After about 10 years of researching cochlear implants and wanting one for myself, I finally got the cochlear implant in my left ear! My left ear was the "dead" ear (as in I could hear any sound, even with a hearing aid, not even the loudest of loud sounds). I wasn't ready to give up what hearing I had left in my right ear, and really wanted to get some sound in the left, so left ear it was! I chose Advanced Bionic's implant (there are three different devices available for use in the United States), as I wanted to take advantage of AB's technology and the speech processing strategies they have to offer. It took quite a while to get the implant, as I didn't have insurance or funding for a long time.
When I got Medicaid, I was tested and the pre-approval request was sent off. Medicaid said "no" because I could communicate too well. Apparently I had to have absolutely no means at all whatsoever to communicate in order for them to cover the implant. Wait a minute! That's not right! I pointed out this problem to the State's Department of Health and got them to look at the criteria. They then changed it (fixing it), but I still didn't meet their criteria (I had to score 40% or worse with the speech recognition testing and I had scored 52% with the right... they didn't care that the left ear was at 0%). Ugh! Waited another two years, and tried again when I had Medicare coverage. Met their criteria and we took it from there.
February 24, 2012, I went down to the Rocky Mountain Ear Center in Denver for a quick hearing test, to order the device I wanted, and to visit with the surgeon to discuss the surgery and such. Also ended up having an MRI of my brain/ears done, since mom was still questioning the ossification issue. The surgeon decided to do an MRI, since sometimes CT scans will be clear but the MRI says otherwise. MRI was clear. March 20 was pre-op/pre-admissions day. Confirmed my choice of Advanced Bionics with everyone, confirmed it's the left ear I wanted done, etc. etc. etc. Then March 21 was surgery day. Surgery was at 10:15 in the morning, and surgery took a bit longer than 2 hours. Turns out, I did have some ossification in my left ear afterall! It was just deep enough that even the MRI didn't pick up on it. Huh. Surgeon was able to drill through the ossification and get fill insertion of the implant electrode. Spent quite a bit of time in recovery, then to a post-op room. Finally I left the hospital at about 6 or so and headed back to the hotel for the night with my mom and stepdad. Next day, we made the trip back home, and took the headwrap off.
April 3 was activation day! Audiologist hooked up my implant processor to the computer and put it on me, and got things rolling. Went through the frequencies and comfort levels, then I was officially turned on. Whoa! Lots of things were definitely happening in my head that day, at times it felt like brain was vibrating/pulsating/etc., just lots of weird sensations; and I was hearing this busy dial tone signal (like one hears on the phone when they try calling someone but it's busy on the other end). I have been told it can take up to 2 years before I really start making sense of all the sounds and making sense of speech. In the mean time, I'll just keep wearing the implant, and let the brain figure everything out.
I've added a photo gallery of my experience, as well as a 30-minute video footage of the activation. Video is not captioned at this time, but hopefully some day it will be.
When I got Medicaid, I was tested and the pre-approval request was sent off. Medicaid said "no" because I could communicate too well. Apparently I had to have absolutely no means at all whatsoever to communicate in order for them to cover the implant. Wait a minute! That's not right! I pointed out this problem to the State's Department of Health and got them to look at the criteria. They then changed it (fixing it), but I still didn't meet their criteria (I had to score 40% or worse with the speech recognition testing and I had scored 52% with the right... they didn't care that the left ear was at 0%). Ugh! Waited another two years, and tried again when I had Medicare coverage. Met their criteria and we took it from there.
February 24, 2012, I went down to the Rocky Mountain Ear Center in Denver for a quick hearing test, to order the device I wanted, and to visit with the surgeon to discuss the surgery and such. Also ended up having an MRI of my brain/ears done, since mom was still questioning the ossification issue. The surgeon decided to do an MRI, since sometimes CT scans will be clear but the MRI says otherwise. MRI was clear. March 20 was pre-op/pre-admissions day. Confirmed my choice of Advanced Bionics with everyone, confirmed it's the left ear I wanted done, etc. etc. etc. Then March 21 was surgery day. Surgery was at 10:15 in the morning, and surgery took a bit longer than 2 hours. Turns out, I did have some ossification in my left ear afterall! It was just deep enough that even the MRI didn't pick up on it. Huh. Surgeon was able to drill through the ossification and get fill insertion of the implant electrode. Spent quite a bit of time in recovery, then to a post-op room. Finally I left the hospital at about 6 or so and headed back to the hotel for the night with my mom and stepdad. Next day, we made the trip back home, and took the headwrap off.
April 3 was activation day! Audiologist hooked up my implant processor to the computer and put it on me, and got things rolling. Went through the frequencies and comfort levels, then I was officially turned on. Whoa! Lots of things were definitely happening in my head that day, at times it felt like brain was vibrating/pulsating/etc., just lots of weird sensations; and I was hearing this busy dial tone signal (like one hears on the phone when they try calling someone but it's busy on the other end). I have been told it can take up to 2 years before I really start making sense of all the sounds and making sense of speech. In the mean time, I'll just keep wearing the implant, and let the brain figure everything out.
I've added a photo gallery of my experience, as well as a 30-minute video footage of the activation. Video is not captioned at this time, but hopefully some day it will be.