Worried Nora...

[Guest guest]

Nora, you remind me of my grandmother she worried about everything, I

always said my mom never worried about me because Granny did enough

for both of them - lol But in all seriousness, please try to ease up

on the worry, I know you will not be able to forget it, no one can,

but try to keep it to a minimum you know too much worry will cause

more problems than it will solve. So let me try my little bit to help

you with some of the worry OK.

1-Understanding speech right away - Possibly, some people can

understand speech within minutes of activation, I did! The sound is

not that clear, voices are often very cartoonish, some say like Mickey

mouse, and for some patients it can take quite some time, I think how

long it takes and how well you progress, depends on many factors, one

of the big ones (just my opinion here) is the length of time your

auditory nerve was without stimulation. I do not think and recent

studies seem to bear this out, that going without stimulation for a

very long time means an implant will not work, it seems to just

lengthen the time and effort required to achieve good results. So I do

not think anyone can give you a hard fast # of days or weeks, it

depends on so many things, and it will happen when it happens.

2- How many times to see the Audi - Quite often at first, I had 3

appointments the first month, and I know of others who have had more,

again it varies with each person and I think the Audi's each have

their own preferences as well. I think you will find it may even vary

between different patients who see the same audi. I would count on

several appointments the first 2 weeks, and then your audi will be

able to chart a good schedule form there.

3- How do you relearn speech- I think you will find most agree that is

you can get AV therapy take it, by all means! I am post lingual and I

was told I still had good speech even though I was almost totally deaf

even with my aid, and I did well right off the bat with my CI. I was

offered therapy and I grabbed it the therapy does not just help with

your relearning speech but helps with many exercises and coping

strategies for various hearing situations.

4- Risks of surgery- I am sure your surgeon will tell you all the

worst things that can happen, it's called a CYA (Cover your a_s)

speech. They have to tell you all the things that " could " happen, and

I guess they really should, but keep this in mind, they rarely do

happen! I have not met anyone yet who has told me about facial nerve

damage, or any of the other possible big problems. Yes they can happen

and sometimes do, but they are extremely rare, I know the center I

went to has not had a single adverse incident since they started

Cochlear Implants 16 years ago. CI surgery has been performed for over

20 years now and is probably one of the easier surgeries all things

considered. So I think the big question you need to ask yourself about

the risk of surgery is Do I trust my Surgeon, and if you have chosen

carefully and feel confident in him or her, relax and enjoy the ride,

and get ready to start milking the sympathy from hubby, and the rest

of your family, you should be able to get at least 2 good weeks of

having them wait on you hand and foot, 3 if you are real good with the

pouty lip.

Best of luck.

Regards

Mike " Ears Hopin " P

Implanted June 3rd, 2005

Activated July 6th, 2005

Nucleus Freedom

Message: 8

Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2006 02:29:49 -0000

From: " lil_nora77 " <lil_nora77@...>

Subject: After surgery

okay i'm a little nervous now..

Can someone remind me what will happen after the CI surgery?

-will i understand speech right away when i get activated?

-how many times do you see your audi to improve your mapping

strategies?

-so how do I relearn hearing speech on my own? would i need someone to

help me,like a speech tharapist or something? -

- I'm worried about the risks of surgery--Do any of you have facial

nerves damage? if so, does it bother you?

Thanks,

Nora

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