NEWBIE CANDIDATE FOR A CI Any suggestions :)

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I am new to this board. I recently had a sudden hearing loss am post

lingual, I am 38 and uptil about a 8 years ago I discovered I had a

hearing loss, over the past few years it has progressively gotten

worse. During the last two months I had a sudden hearing loss and

regained most of my residual hearing ( it wasn't good but I could

hear). Last week I had a sudden hearing loss again & now on prednisone

& can barley hear with HA. I live in NYC and are seeing a specialist

at the NY Eye & Ear Infirmary. Think a CI is going to be my only

option to hear again ( I hope & Pray).

Which CI do you have?

Any advice you can share?

[Guest guest]

Hi Doris,

I am happy to hear your happy with your CI, I have decided I will use the

Nucleous freedom, I just hope it works & I can hear again!!

Please keep in touch and suggestions or happines you can share!

Re: NEWBIE CANDIDATE FOR A CI Any suggestions

Bye the way, Newbie, I use the Nucleous Freedom. So far I have nothing

negative to say about it. However, I have no other to compare it to.

Doris from

Mississippi Gulf Coast (Katrina County)

implanted 3/7/06

activated 4/12/06

Nucleous Freedom

[Guest guest]

Hi Doris,

We sound like we have a similar background, only I was able to hear from both

ears! I have become a CI candidate and hope & pray to be able to hear and

communicate with my family and go back to work. As of right now I can barely

hear from my right ear with aid.That is the ear he wants to implant because I

had ear tubes from another ENT and have a hole in my left eardrum and needs to

be repaired surgically and I want the CI surgery done first.

Thanks for your pleasant email, please keep in touch & will do the same.

Debra

Re: NEWBIE CANDIDATE FOR A CI Any suggestions

Hi NewBie from New York City,

I experienced a similar situation in regards to a sudden hearing loss. I

had my most recent sudden drop January of 2006 and immediately went to be

tested to see if I was a candidate for a CI. I was determined to be a

candidate

on February 6 and my implant was performed on March 7. I was activated on

April 12. It was all very fast for me. I had been deaf for over 10 years in

my

right ear and so that was the one that was implanted. The left ear I still

have a small amount of hearing with HA. I was immediately able to hear words

after being activated. I know that it is my answer to my prayer. I was

sure I would be totally deaf soon and so I wanted to get the implant before I

was unable to use a HA.

Good luck to you. Let me know how it goes.

Doris

[Guest guest]

Hi Downtown Girl,

Welcome to the forum. I received the Nucleus Freedom (website:

http://www.cochlearamericas.com/index.asp) in October of last year and have

nothing but wonderful things to say about it. I began to lost my hearing about

12 years ago and the progression has been rapid for the last 2-3 years. I was

activated on November 1, 2005, and immediately heard and understood speech (the

voices didn't sound normal but I did understand them--it takes time for your

auditory memory to adjust to hearing voices again, however, over time voices do

sound normal). Tomorrow will be the sixth month anniversary of my activation

and there is little I don't hear. My results have been amazing and exceeded all

my expectations.

I chose the Nucleus because of Cochlear's history and committment to their

users. A couple of things you may want to think about is a t-coil important to

you, how important is water resistance, is the brand you are considering going

to be compatiable with future technology and what is the reliability of the

brand you are choosing. You might want to check out the Food and Drug

Administration's on cochlear implants for some info. The website is:

http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/cochlear/whatare.html

And the National Institute on Deaf and other Communication Disorders site at:

http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/coch.asp

Please feel free to ask questions that is how we all learned.

Connie

dwntwngrl303 <dwntwngrl303@...> wrote:

Hi,

I am new to this board. I recently had a sudden hearing loss am post

lingual, I am 38 and uptil about a 8 years ago I discovered I had a

hearing loss, over the past few years it has progressively gotten

worse. During the last two months I had a sudden hearing loss and

regained most of my residual hearing ( it wasn't good but I could

hear). Last week I had a sudden hearing loss again & now on prednisone

& can barley hear with HA. I live in NYC and are seeing a specialist

at the NY Eye & Ear Infirmary. Think a CI is going to be my only

option to hear again ( I hope & Pray).

Which CI do you have?

Any advice you can share?

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I also, like you, started losing my hearing at age 38. I had the typical

downhill progression, stronger and stronger hearing aids, until finally,

aids no longer benefitted me, and I qualified for a CI. The best advice I

can offer you is to do your research. I have the Advanced Bionics 90k.

I've had it for a year now, and it's given me my life back. I'm finally

fully participating in all areas of my life once again. I'm using the phone

easily and without 'phone phobia', which I had REAL bad. I'm a child

support officer for the district attorney here in San Diego, Cali, and I'm

on the phone a lot. Check out the websites, get the literature, view the

videos (the implant companies have videos for you to view, that can help in

making your decision. I am thinking of going bilateral. I do qualify.

