Evel Jon

[Guest guest]

Hi Jon,

Here I thought you were one of those motorcycle guys, you know, Evel

Knievel, or something like that. OK.

The way to find out a success/failure rate at any institution is to ASK

them how many surgeries they have done, and how many were successful.

Not that this is going to prove much, since I had a stapedectomy done by

a surgeon who had done 10,000 of them, and only had 2 that didn't work.

I was his third failure!!

And by success vs failure what do you mean? Does the implant work, do

people hear anything with it, or are they talking on the phone,

understanding without lipreading, etc. Because almost everyone will hear

something with the implant. And statistically, those who were deafened

late in life (post lingually) and have the shortest period of time

between deafness and implanting, tend to do the best. But the spectrum

is broad for success, and might not be what you consider success. So,

you can ask, but not sure the information is going to be helpful in

making a decision.

People who are born deaf, and don't feel any need to be oral have no

more use for a cochlear implant, than I have use for cable TV. I don't

watch TV that often, and don't see any reason to pay for cable. It's

that kind of analogy. If you are part of the Deaf Culture, then you

don't feel a cochlear implant is something you need. It's not that you

hate it, it's just that you don't see any reason to have one. They are

certainly not for everyone.

But if you've been oral all your life and suddenly lose hearing, then

you would want to get it back since speech and hearing are your primary

means of communication. And Rochester having the Rochester Institute of

Technology and National Technical School for the Deaf there, would have

a large deaf population.

Your family history of deafness when 3 of you had severe ear

infections as children might also include the use of ototoxic drugs that

helped the infection, but damaged the hearing. Ohio State University did

a study on folks who had measles and later lost their hearing. So you

never know when a " harmless childhood disease " can cause lots of damage

down the road. Or the treatment for the problem is worse than the

problem.

There is a cord that runs from the 3G to the magnet section. It can

be as short as 3 inches and as long as 12. Comes in colors to match your

hair, skin tone or whimsy. I have a silver speech processor, but a dark

brown cable and magnet since that blends with my hair. I have the short

one when I wear the processor behind the ear that is implanted (the left)

and the 12 inch one for when I'm driving with a passenger and want to

hear what they say. I move the processor and microphone to the right

ear, but the magnet stays on the left where the implant is.

The reason you haven't seen it clearly is that it's hard to see. It's

small, it fits under your hair. I wear my hair up in a ponytail in the

summer and people STILL don't see the cord.

Yes you can swim with an implant (that is, providing you could swim

before). You remove the speech processor when you go near or into water,

just like you remove your hearing aid to shower, swim, water ski, etc.

You don't get the speech processor wet, so you remove it. Then you can

sing in the shower and make everyone but yourself crazy. Talk about

EVIL.

Hope this helps.

, whose real name is actually

Nucleus Volunteer

From: " evel339 " <evel339@...>

Subject: Re: Evel

,

Mark (The Audiologist) was no class clown ) Very smart and a

great athlete in school.. I am really thrilled that he is in the CI

group.. I am just trying to keep my hopes in check until i find out

if I qualify.. Do you have any info. on Strong Memorial Hospital in

Rochester NY..I was wondering if there is a way to get info. on their

success/failure rate, basically if they are good at this.. BTW We

have the highest per capital deaf population in the USA here in

Rochester NY.. This means there are LOTS of people who hate the

Cochlear implant.. I work with a deaf person that feels this way.. It

really baffles me as to why someone would want to live with no

hearing when there is help?

We checked with the family history and found no hereditary

component. The only thing we have in common is that the 3 of us (2

were twins) had SEVERE ear infections when we were young and it

damaged our hearing. We were all fine from birth until then.. Other

than common loss from old age there is no other cases in my family of

hearing loss.. My wife was thinking the same so we checked it out..

Also No hearing problems with any of our 9 children between all my

siblings..

Does the 3G BTE still have a wire that goes to the part that is

implanted via a magnet?? I have not seen many clear pictures with

someone wearing the 3G BTE.. Can you go swiming once you are

implanted??

Thanks for all the help thus far!

Evel (Real name is Jon)

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