Finally an update - 6 months on!

First of all I have to apologise for being so rubbish at keeping this blog updated. There is no excuse, just time really and I know that a few people have been following it and so I do hope that there isn't anyone out there who thinks maybe I haven't updated since my switch on because it isn't going well.
In fact, it is just the opposite and I am loving my CI ! :-)))

So, let me go back to the first few weeks after switch on. It was all very strange and loud for the first few days and I was constantly asking Mike 'what was that noise!?' but bit by bit, things started becoming familiar and making sense and I was soon able to identify if it was a car or a motor bike coming up behind me....or if it was the microwave pinging or the cooker going off. It was great just to hear these sounds that I knew were made but had never actually heard them.....I was starting to hear clocks ticking, birds singing, the dog walking on the kitchen floor....tap, tap, tap with his claws, just lots of new sounds in what I was beginning to realise is a very loud world out there. One day it was raining so hard I was quite shocked at how loud rain was.....another time I was sat in the extension at the back of the house and heard a sound go past the house out the front so shouted through to Mike who was in the office 'what did I just hear?' it was a horse and cart clip clopping past the house.....the processor is so sensitive it was even picking up things from far away, it is amazing.

Those first few weeks after switch on, I was back at the SOECIC 3-4 times for further tuning and each of these appointments was with Devyanee and she worked with me to get all 22 electrodes turned on and at a level that was bearable. Following this, I had a 1 month appointment followed by a 3 month appointment at the beginning of November.
The 3 month appointment involved lots of tests, all the same as I had to do prior to the implant. I had a 'normal' hearing test where you press the button when you hear sounds and this was amazing, my hearing chart looked like a normal persons! the line was right up the top instead of hanging off the bottom of the page with no response!! Then came the test where a man on the TV says 30 sentences and I have to repeat back what I have heard....as I can see him, this is a test for lipreading and sound. Prior to the implant my results were that I got 28% of the words spoken, at my 3 month appointment I got 99.2% !! I was in shock, I only got one word wrong....how pleased was I!??
The next test that followed this was the same sort of thing but the sentences were only spoken out of a speaker, there was nothing to look at so lip reading was not a possibility. This test before my op was 0%, I could never even hear a sound let alone that a voice was speaking, so I was a bit nervous about how well I was going to do in this one. I concentrated hard and was just so happy that I could make out a mans voice and I got 45% of what was said 45% !! can you imagine going from nothing to that, it was such a good feeling....the watery eyes arrived ;-) I was so pleased as it is a difficult test as the sentences are so random...things like 'the ice-cream is pink' followed by 'the mouse ran down the hall', so you don't have a clue what is going to be said next.
Mike had gone in to the audio room with Devyanee and just came out with the biggest grin on his face :-))))

Yesterday it was my 6 month appointment, time flies! So, I knew what to expect, the same tests again but I was unsure as to how well I was going to do......there have been some days in between the two appointments where I feel everything is really improving and other days i'm not so sure, but yesterday was just brilliant again and I got 99.2% again on the test with the TV screen and then 63% !! on the speaker only test! So basically it is like having 63% of my hearing back as it went from 0% to that! Devyanee was so happy for me as she said with my hearing loss history she was expecting it to be around 50% at the 6 month stage, so to hear I have done even better than anticipated was brilliant.

So what an exciting 6 months it had been. I do not regret having the CI for one single second, it is definitely the best piece of technology I have ever come across and it is giving me so much.
Conversations are so much easier now, I do still have to see peoples faces but I can follow a lot better now and keep up....people have even said I am talking differently myself. I can make out random sentences on the radio and certain songs that I recognise from the past. Mike can be in another room on the phone and I can pick up bits & pieces of what is being said, he doesn't need to worry yet though about me hearing everything ;-) He can also call me from another room and I will hear him and sometimes I can shout a question to him and understand the reply....but this is obviously because I have an expectation of what the answer may be.
I am also finding it easier to understand my godchildren Jack & Lucy which is one of the things I was really hoping to get out this whole journey and in these 6 months I have become an Auntie to two beautiful nephews and a beautfiul niece....wow, I can really hear them cry!! ;-)
I just loving my implant and processor so much.