid and between the 2 devices I was able to hear pretty

well. Of course, before the CI surgery, with 2 BTE HA's I heard not

too bad. O.K bad, but I could hear about 50% of what was going on in

the world.

As with anything new, you get a ton of stuff to deal with. Right now

I am charging my 2 battery cages or whatever they are called so that

when I go into my next appointment tomorrow I will be all charged

up!!! Today the Audi used regular batteries in the processor. I

actually acquired a large box of stuff from Cochlear to deal with

besides the charger. I will handle everything slowly as needed.

Now I have to remember the names of the programs on the processor,

such as Auto sensitivity, Beam, and Whisper.

Carole sent me home on auto sensitivity, but she did show me how to

change the programs. They are P1, P2, and P3 on the processor. That

is not too different that some of the hearing aids I have had in the

past. Those programs did not have these clever names, but someone at

Cochlear must have thought of them as pretty sharp??? She is going

to program a fourth program into the processor tomorrow when I meet

with her. I have about six 2-hour appointments with her over the

next several weeks.

This morning after I was finally able to hear, she sent ,

my husband, and I to go for a walk around the medical center so that

I could experience regular noises. We walked around the lobby and

had coffee in the coffee shop. I had some difficulty hearing

(a.k.a Duck) when he spoke. We ran into several friends and I

could hear them, but had problems understanding them.

After more time with Carole, she sent us off to lunch. Since

we live near the medical center, we had the valet service get our

car and we went home. While was talking on our phone, he had

to ask me several questions, so I had to turn my hearing aid on

since I was not getting it with the processor. At that time, Carole

sent me home in P3 which is the program Whisper. I had more problems

understanding speech in that program than the auto sensitivity. We

worked on that when we got back to her office. After picking up the

dogs at the groomers, we took them home and headed back to the

hospital.

While we were home for lunch I asked to take a picture on my

digital camera for me to see what the thing looks like. As I

suspected, it is very obvious because I have no hair to cover it.

The processor is dark brown, the color of my hair, but it is still

very noticeable. Have to decide if I would prefer to keep it under

wraps? Decisions, decisions.

This afternoon's session was fine tuning the processor after I

described my experiences with the Whisper program. Carole then when

over all the STUFF that comes with the implant. I learned about the

dehumidifier for the processor, the charging of the rechargeable

batteries, using regular battery cages, using the accessories such

as the cable for TV hearing, etc. I am sure as I become more

familiar with the equipment and use it on a daily basis it will

become second nature to me just as wearing two hearing aids has been.

When we left for home Carole had me turn on my hearing aid and the

processor. I could hear so much better then and the echo and cartoon

voices diminished. I did talk to my sister on the phone this evening

and I could not use the processor to hear her. That will probably

take time. Carole told me to ask my family and friends to be patient

until I can hear normally and to talk slower and more distinctively.

That will make the process of learning to hear again more of a joy

than a drudge.

Although I did not think I was tired after this long day, when I sat

down on the recliner when we got home, I quickly fell asleep for two

hours. Guess sitting still and straining to hear does wear one out.

I am most thankful for having the privilege of having this surgery

and for doing so well. I just know that in a short period of time I

will be hearing just like the good old days.