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| Left: Freedom, Right: Nucleus 5, They may look similar size but the weight makes a HUGE difference |
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| The Freedom on the left is a lot rounder and thick than the Nucleus 5 on the right |
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Size matters... oh yes it does!
One of the features that I was really looking forward to on the Nucleus 5 processors, was the size! It is so much smaller than my Freedom processors. For example, the Freedom carries 3 disposable batteries whereas the Nucleus 5 carries 2 disposable batteries. Mind you, but gosh it's so tiring to wear such heavy pieces of ear equipment! I have been waiting so long for this day to switch over and give my ears a break. I was even more graceful when I asked my audiologist if my left side's processor can be upgraded, too since it would be nice if both ears were the same. The Nucleus 5 is a lot lighter that I have my moments when I am not sure if the processor is even on my ear. Here's a picture of the two:
Now I don't have to feel like taking my ears off when I get home after a long day. It is so comfortable to wear the new ears all day long! :)
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
New Sounds
I am quite behind on blogging, but I promise to catch up later this week! I wanted to add a quick update on the new processors. I am hearing new sounds every day! It is amazing how much I have missed out! Some of them I find quite annoying, in a good way (of course!) ;) And some sounds just make me laugh, thinking how could I have missed this out. Here are some of the new sounds I am hearing:
- Car engine (I have heard this before, but it seems more emphasized this time round)
- Refrigerator humming
- Microwave running
- My dog snorting and grunting a few feet behind me (this girl makes a lot of noise, lol!)
- Sprinkles!!! (Oh my goodness... who knew you could hear rain sprinkles- it sounded so magical that I just stayed outside to listen more!)
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Revisitation
December 20, 2012, the day finally came! It was a day of mixed emotions, as I was really looking forward to having this surgery. Something interesting had happened a week earlier, the original doctor who did my first Right CI surgery, passed away. It was weird because not only he passed away, but his work was soon going to be removed from my head and replaced with something better. I am a bit of a superstitious person, so I saw this as a good sign.
My brother arrived that morning and took me to the outpatient center at UCSD in Hillcrest. I was so thankful he could come and help me out, even though I had friends nearby, I felt it was more of a family that I would rather be around. So as we were waiting patiently in the room for the doctor to arrive, she finally did, and things just go more surreal! No doubts in my mind I had second thoughts of canceling the surgery. I was so ready to go forward and was open to new experiences. I was even prepared for if anything happened, especially facial nerve damage. Having that inner peace with myself made me look forward to this surgery.
The doctor finally came, and we met briefly to go over the surgery, she had told me her back up plan in case the first original plan did not work out. The original plan was to remove the old implant and place a new one in the same way with a single electrode- which is what most people with CI's have. The back up plan was to do the dual electrodes. This meant that she would have to drill another hole in my cochlea as well as removing a little bit more bone around the area. The reason she had this back up plan due to seeing some scar tissue in my cochlea on the CT scan. An excellent doctor is someone who has alternative plan regardless of how well the original plan will go. She knew from the moment she met me my concerns on my facial nerve and the complications- so she really respected that.
As I walked into the operating room, got on the table and the nurses hooked me up onto all these machines. I watched the team have a debriefing, and then I was out for the next 3-4 hours.
A few hours later, I woke up, and the very first thing I remember was the doctor came up to me, gave me the thumbs up assuring me everything went well. She asked me to smile big by gesturing me to smile, so I did. I could feel that everything was intact. As the doctor watched me smile, I vividly remember her giving me the double thumbs up and was cheering along with everyone else on the team in the room. It was the most awesome feeling I have ever had!
As I got wheeled into the recovery room, I looked at the clock, and it had been nearly 7 hours! I was shocked because obviously it was not the time I was expecting to be done. Here's a picture of me post-surgery. It's a joke in our family that we do pictures of ourselves in the hospital and share with other family members as proof we are okay :)
My brother told me the reasons why the surgery took so long. There were some complications such as a lot of scar tissue. And as prepared, the doctor ended up going with plan B with the dual CI. She was very delicate in her work as to watch out for the facial nerve as she found it was exposed as stated in my 1991's operation notes.
I am so happy the surgery went well and that I have such a wonderful surgeon! I am so thankful and cannot wait for the real results which come on January 31, when I am cleared for mapping. I trust everything will go well, and I am beyond excited to hear well again!
