incrementalism
I've been experiencing some improvements in my hearing with the CI; yesterday I had a meeting with two people in a small room and was able to hear well enough to do the whole thing without my hearing aid in the left ear. This is a big thing, hearing for a meeting from the right side! All my impulses about presenting my left side to whoever's speaking are going to have to be retrained.
I can also hear my DVDs when I'm on the treadmill better, the voices aren't as beepy as they were. The theme music still sounds pretty bad, but that will come. I can do fine at home talking to R one on one as well. It feels like things are going well, and the path forward looks really positive. I need to achieve quite a lot more clarity before I can schedule the second surgery, but I can see it coming now.
Aside from trying to function without my hearing aid and doing my rehab via music listening and TV-watching, most of my activity around the CI this week were aimed at alleviating some of the pain the processor is causing. I don't think it's going to hurt in the long run; this is because the incision is right there behind my ear and is still painful, as is the nerve pain in the upper tip of the ear where it was clamped. The relative size of the processor (a good three times larger than my old hearing aids) and the residual pain from the surgery mean that by midafternoon most days I'm hitting the bottle - ibuprofen bottle, that is. My little orange friends get me through the afternoon.
I had ordered a second pair of glasses with much thinner earpieces, and I think that will help - they've arrived and I can go pick them up today. And yesterday I went out and bought a cotton scarf that I can turn into a sort of headband. The headband allows me to get the processor up off my ear - I tie the scarf over the magnet and then tuck the processor into the folds of the scarf. It felt so good yesterday when I got home, to get the pressure off the incision and the ear. It was comfortable and the CI worked just fine. They don't have the same issue as hearing aids do with feedback when you cover the microphones. It's too bad that I can't wear the scarf at work, but I'm not willing to go to the office looking like Rosie the Riveter (or a pirate captain!).
I'm going to look for another scarf or two today while I'm out, but I washed the one I bought yesterday after I got off the treadmill - it was necessary because, as R likes to tell me, I glow pretty profusely when I exercise. I heard from a couple of people on the Med-El users forum that they had the same issue post-surgery and it resolves when the incision's completely healed, probably 2-3 months.
So I feel a lot better about that now, I'm more confident that the processors will end up being comfortable once the last of the surgical pain is gone.
I'm also going to be getting a set of off the ear processors sometime before the end of the year. Med-El has a new one that had been submitted to FDA for approval and if you order your kit between early March and whenever they begin offering the new processor in the US, you get a voucher for a free one. So for my right ear I'll have two behind the ear processors (my clinic provides two-processor kits as a matter of routine so people have a backup) and one off the ear processor. I'm told that the sound of the off the ear one isn't quite a good as the behind the ear, because it's one microphone vs two, but that for most purposes it's fine and is pretty comfortable. Depending on when I'm ready to schedule my second surgery, I may not be eligible for the promotion, but I can still order one of each in my kit. I'm really, really looking forward to that.
And my t-shirt came. I saw a t-shirt online and had to order it; it says I am a CI-borg! Which was what my brother said to me when he heard I was getting these, so this is going to be for M to see. We'll be up at his cabin in June, I'll wear it then. 😏
I can also hear my DVDs when I'm on the treadmill better, the voices aren't as beepy as they were. The theme music still sounds pretty bad, but that will come. I can do fine at home talking to R one on one as well. It feels like things are going well, and the path forward looks really positive. I need to achieve quite a lot more clarity before I can schedule the second surgery, but I can see it coming now.
Aside from trying to function without my hearing aid and doing my rehab via music listening and TV-watching, most of my activity around the CI this week were aimed at alleviating some of the pain the processor is causing. I don't think it's going to hurt in the long run; this is because the incision is right there behind my ear and is still painful, as is the nerve pain in the upper tip of the ear where it was clamped. The relative size of the processor (a good three times larger than my old hearing aids) and the residual pain from the surgery mean that by midafternoon most days I'm hitting the bottle - ibuprofen bottle, that is. My little orange friends get me through the afternoon.
I had ordered a second pair of glasses with much thinner earpieces, and I think that will help - they've arrived and I can go pick them up today. And yesterday I went out and bought a cotton scarf that I can turn into a sort of headband. The headband allows me to get the processor up off my ear - I tie the scarf over the magnet and then tuck the processor into the folds of the scarf. It felt so good yesterday when I got home, to get the pressure off the incision and the ear. It was comfortable and the CI worked just fine. They don't have the same issue as hearing aids do with feedback when you cover the microphones. It's too bad that I can't wear the scarf at work, but I'm not willing to go to the office looking like Rosie the Riveter (or a pirate captain!).
I'm going to look for another scarf or two today while I'm out, but I washed the one I bought yesterday after I got off the treadmill - it was necessary because, as R likes to tell me, I glow pretty profusely when I exercise. I heard from a couple of people on the Med-El users forum that they had the same issue post-surgery and it resolves when the incision's completely healed, probably 2-3 months.
So I feel a lot better about that now, I'm more confident that the processors will end up being comfortable once the last of the surgical pain is gone.
I'm also going to be getting a set of off the ear processors sometime before the end of the year. Med-El has a new one that had been submitted to FDA for approval and if you order your kit between early March and whenever they begin offering the new processor in the US, you get a voucher for a free one. So for my right ear I'll have two behind the ear processors (my clinic provides two-processor kits as a matter of routine so people have a backup) and one off the ear processor. I'm told that the sound of the off the ear one isn't quite a good as the behind the ear, because it's one microphone vs two, but that for most purposes it's fine and is pretty comfortable. Depending on when I'm ready to schedule my second surgery, I may not be eligible for the promotion, but I can still order one of each in my kit. I'm really, really looking forward to that.
And my t-shirt came. I saw a t-shirt online and had to order it; it says I am a CI-borg! Which was what my brother said to me when he heard I was getting these, so this is going to be for M to see. We'll be up at his cabin in June, I'll wear it then. 😏
How's sleeping, Mary? Have you noticed a change in your sleep position?
ReplyDeleteHey, Bryan, I've been thinking of you. Just recently, yes. It really does take a while for the swelling to subside around the implant site. Cutting into bone is considerable trauma. It's still not completely healed but feels a lot better. The nerve pain at the top of the ear doesn't help, but it's definitely getting better. Any news from you? I was chatting with Betty yesterday and she was thinking that you might be busy midsummer or so?
ReplyDelete