The Hookup

It's been nearly 4 months since I began hearing these strange sounds that gradually became more and more familiar. Here's how that 1st day went:

I had my right ear hookup on January 12th, 2011. I chose the Nucleus 5 from Cochlear, a company out of Austrailia.

 

I went with this partly because it is the newest and smallest processor out at this point. I went with black to make it look like a modern "bluetooth" type device. Little did I know this is what people would actually think...ALL the time! Since when does bluetooth use a magnetic, circular port SMACK on the back of your noggin'? Anyway...they accomplished the smaller package by putting most of the controls on the remote (shown). I really enjoy all of the options the remote gives me, however it has come to my attention most people think I'm rudely texting away at the dinner table. HA! Deal with it :) It's the price you pay for my conversation.

Back to January: I remember the tests they did to find my upper and lower thresholds that 1st day, just a series of beeps that sounded like they were bouncing around a dark, empty cavern; that would be my head (ba-dom, ping). Then suddenly I heard the strangest compilation of soundwaves my brain had ever received triggers from at that point. I didn't know what to make of these metal clanging, feedback-ish sounds until I turned and saw that my audiologist was moving her mouth.

"Whoa! Really? You've got to be kidding me!" If I didn't blurt them out loud, those were some of my 1st thoughts. I'd love to paint a birds-chirping-heaven-opening picture here, but these 1st sounds I heard weren't exactly encouraging. I'd done enough research going in to know that, one, it WILL NOT sound great right away, and two, it WILL take time. Still nothing can quite prepare you, having gone through surgery and knowing that this IS IT forever, for those 1st sounds. I couldn't stop thinking that this weird, jumbled noise was all I would ever have. Trust me. It gets much better.

I learned an interesting trick of sorts that day though. For me, sounds became more real and familiar once I SAW what I was hearing. The 1st instance of this I mentioned above, and as the days went on I continued to see the pattern. With running water, doors creaking, keyboard typing and so on. It was an incredible thing to experience. My brain was telling me, "that sounds crazy! what the heck is that?!" Then I see my adorable cats running across the room and realize that their collar bells have re-entered my frequency range for the 1st time in over 10 years. And almost instantly my brain clicks and the sound suddenly DOES sound very much like what I remember it sounding like.



It was at this point I really wished I had a cow grazing in the back yard with a cowbell around it's neck. Rex will have to do.

That sums up my 1st day, and things have truly improved to the point of blowing my mind, literally, in 4 short months since. My Left hookup is in two days so I get to do it all over again...thinking I'll wear my sombrero. Things are starting to get very interesting as I get set to re-enter the world of bi-lateral hearing. I've got much more to say, you'll just have to keep reading.