Tuesday, August 12, 2008

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!

4 comments:

Kim said...

Hey John

So glad you kept that appointment card!!

Hang in there as it will get better. Give your brain lots of auditory input

Kim

Abbie said...

Hearing something including heartbeat or pulses is completely normal. Things will getter with time and this experience will be long forgotten! Keep writing about your experience, I am looking forward to reading them!

Jennifer Bruno Conde said...

Hi John! Sounds like you are on the right track. My stepdaughter, Amanda was activated the same day as you. All she has so far is facial twitching...hopefully she get to the pulse, heatbeat stage, too.

I'll keep checking back to see how you're doing. Positive thoughts coming your way.

Jennifer
http://jenniferbrunoconde.blogspot.com/

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