Making progress... maybe?

Had my one month appointment on friday, it has been 8 weeks since the implant was turned on.

good and bad news from this one though...

ear infection is bad. very bad. it caused two of my electronodes or whatyoumightcallit... to malfunction and now i'm left with 22... But i have to stop myself and try to explain this. Inside my cochlea there is a wire going through it with like 24 dots on it, those are electrinodes or whatmightyoucallit. and they help stimul

ate the nerves in that spot and make my hearing work. according to my doctor, i only need 8 of them to work in order for my implant to work. they put 24 in total... now i have 22 due to the ear infection kinda messing up 2 of them and making them malfunctioning... they may fix itself by the time i go back to visit in december but who knows. It's not anything to worry about according to mark, so i'm not worried.

here's a picture to try to show it better.

it is kind of like that... just ignore the numbers but this is a cochlea with a wire through it like mine... and i think you can kind of get what i am saying from the picture i hope.

Anyways, that was the kinda bad news... and i have a little more. We did our usual testing, and he said that my implant's result from the testing is still stable... not getting worse or better. But i kinda of knew i would get that result due to how busy i was with school this past month and not having any time to really focus on my training of the listening skills in my right ear. HOWEVER, i have good news from that testing also! Last time, back in august, we did a test where it's a man's voice on a tape saying 'ready?' 'book' or some random word and I am supposed to repeat back whatever that word was.... last time with that test, using both my hearing aid and the implant i got 5% of the words correct... kind of pathetic. BUT this time, i got 25% correct!! So it's obvious that I am improving using both ears and that my brain is liking this!

Overall, I am pleased with the outcome of my appointment, and the next one is not until winter break so I can just relax and get through this semester aiming for the stars with my education. =)

I don't feel like saying much more right now... quite tired and got to get ready for the pats game soon! WOO!

until next time,

-Annie

Ears

I feel like my ears are not able to handle all the stress and busy-ness of life. At this moment I feel like I managed to get an ear infection in my left ear which is my hearing aid ear... I certainly hope this is not the case. I hope I can somehow make it through the rest of the year in ideal ear/hearing conditions.

More about my cochlear implant though, I've noticed that I tend to focus a lot more on the background noises, for example right now the vacuuming in the hallway is really annoying. I definitely feel like I have a mild hearing loss in my right ear though because last night I was just lying down in my bed and I kept hearing everything in my right ear but not too much in my left... There is a considerable difference in sounds between the ears. It's tricky trying to learn how to listen in my right ear because the noises are much different than what I hear in my left (hearing aid) ear. I feel like I am hearing two different things when really they are the same thing just sounds different in each ear. However it is useful to know the sound in my left ear as a way to figure out the new "sound" in my right ear. Like if I hear the microwave whirring in my left ear, I can figure out what it sounds like in my right... I usually shut off the hearing aid and listen to the sound that I already identified with my left ear with my cochlear implant in order to know what it is and remember it for the future.

I have been getting comments from people saying that they have noticed a big change in how I communicate with people, like I am understanding more without looking at them and speak more clearly now. So mostly positive aspects of getting the implant for me, only negatives have been that it's a lot of work to learn everything especially at my age right now and how much I have going on in my life. Like what anonymous commenter said a few posts ago... it will all get better... I still don't believe that person. But I am keeping a positive spirit about everything. =)

Later,

off to do my homework.

-Annie

No life

So ever since getting to college,

I've had no free time to even think about my ears... and yet they're holding up somehow through all of my day of listening to teachers and customers at my job. etc.

But it's obvious that it's been a lot of work for me.... so obvious because I managed to get an ear infection in the ear... my cochlear implant side. That's a problem. A big mean problem.... although i do not have hearing in that ear canal itself, it still could affect the implant in some way and I am crossing my fingers that it turns out to be okay. I took ten days of medication for my ear infection... it still feels like I have one so i'm worried. Hopefully Smullen can help out when i see her on friday.

Friday is my 2 months in, follow up appointment. I have no expectations for this appointment with Mark, however I do feel like I am doing better with the implant than with my previous hearing aid, so I am quite pleased. Hopefully I'll find the time to update this after my appointment on friday! Time is very constricted as of now... I only have free time now due to my frustration with my printer and is trying to resolve that...

Anyways...

I cannot remember anything else that's important for people to know about my deaf-abilities slash my cochlear implants slash my life.

AKA. my life is nonexistent due to homework and classes... all for the future I suppose!

Until next time,

Annie