Allison

After just three weeks of an exhilarating adventure with a new MED-EL Cochlear Implant, I wake up each morning to a day full of sounds and excitement. I can hear birds chirping as I walk outside, bacon sizzling on the stove and coke fizzing in my glass as I pour a drink to take onto the patio. I sit and listen to the birds chirping, the dogs barking in the neighborhood, and airplanes cruising overhead. Each time I take a sip of my drink, I hear ice clinking in the glass and I am reminded of what a wonderful blessing it is to hear with a cochlear implant. I can hear the phone ringing and the beeping of the keys when I look at the caller ID. The microwave's beeping captures my attention as I prepare breakfast. As my mother cuts a hard loaf of bread, I hear the knife sawing into the loaf. I hear the squeaking cabinet door and make a mental note to remind my father to fix it, along with my fan that squeaks when it is on high speed. As I dress, I hear the clock ticking in the bathroom and the water running in the sink reminds me of how much I thought I could hear with hearing aids. I turn on my computer, and hear the modem dialing up, the wonderful words of "You've Got Mail" that I have grown to love and the keyboard clicking away as my fingers dance rapidly. I listen to the "Sound of Music" CD as I type and suddenly find myself singing "Do-Re-Mi" along with Maria. I am startled by the sounds I hear from another room, and I yell to my mother, "Be quiet putting up the dishes!" and she chuckles excitedly. As I drive to church, I hear the seatbelts clicking into place, and the blinker repeating its unique sound over and over. In church, I hear coughing and sneezing behind me. The music sounds incredible. The violins, drums, guitars, and piano all sound so different, but so good. When we arrive home, I hear raindrops rhythmically tapping on leaves hanging over the door. As I listen to the comforting sound of rain, it seems as if each raindrop represents a blessing in my life.

I had meningitis when I was two years old, and it left my ears profoundly deaf and my body very weak. My hearing was in the 100-120 decibel range. After a few years of speech therapy, I learned to read lips and entered kindergarten at a public school. I was engaged in speech therapy until junior high. I communicate by reading lips, and I never learned sign language. I wore hearing aids in both ears until I received the cochlear implant, and the hearing aids brought my hearing up to 70 decibels. After spending a year researching cochlear implants, I made the decision to have the surgery. Even though one decision was made, I was faced with two more hard decisions. Which implant device should I get and which ear should I have implanted? I did further research into the three companies, and chose MED-EL. Then, I decided to have my "good ear" implanted, meaning that I would give it my best. The night before my surgery was quite emotional, filled with excitement, fears, and questions. It is difficult to capture the feelings I had before a life-changing experience in words! My surgery was performed on March 19, 2001 in Dallas, Texas.

The surgery was a great success! I went home a few hours after the surgery and had a post-op appointment the next morning, which is when the doctor checks the area to make sure everything is normal. I was sent home without a bandage on my head and was told I could wash my hair that day! I was also worried about losing a lot of hair when they shaved the incision area, but I was happy to see that only a tiny amount of hair was gone. (My scar fully healed around the fifth week after the surgery.) Because my doctor used glue to seal the incision, I did not have to return until "hook up" day, when they would turn on my implant for the first time.

After four weeks of silence, I was anxious for April 12 to come. We traveled back to Dallas, where my audiologist fitted and mapped my new MED-EL device. She asked me to tell her when I heard a sound to let her know, but it was difficult to tell because it was such a different way of "hearing" than I was accustomed to with my hearing aids. It was more of a feeling or vibration in my head, but I learned how to listen for those sounds and my first map was created! When she turned it on, I was really surprised at how poorly voices sounded compared to my hearing aids. Everyone's voices were muffled, flat and far away. Even though the hearing aids were a far cry from reality, it was all I had known. I cried a little bit in the office because I realized it was so different from what I expected. But, just hours later, I began to truly love it! I was hearing thousands of things, but had no idea what they were! I remember looking through the MED-EL suitcase (which includes equipment that is needed for the implant) and opened a velcro pouch, and I was so startled to hear how "loud" the velcro was! On the way home from Dallas to Shreveport, Louisiana, I listened to sounds of nature on the computer. From the time I walked out of the office to the time I came home, sounds were much clearer and quite enjoyable.

On April 20, I traveled back to Dallas for my second mapping. It was interesting to see the difference in the audiologist's office from the first time I was there. Voices sounded tremendously clearer and fuller. I am able to distinguish male voices from female voices and I can easily tap my foot to a beat to most types of music. I particularly enjoy listening to classical music because the piano and violin sounds very clear to me. At this point, I am beginning the fourth week since the "hook up" and I am doing therapy. For therapy I try to listen to words without lip reading. I do this by listening to children's books that my family has recorded on tape and I try to follow along in the book as I listen. I now feel confident in doing that, so I am now closing the book and listening for words. Last week, I listened to the Velveteen Rabbit and made a long list of words that I heard! Right now, I am doing therapy with closed word sets (i.e.: colors, numbers, days of the week) and I usually hear 80-90% of the words without lip reading. In just three weeks, I now hear in the 25-40 decibel range with my MED-EL cochlear implant!

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