Haven't made the decision yet. It doesn't seem so urgent now that I am

hearing so well with the one CI. But if I do, I'll once again go with

Advanced Bionics. I was in the trials for their new 120 channel programming

strategy, and got the chance to try the new Behind the Ear (BTE) device.

It's smaller, very compact and I would forget I had it on. However, outside

of the trials, one of the reasons I chose Advanced Bionics was the

Hi-Resolution (Hi-Res) programming. After reading the literature and

talking to folks, that was very attractive to me, and I did make the right

choice, for me. Personally, I like rechargeable batteries, that was another

draw. . We all made our decisons for one (or more) reason or another, and

I just suggest you take your time and do your research, to get the implant

that fits your lifestyle. To be honest, they all will help you to hear and

live your life more easily.

Binns

----Original Message Follows----

From: " dwntwngrl303 " <dwntwngrl303@...>

Reply-

Subject: NEWBIE CANDIDATE FOR A CI Any suggestions

Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 17:41:47 -0000

Hi,

I am new to this board. I recently had a sudden hearing loss am post

lingual, I am 38 and uptil about a 8 years ago I discovered I had a

hearing loss, over the past few years it has progressively gotten

worse. During the last two months I had a sudden hearing loss and

regained most of my residual hearing ( it wasn't good but I could

hear). Last week I had a sudden hearing loss again & now on prednisone

& can barley hear with HA. I live in NYC and are seeing a specialist

at the NY Eye & Ear Infirmary. Think a CI is going to be my only

option to hear again ( I hope & Pray).

Which CI do you have?

Any advice you can share?

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

You are an uplift in my day, it's so scary to be in this situation,wondering

will I hear my child tell a secret or giggle ( I have 3 kids ages 8,11,17) All

my life I have been independent and have tried to do for myself and now I am

unable to call my Dr to change an appointment. ( We now can email) but still

when they say they do not know if a CI would help me it's been scary. so far

people in our CI Cyber world have said " they heard that too and it's a safety

net for the doc & Audies.

The reason I chose the Nucleus is mostly the channels in the programing, most

people that I have emailed and spoken to have mentioned they are basically

similar in components just the fine tuning. Nucleus has a rechargeable option

coming out soon But a person can purchase a AA rechargeable component. I like

that is was smaller in size also. Happy to hear about your CI success. Please

keep in touch.

Thank you for taking care of our children ( OK I live in NYC, but people like

you take care of our children all over)

Debra

NEWBIE CANDIDATE FOR A CI Any suggestions

Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 17:41:47 -0000

Hi,

I am new to this board. I recently had a sudden hearing loss am post

lingual, I am 38 and uptil about a 8 years ago I discovered I had a

hearing loss, over the past few years it has progressively gotten

worse. During the last two months I had a sudden hearing loss and

regained most of my residual hearing ( it wasn't good but I could

hear). Last week I had a sudden hearing loss again & now on prednisone

& can barley hear with HA. I live in NYC and are seeing a specialist

at the NY Eye & Ear Infirmary. Think a CI is going to be my only

option to hear again ( I hope & Pray).

Which CI do you have?

Any advice you can share?

[Guest guest]

Welcome!

Although I was born severely/profoundly deaf I suddenly lost my residual

hearing last year at age 35 and am no longer able to use hearing aids in the

affected ear. I never knew I was at higher risk for having a sudden hearing

loss but I am finding on these boards how common it is. It is very

upsetting and distressing isn't it? I was approved in March to be a

candidate and am having my surgery next month. I am having the Cochlear

Freedom model implanted. I've heard lots of good feedback about it so I'm

feeling quite positive.

Tomorrow I go to the audiologist to pick the colour and to ask questions!

I'm slowly getting excited about it. It has been a real struggle since my

sudden loss as I've had to depend a lot more on lipreading and am much more

tired these days as a result. I'm looking forward to the possibility of

changing that and also of getting my confidence back again.

Good luck - I think that a CI would be a very good option for you from the

sound of things. You will need to have tests done though to assess whether

your ear structure is normal and your auditory nerve is functional enough.

_____

From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of

dwntwngrl303

Sent: Monday, 1 May 2006 3:42 AM

Subject: NEWBIE CANDIDATE FOR A CI Any suggestions

Hi,

I am new to this board. I recently had a sudden hearing loss am post

lingual, I am 38 and uptil about a 8 years ago I discovered I had a

hearing loss, over the past few years it has progressively gotten

worse. During the last two months I had a sudden hearing loss and

regained most of my residual hearing ( it wasn't good but I could

hear). Last week I had a sudden hearing loss again & now on prednisone

& can barley hear with HA. I live in NYC and are seeing a specialist

at the NY Eye & Ear Infirmary. Think a CI is going to be my only

option to hear again ( I hope & Pray).

Which CI do you have?

Any advice you can share?