Today's activation went well... it was different from the first one.  I didn't get the sensation as bad like I got with the first one.  Steve programmed me with Fidelity 120 instead of 90K since he knew that I would improve faster since I am already using Fidelity 120 in my right ear.

He had an assistant in the room and was teaching her how to use the AB's sound wave software on his computers.. I believe thats she is a teaching student at Johns Hopkins. I didn't ask many questions since I was more focused on getting activated :)

I could hear the sounds this time rather than feeling the sounds but it did sound very different.  But since this is my 'bad' ear, it may not jump as high with my 'good' ear. We will see next week and the upcoming mappings!

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It was a great turn out. I think I shocked everyone that I was 4 days post-op.  I told them that I was bilateral as of 4 days ago... not activated but surgically wise.  Most of them were amazed that I was feeling good in a short time. (The trick was - - - the best pain meds you can ask for!)

My balance is back on track as well, I explained to the group that with my first CI surgery, my balance was a bit out of whack. And this bilateral surgery could either make it or break it. Since the surgery, I've noticed a huge improvement in my balance, its better than before.

Hopefully the next support group at the end of the summer will be even bigger!!!

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The first week was rough. Everything I heard did not make any sense. I'm starting to wonder if I made the right decision here. I know it may be too soon. But I'm sorta lost here. I was all excited about activation and can I hear? Well yea but it don't sound right....just a bunch of freaking noise. Come on here.

Second. My implant keeps falling off when my hair is down. Grrrr...emailed my audie this week and he said that he can add another magnet. Whatever that means.

The day after I got activated, I went to Ocean City for the weekend. I heard a few things but they weren't clear. The ocean, the traffic and a loud bang. That's it! What a weekend.

Tomorrow is my 1st programming. I hope things sound better after I leave JHH tomorrow.

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You heard it right. About 16 more hours til activation of my Advanced Bionics Cochlear Implant! Will have some videos up soon!

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Yup. You heard it right, 8 more days til activation. I'm ready to see what I can hear.

On the other hand. I'm still in very little pain. Some days are good and some are bad. The implanted side has scalp soreness. But it's not even close to the implant. I don't know if anyone else has experienced that before.

I can feel the shape and the actual implant itself. It's sorta wierd to have something underneath my skin. I'm still trying to get over the size of the bump.

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Post-Op was an challenge for me. I had problems with pain management during the first phase of recovery.

I remember bits and pieces coming out of the OR and the first hour of recovery.

I vaguelly remember seeing my surgeon, Dr.Limb saying that everything went well. Also his sidekick visiting me as well. I was so out of it during that time.

The nurse kept asking me if I was in pain. Scaling 1-10, I was always at 8 for a few hours maybe. But after a few times of waking me up, one of the nurses told me that in order to see my family and fiancée, it needs to be below 5.

Ok. Thanks SmartyPants, I just found a loophole to get outta there faster. The next time she came up to me and asked me what my pain level is, I told her it was between 4-5. Found my ticket home.

During that time, my pre-op nurse, Victoria visited me. I thought it was so sweet of her.


My mom took a picture of this photograph of Victoria that was on one of the walls in the pre-op area. She was so nice to me and I was scared shitless. She kept telling me that she would take care of me. She did.

Alrighty, back to the subject; another nurse comes by and prepares for me to WALK over to the second phase of recovery. And I was a little dizzy at the time. (I'm thinking how in the heck am I gonna get there safely??) So, I gently asked the two nurses if they could bring the chair to me and I'll hop on it. I was still in my sleepy stages during this time.

Got over there and got a spanking brand new nurse. Much nicer than the other one. She brings my family and my fiancée. Then my MOTHER starts snapping away her photos with her phone. I'm like what is SHE doing?!?! From the pictures below, you can obviously see that I was not in any mood to smile.



Told ya!

But here is a lovely photo of my fiancée, Tom.


And another of me and my dad.

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Yup. 4 more days til surgery date on August 4th. I'm pretty much prepared. Wish me luck you all!!

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Yeap! I am already posting my surgery date! I got a call this morning from Dr.Limb's office and its been 24 hours since my appointment with Steve...

Drumroll please!

August 4, 2009 at 730am. Means that I have to be at JHH at 530am!

Almost a month away!

I called my mom and she was like thats so soon! Uhhh... yea! Exactly what I wanted. I wanted the surgery before September so I don't miss classes.

