16 Days to go

Yep, just 16. 2 weeks plus 2 days. Dun dun dun.

I been thinking about the baldness I'll have on the right side of my head after the surgery. And I felt some tears deep deep in my soul because it would take 3+ years for that hair to grow as long as the rest of my hair. Unless I cut it all short. I'm considering it. This surgery, the shaving that I can't control, just might be the motivator I've always needed to get my hair cut short. And I don't mean my whiney collar length short, I mean short, like maybe ear length, or shoulder length even.

Something like this -------------------------->

Maybe I should dye my hair blue while I'm at it too. Yep. Granted, it'll only last less than a year before it's time to get the dye out and/or redye my natural color, and/or let my hair continue growing long again. But then, what if I get the other ear done! OMG!

Neh, I'm not really freaking out as much as I'm expressing it. Hehe. But I really am considering a short style after the surgery. Something where I will have no choice but to wear my hair down often cause it'd be too short to pull it up, and it would cover the newly growing hair and the scar for a while. But... we'll see what happens in about 3 weeks. haha. Maybe I won't do anything at all. Which is the more likely outcome since I don't invest much into my hair.

Any post-surgery advice? Should I eat ice cream because it'll make my head feel better? (haha, I know, that makes no sense). How long do I gotta wait to shower again? I think I read a few days, but ... um... well, I can still wash myself 15th century style, ya? Great! Will it hurt to sleep on the side i got implanted? For how long? Will I be able to wear my glasses?!?! How about exercising/sweating?

Surgery Risks and Complications

Thought I'd share. Just received some papers in the mail that i have to sign prior to the surgery. Surgery is scheduled for Sept 16th at about 9am.

Infection: the risk is small, but could occur, and would require treatment and could cause the operation to fail.

Facial Paralysis: could occur. The eye on the side of the surgery will not close and the mouth would pull over to the opposite side.

Fluid Drainage: spinal fluid drainage can result in meningitis. Would result in hospitalization.

Anesthesia Risk: can lead to many complications (most that I see is tachycardia).

Failure of the Device: once implanted, may not work due to a break in the wires or the induction wire may fail or cause irritation in relation to other possible problems. (Well that would totally defeat the purpose).

Magnets: The induction coils may contain permanent magnets to assist with the proper alignment of the internal and external coils. The long term effects of permanently implanted magnets is not known.

Electrical Current: a signal processor will be supplied after a period of healing. This processor is connected by a wire to an external induction coil that is worn over the implanted induction behind the ear. These produce an electrical current that stimulate the cochlear nerves. The result of all this stimulation on the nerves, brain, and/or other tissues, is unknown.

Other than that... I should be fine!

AllDeaf.com forum post.... I'm curious about it

When I first decided to get the CI, I started browsing for forums to talk in, and came across Alldeaf.com. After one week, I stopped going on it because half the people seemed somewhat rude and many of them also seem to gang up on the belief that the Nucleus 5 is the best CI. Of course, there are many of us, mainly AB users/choosers that disagree, and you can't get much word in edgewise.

Anyhow, I went back on today and noticed this post from someone who is refusing to talk about who "he" is. Not about who he is though, as much as it what he had to say. And I'm curious how much truth there is to it all and if should play that much of a role in choosing a CI. He mentioned it all in relation to the chart comparing the AB vs. Cochlear:


"These details are only useful if you know what they mean.

1. The temporal resolution numbers really aren't important, as it has already been shown that most CI users are unable to discriminate pitch differences for rates above 300 pulses per second per channel. The total stimulation rates as listed there for both devices are more than capable of delivering this.

2. The spectral resolution numbers are also overexaggerated. Even for systems with as many as 22 electrode pairs/channels most users are incapable of utilising more than 4 - 8 channels for speech recognition. Yes more channels in theory allows for better pitch perception, but in practice this is relevant only to puretones and does not translate to complex sounds because of current interactions between electrodes.

3. An expanded input dynamic range is useful for quiet situations, but in noise it just means you hear more noise, so this could be a positive or a negative depending upon the situation you're in. Current studies suggest an input dynamic range of 40 is better than one of 30, but there is no evidence to suggest an IDR of > 45 offers any further benefit.

4. pitch percepts - the emphasis being very much on potential. Pitch perception research suggests that CI users are unable to reliably rank the direction of a pitch change for a pair of notes 1/4 of an octave apart. Current speech processing strategies are very poor at providing pitch information, as they must work within the limitations of electrical stimulation in fluid-filled environment, the emphasis naturally being on speech as that is their main purpose.

5. Sound coding strategies are generally proprietary and largely device-specific. I haven't seen any evidence to suggest the advanced bionics strategies are superior to anything else on the market."

I would appreciate some insights from those that have beyond researched CI stats themselves.

39 days to go

My surgery is in 39 days. Seems so close. Too close really. My husband is oddly worried about my surgery cause it seems so invasive. I'm sure I'll be fine and the surgery will go fine. I've only been put under anesthesia once before though- when I got my wisdom teeth pulled/cut out. Really, I remember that being the greatest, deepest sleep I have ever had. I felt like I was passed out for hours, but according to my mom, I was only out for 20 minutes. Bummer. If anything, the anesthesia makes the idea of surgery seem lovely, because that is one awesome drug and I won't feel a darn thing. It's not like we can impatiently count in our sleep anyway, thankfully.

I'm curious of how many of you with one implant also wear a hearing aid in the other ear. And also, is there a time when it should be worn often, if it at all matters? (IE: before the implant activation, during activation, every time, or doesn't matter). Does it make hearing things confusing by having one ear hearing extremely well compared to the ear with/without the hearing aid? I've still got to look into getting my hearing aid reprogrammed and everything. Last night, it occurred to me that with the CI, all I gotta do is put it on my head and ear and I can hear things, compared to putting it IN my ear. Which really, sounded so awesome considering how much hearing aid molds suck.

Oh, has anyone experienced the same side effects with the CI that occur with a hearing aid when you're laying your head on a pillow or your hand? Ya know... that annoying beeping sound that the other people complain about. If not, does it affect the sounds? I would assume yes since if you're laying on it you're blocking the microphone. But still, let me know.