My brother arrived that morning and took me to the outpatient center at UCSD in Hillcrest. I was so thankful he could come and help me out, even though I had friends nearby, I felt it was more of a family that I would rather be around. So as we were waiting patiently in the room for the doctor to arrive, she finally did, and things just go more surreal! No doubts in my mind I had second thoughts of canceling the surgery. I was so ready to go forward and was open to new experiences. I was even prepared for if anything happened, especially facial nerve damage. Having that inner peace with myself made me look forward to this surgery.
The doctor finally came, and we met briefly to go over the surgery, she had told me her back up plan in case the first original plan did not work out. The original plan was to remove the old implant and place a new one in the same way with a single electrode- which is what most people with CI's have. The back up plan was to do the dual electrodes. This meant that she would have to drill another hole in my cochlea as well as removing a little bit more bone around the area. The reason she had this back up plan due to seeing some scar tissue in my cochlea on the CT scan. An excellent doctor is someone who has alternative plan regardless of how well the original plan will go. She knew from the moment she met me my concerns on my facial nerve and the complications- so she really respected that.
As I walked into the operating room, got on the table and the nurses hooked me up onto all these machines. I watched the team have a debriefing, and then I was out for the next 3-4 hours.
A few hours later, I woke up, and the very first thing I remember was the doctor came up to me, gave me the thumbs up assuring me everything went well. She asked me to smile big by gesturing me to smile, so I did. I could feel that everything was intact. As the doctor watched me smile, I vividly remember her giving me the double thumbs up and was cheering along with everyone else on the team in the room. It was the most awesome feeling I have ever had!
As I got wheeled into the recovery room, I looked at the clock, and it had been nearly 7 hours! I was shocked because obviously it was not the time I was expecting to be done. Here's a picture of me post-surgery. It's a joke in our family that we do pictures of ourselves in the hospital and share with other family members as proof we are okay :)My brother told me the reasons why the surgery took so long. There were some complications such as a lot of scar tissue. And as prepared, the doctor ended up going with plan B with the dual CI. She was very delicate in her work as to watch out for the facial nerve as she found it was exposed as stated in my 1991's operation notes.
I am so happy the surgery went well and that I have such a wonderful surgeon! I am so thankful and cannot wait for the real results which come on January 31, when I am cleared for mapping. I trust everything will go well, and I am beyond excited to hear well again!
Sunday, January 20, 2013
The beginnings of a new blog, this is kind of long but bare with me! :)
Well, hello! This is my first ever blog post. I decided to start blogging as a way to share my experiences through my perspective. So a little about me: I am currently a student at University of St. Augustine, studying to obtain my Master's in Occupational Therapy. Some interesting facts about me, as this blog will mostly be about my deaf/ hearing impaired experiences... I was born hearing, and when I was 3 1/2 I had the meningitis disease in which resulted my hearing loss. Since then, my parents decided they wanted me to mainstreamed in the hearing world. I have had continuous sessions of speech therapy to learn how to read lips and continue speaking, since before I lost my hearing I had a vocabulary of a 4 1/2 year old (apparently I loved to talk!). Hearing aids and other hearing devices did not work well for me, thus before the age of 6, my parents decided to have me get the cochlear implant. Little did I know, my whole world had turned side up again :) My first cochlear implant (CI) on my right side, done by Dr. William House, was successful in 1991, however, there were some complications during surgery that damaged my facial nerve. I came out of surgery looking like I had stroke on my right side of the face. As you can see, when I post pictures later, that my face has gotten better since 1991. You will see some slight asymmetrical looks on both sides of my face. To this day, I still cannot lift my right eyebrow up, however my smile has improved- which is important to me because I love to smile!
The complications I get from my right CI, which as been happening on and off since 1994: I sometimes get facial twitching on my right side. The cause has been unknown for so long, however, the solution that helps with the facial twitching is to adjust my CI mapping. Since 1994, I have had about 7 channels turned off in order to avoid facial twitching. With that being said, it means I'm technically "loosing hearing" again.
In 2009, after a long debated decision, I decided to become a bilateral cochlear implant recipient. It was something I was against for so long, but this will be a story to tell another day :) At that time, I successfully got my left side done by Dr. Hillary Brodie at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, CA. I was really happy with my decision because it opened new sound experiences that I did not hear with my right cochlear implant. For example, for the first time ever, I heard the loud humming noises of the AC unit in my apartment. I found that to be quite startling at first because I had no idea what it was. I would search my apartment for the noise and then I realized it was the AC unit! Another experience that I will never forget because it gave me chills at the time. I was waiting for the elevator on the 3rd floor of the library, and for the first time ever, I heard whooshing noises coming from the elevator. I remember smirking and let out a chuckle because this was a new sound to me.