I am hoping to get my activation date , 2nd day follow up, 1 week follow up and the 1 month follow up dates within two weeks. I already got in touch with Shawntell, this lovely lady that makes my appointments via e-mail.

I will post an advice list that I gotten from my friend Denise Portis, a fellow blogger and CI'er. Had some great tips that you wouldn't even thought of...

This is not my first sugery, the last one was in August of 2007 for a bone spur in my shoulder. Painful as heck during recovery. Every time I laughed, coughed, sneezed, hic-cupped, or whatever, hurt like heck! I kinda of know what to expect post-operatively since this one was almost sorta of recent.

Keep an eye out for the next post with the activation date!

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Yup. You heard it loud and clear! Last appointment was with Steve Bowditch. He did an aided auditory testing also speech perception test. The aided part, the right ear (which will be the implanted side) shows a drop around 2000Hz from 60-80db.

The speech perception....well I felt that I did terrible cuz I really didn't recognize the words. Only a few of them. CID was at 14% and HINT score was at 18%.

Hopefully within 2 weeks, I'll have my surgery date. Tee-hee! I can't wait!!!

While I was there, I also picked out my processor, color choice and cap color choice. All of ya probably already know by now that I picked Advanced Bionics. Signed and dated my device selection papers. Ordered 2 Silver Processors with Sophista Color caps.

See ya all later! Will post again with surgery date!!!

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Sorry for not posting... I finally had my appointment with Dr. Limb. Quite a remarkable guy with a great academic background from Harvard and Yale. My parents were pretty impressed with him. He asked a bunch of questions about how I grew up, how I became deaf, etc.

I was almost 3 months premature baby which gave me a few health problems. My hearing loss and diabetes. The doctors (back in 1977) believes that I have a nerve damage (Nerve Deafness).

On the other hand, today...I am trying to find out the real cause of my deafness. I am so curious but there isn't any answers now. Maybe in the sometime future, I will know. The technology and the science is so much better today than 32 years ago.

Back to Dr. Limb; he answered my parents questions and mine too. He said that JHH has never damaged anyone's facial nerve up to this point. He also said that he will shave hair on the implanted side, not much... but he will shave a tiny amount on the non implanted side that way they can keep in track of my facial nerves and make sure they aren't damaged thru the surgery. At the end, he feels comfortable doing my surgery and will see me next time in the operating room....

Surgery date? He said that it can be end of July or sometime in August... I was like REALLY??? I am looking forward to getting this done and hear the trick and treaters for halloween.. one of my favorite holidays. But... it all depends on my last appointment at the end of the month with my audiologist, Steve Bowditch for the auditory testing.

So far, its been going well and smoothly.

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Here is the article on John Hopkins Magazine on Dr. Charles Limb.  Click to read article.

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Two  more appointments were made for the audiologist and surgeon.  The receptionist made them on the same day, but the killer part was it was July 24th.  I was like what?  She mentioned that Steve Bowditch (my audiologist) is rather booked up. 

She also asked me if I want to be on a cancellation list for Steve's appointments.  I was like sure, why not, it wouldn't hurt.

I got the name of the surgeon.  Dr. Charles Limb.

Apparently the JHH Listening Center website is going under construction, most of the links don't work right now.... :(

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Today was the day for initial consultation. My parents and fiancée went with me this morning.

Meeting Steve Bowditch was a pleasure. I think he reassured my family by answering their questions. My dad had a lot which surprised me cuz I didn't think he would be interested in the process of me getting a CI.

Two more appointments, one with Steve and the other with the surgeon. Then the surgery date will be scheduled.

Reality is coming! I am very eager to get the process moving forward. And today was the first step! Woo hoo!

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Whew!  After 6 LONG weeks of waiting!  I finally got an email from JHH.  I go in Thursday for my evaluation appointment, which will include new audiogram.  I am eager to find how how my hearing loss has been since March.  Is it stable or has it gotten worse.  I will find out that day if I am indeed a candidate for the CI.

Wish me luck you all, it happens to be the day after my birthday when I got this news. Not bad of a late birthday present!

Next post will be next week with results from JHH.  I am hoping to see some of you at the JHH Cochlear Implant Picnic!

