Welcome to MyCI Journey

The basics:

I'm Andy. Drummer, Guitarist, EET, Former Hockey Stud, Sand and Water Hazard Dweller among others. I was born with normal hearing in both ears and grew up living a normal life. Little did I know this would all change drastically.

In the summer of '94 at age 11 I found my hearing deteriorating rapidly, first in my Left ear then in my Right. I had developed a condition called Otosclerosis. At age 12 I underwent an operation in both ears called a Stapedectomy in attempt to correct the condition. My surgeon had performed nearly 1000 of these before me and has since performed thousands all successfully; I was the anomaly. He attributed this to a hardened bone structure that refused to be drilled and shaped correctly. Many years later he made a connection between the bone condition and grayish/blue color of my sclera suggesting that I may have a mild case of Osteogenesis Imperfecta, but that is a story for another day.

So at 12 I started wearing hearing aids in both ears which provided a significant improvement right away. Fast forward 13 years and I began to notice my right ear getting worse and worse, even with the most powerful BTE Aid on the market. In November 2008 I gave up my right side and relied solely on my left BTE, which was still doing very well. The two years that followed saw a gradual and devastating "goodbye" to what I thought was the end of my hearing experience.

I'm writing this blog first and foremost to reach anyone who is a potential candidate for CIs but I also hope I can bring insight to anyone looking for more information. In the last 6 months I went from passing notes with my friends and making hand signals with my family to attending business meetings with clients individually and re-learning my love for guitar.

I have had my Right CI active for only 4 months and I go this Thursday to hook up the Left. After a long descent resulting in bilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss, things are moving in a way I never thought they could, and it will only get better from here. CIs gave me hope when I had none. If you want to know more, feel free to follow my journey.