Fast forward to 2011, it was the first time in 2 years that I started to get facial twitches on my right side. So I made an appointment to see an audiologist to get my mapping fixed, since I knew it was a mapping problem. At one of my appointments, I had the most heartbreaking moment, when I was being tested for the different levels of each channel, it appeared that I could no longer hear an 8th channel. So the 8th channel had to be turned off. I remember crying a little bit because I thought CI's were suppose to help me hear and not "loose hearing". And I just would not know what to do without my CIs because they are what help me get through my everyday life, as I don't know how to sign. My audiologist decided to send me to a facial specialist in her department, this doctor also does CI surgeries as well. I went to see her one day, and after meeting her, I knew things were going to change for the better. She suggested a CT scan (CI recipients cannot get MRI's due to magnet resonance). Once I got the results, it was shown that my right CI's electrodes were not completely in place. Meaning, I only had 7 electrodes in my cochlea instead of the usual 22 electrodes. These electrodes are also known as channels, and each of these channels has its own frequency pitch in sounds. It was very shocking to me to find out the results because not too long ago in 2009, when I had a CT scan, 13 electrodes were shown in my cochlea at the time! Amazing how fast they have slipped out in 2-3 years.
After debating decision on when I want to get this re-visitation surgery on my right side, I decided even though there were tons of risks with this surgery, it was best to go forward with it. And so this is where my journey will begin as my next blog I will discus the re-visitation and how the surgery went as well as after surgery pictures, stay tuned!
The complications I get from my right CI, which as been happening on and off since 1994: I sometimes get facial twitching on my right side. The cause has been unknown for so long, however, the solution that helps with the facial twitching is to adjust my CI mapping. Since 1994, I have had about 7 channels turned off in order to avoid facial twitching. With that being said, it means I'm technically "loosing hearing" again.
In 2009, after a long debated decision, I decided to become a bilateral cochlear implant recipient. It was something I was against for so long, but this will be a story to tell another day :) At that time, I successfully got my left side done by Dr. Hillary Brodie at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, CA. I was really happy with my decision because it opened new sound experiences that I did not hear with my right cochlear implant. For example, for the first time ever, I heard the loud humming noises of the AC unit in my apartment. I found that to be quite startling at first because I had no idea what it was. I would search my apartment for the noise and then I realized it was the AC unit! Another experience that I will never forget because it gave me chills at the time. I was waiting for the elevator on the 3rd floor of the library, and for the first time ever, I heard whooshing noises coming from the elevator. I remember smirking and let out a chuckle because this was a new sound to me.
Fast forward to 2011, it was the first time in 2 years that I started to get facial twitches on my right side. So I made an appointment to see an audiologist to get my mapping fixed, since I knew it was a mapping problem. At one of my appointments, I had the most heartbreaking moment, when I was being tested for the different levels of each channel, it appeared that I could no longer hear an 8th channel. So the 8th channel had to be turned off. I remember crying a little bit because I thought CI's were suppose to help me hear and not "loose hearing". And I just would not know what to do without my CIs because they are what help me get through my everyday life, as I don't know how to sign. My audiologist decided to send me to a facial specialist in her department, this doctor also does CI surgeries as well. I went to see her one day, and after meeting her, I knew things were going to change for the better. She suggested a CT scan (CI recipients cannot get MRI's due to magnet resonance). Once I got the results, it was shown that my right CI's electrodes were not completely in place. Meaning, I only had 7 electrodes in my cochlea instead of the usual 22 electrodes. These electrodes are also known as channels, and each of these channels has its own frequency pitch in sounds. It was very shocking to me to find out the results because not too long ago in 2009, when I had a CT scan, 13 electrodes were shown in my cochlea at the time! Amazing how fast they have slipped out in 2-3 years.
After debating decision on when I want to get this re-visitation surgery on my right side, I decided even though there were tons of risks with this surgery, it was best to go forward with it. And so this is where my journey will begin as my next blog I will discus the re-visitation and how the surgery went as well as after surgery pictures, stay tuned!
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