u/Apart_Entry4557

Good morning,

Yesterday I have my 2 week post activation mapping. It went really well. My audiologist doesn't normally test for improvement after only 2 weeks but decided to test me just to see. Turns out my dead ear that has the CI can recognize 11% of sentences. Which is AMAZING compared to 0%. Lol.

Also, when I wear both my aid and CI I am at 46% sentence recognition. Which I feel like it's even better than that. Haha Those sentences are hard. Before I was at 30% sentence recognition with just my aid. She turned my CI up. In a way, some things sound better but other things seem to be hard to understand again. I think it is because it's so loud that it's overwhelming initially until I figure out what that sound is. Everything is still tinny and I hear a lot of static. But the ringing and cicadas have subsided for the most part. I'm still so grateful for this experience. My anxiety in social settings has improved significantly and I know it's only going to get better. Music is starting to come along too! I am faithful to my exercises and push myself to do more. I've noticed that if I have to choose between my aid or my ci to turn on, I'd rather my ci. The aid now seems so quiet. This journey is going to be long but I already feel like it is so worth it!! I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Hello everyone,

I was activated on the 29th of April in my dead ear and things are progressing as expected and I am extremely happy and grateful. Even though sounds are no where normal and I can't really hold a conversation with just my CI yet, I understand it eventually get better.

That being said, I will be getting a CT scan done on my good ear, which only has 4% word recognition, on May 26th. We will then determine if I'm good to go for another CI.

Those who are bilateral, do you think it's wise to get 2 CI's within months of each other? It could be within 3 months. Has anyone had them done back to back like that? What are your experiences? What should I expect? Should I wait more like 6 months? Thanks for any input y'all can give!

Hello all,

It's been 1 week since my activation. So far I am still finding it surreal that I'm hearing out of my dead ear. It's crazy to think that it's been 41 years! I am so incredibly grateful for this and I would encourage anyone with a dead ear to try!

Everything is extremely tinny and my brain tries to ignore the implanted side. So it definitely has some getting used to. I've been doing my hearing exercises and I feel like I have already come so far. Next week, I'll see the audiologist and will be able to give an update on just how well I'm adjusting as far as word recognition goes.

One big push for me to get implanted was that my baby was saying words and I never could hear him. The other day for the first time I heard him say, "Weeeee!" I was so delighted to hear his little voice! What a blessing!! I can hear bells and birds and the turn signal and car horns in traffic. It's incredible!

It's definitely not perfect yet and I have frustrations like the Kanso 3 falling off and the Nucleus 8 falling off. I've been practicing using each one and neither seems to be better than the other. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it and the inconvenience will be a distant memory. The benefits of getting to hear the things I've heard this past week far outweigh the struggles I have to go through to get here.

I still have the boxing sound that seems to be fading. The beeps are slowly turning into real sounds. I can understand words a lot better now, but with my HA off and just the CI on it's still extremely difficult to understand words. So when my husband and kids are home I keep both on. I'm getting better at the hearing training games already and I practice a lot.

That is all I believe I have to report to this week. I hope some of you find this encouraging and that it will help you with your journey.

I wear a hearing aid in one ear and I just got my cochlear implant activated in the other ear. I was told by my audiologist that I can wear my hearing aid along with my implant and I would adjust just fine. My thought is if I take my hearing aid off then I will adjust faster cuz I'm forcing myself to hear out of my CI. What do you guys find helps more?

It's on!! As of this morning, it's activated!! My dead ear is working!! 41 years of not a single sound!! My dead ear can now hear beeps and almost make out the high-pitched sounds to be words. It's crazy! My brain certainly doesn't know what to do with all this new information. It's gonna take a TON of rehab but I can hear!! I'm so grateful and so excited!! God is so good! I will give another update next week ! For now, everything is loud and high-pitched beeps!! It's AMAZING! My hope is to do well enough in the coming months to get my good ear implanted. 🙏❤️

Tomorrow is my activation day for my right (dead) ear! It's been 41 years since I had hearing in that ear. My good ear currently has 4% Word Recognition. If all goes well, I plan to do my good ear in the near future. Please pray for me as I have no clue what to expect. 🙏❤️

I am more nervous than excited.

Do you still with your ci on? Also, do you dive?

Hi there, I had my CI inserted 13 days ago. I am still in quite a bit of pain arrowhead l where the magnet sits. My sister in law suggested that I ice the area to help with the swelling. Had anyone else done this?