Activation Day - August 12th

Finally, the day arrives to turn on the implant. Just wanted to let you all know how today went. The implant was activated late this morning around 11:45. We had to come back at 11:30 since the 10am appointment was never recorded in their book. I had the appointment card as proof so they had to squeeze us in somehow today. For a moment, I thought we wouldn't get the implant activated today, but I sure am glad this was possible.

First sounds I heard were somewhat like pulses or "heartbeats" in my head. Every time a word was spoken, these beats would occur in my brain. So I will need to learn these pulses and associate it with whatever I'm hearing. The TV produces a lot of these pulses so for now, I turned the TV off as it gives me a slight headache. Watching TV is sort of like I'm in a rock concert, but with muffled sounds. Toni Landau (audiologist) has added three levels of programs for my processor, so for today, I will be on program 1. Tomorrow, I will change to program 2. For Thursday and Friday, I will move up to program three to help me acclimate to the "noise".

I will go back to the audiologist on Friday afternoon 2:30pm for a tune up. This will be one of many appointments that we will do each week until I am able to distinguish words and sounds. This hearing journey will be a long process based on today's activity. But I look forward to learning how to interpret it all. And I’ll be sure to keep you in the loop!