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Yea, I am gonna call this the D-Day...  Back November 2008, I went around my workplace to take photographs of some paralegals and newly hired attorneys for a Class of 2008 Yearbook that I was going to produce. Sometime after 10am, went to an office and was ready to take a photo, then I heard this static and then it went silent in my right ear.  My first impression, was that my battery died, or it was going belly up again.  After the photo shoot, I hurried back to my office to get a fresh battery before my next photo shoot appointment.  Turned it back on and put it in my ear... it sounded it had a lot of static in it.  I was frustrated, that the hearing aid went up AGAIN and I knew that I would have to send it back to get it repaired AGAIN.  And another $200 out of my pocket.

Sent it back and got a refurbished hearing aid just before Christmas, I got excited, it was like I was getting a new toy, put it on, heard static and then nothing again... I was so disappointed and gave the hearing aid back to my dad and asked him to take it back to get it fixed AGAIN.

Got it back in mid-January.  Tried it again, nothing... Sent it back again.

Got it back again in February.  Same old results, nothing. So, I decided to get a new hearing test to see if there is something wrong.  Made an appointment in March.

March rolls around, I go in the hearing booth and plop my butt on this school style chair and got my big and heavy headphones on my head and a handheld respond button in my hands. The heavy door closed on me, and ready to take the test.

They did my left ear first, which is my bad ear, heard some things, pressed that button and then it was time to switch to my right ear.  Heard NOTHING.  Maybe just one or two sounds and that was it. I just sat there waited for those beeps and hums to come to me.  Nothing, the door opened up, the audiologist takes the headphones off and then put this special headphone, it was weird, it goes behind your ear.  I heard or felt a few things for my left ear, and NOTHING for my right ear.

Then the door opened up, saw my mothers face, Dr. Susan's face, it was a disappointment look they had.  Right off the bat, I knew.  Dr. Susan said that you have a 25db loss in your right ear.  I was like really?  My mother's face told me everything that I needed to know.

Dr. Susan said that maybe you have an infection in your ear.  In the back of my head, I knew that it was not no DAMN infection, this happened in November.  She got me an emergency appointment right way with an ENT doctor.

Waited for about half hour for the ENT doctor to see me.  He looks in my ears and says they are clean and didn't see any infection in my ear.  He said that he wanted to 'TRY' to do a shot in my eardrum with steroids since I can't take oral due to my diabetes.  He also told me that there is a chance that I can lose the rest of my hearing in case of this tiny hole doesn't heal up on his own.  I immediately asked him, how often is this 'shot' done?  His reply was it was still new.  Alright, FORGET that!

He looks at my audiograms and compared them to my first one in 2005.  Off the bat, he told me that I was a candidate for the Cochlear Implant.  My first reaction was nothing, I was at loss for words.

After my appointment with the ENT doctor, I hurried back to Dr. Susan's office to get my right hearing aid to increase the volume so I can hear.  It sounded very different, not the same as before.

I tried to get the hearing aids to the way I normally hear it, volume wise adjusted over the weekend.

Went back to work on Tuesday.  First thing I did when I got to my office is to check my voice mail with the CapTel phone.  I could NOT understand my own voicemail.  I knew from there that the CI was my only option. It was still early in the morning, people in my office haven't arrived to work yet.  I must have cried at my desk for a while cuz the one thing I did the most in my office was phone calls.  That made me more 'hearing'.  I was indeed 'DEAF'.  From that point, it made me so determined to go forward with the CI process with John Hopkins Hospital.

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Since the last posting, I have met and spoken to so many CI'ers.  I am getting way too excited about the entire CI process.  I am so amazed how much they can actually hear.  They have told me things like they can hear someone chew and swallow.  Ew, that was a major turn off.  But it will vary on each CI'er.  And it is something that can be fixed during a mapping.

I submitted my application to John Hopkins, the killer part, is that it takes between 6-8 weeks for records to review my application and then call me to schedule an appointment.  6-8 WEEKS??  Are you freaking kidding me?  I want my hearing back so bad...I am just so frustrated cuz I am having a huge difficulty recognizing the weird sounds that are around me.

On Tuesday, I had a meeting at work with my department.  Did I understand everything at the meeting?  NOPE!  I know.. I should have requested an interpreter but I figured that I would understand everything since it was only the 7 or 8 of us.   Then during the meeting, I heard this loud noise, had no idea where it was coming from, I am looking around and trying to figure out what the heck it was.  My co-worker Nancy realized that I was puzzled and mouthed to me "Its a vacuum next door."  I was relieved to hear that it was the vacuum, not my hearing aid crapping out or another sudden hearing loss drop that I experienced back in November.

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