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!
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