I was at the Cochlear Clinic bright and early this morning. I ran into two women in the waiting room area who had been implanted with the same implant as myself. One had been implanted for a year, the other one, I think, two years. Both women became deaf later in life. I was the only deaf woman in the waiting room who has been deaf most of her life. A man came over to us and said he lost his hearing in 20 minutes, just like that. How traumatic for him!
My CI Audiologist re-mapped the three programs on the sound processor and for the first time post-implant, sounds are more natural. Music isn't music yet, but neither is it noise. I can definitely hear different musical instruments with no difficulty. The CI Audiologist said to expect two weeks of getting used to the new mappings. I told her of people asking me if I can "hear" on the telephone yet. We both laughed. The two women in the waiting room told me it took them six to seven months before they could fully understand speech with their cochlear implant. We will see what happens in May!
I had my hearing tested again. With the Cochlear Implant, I've gone from the absolute bottom of the audiogram to the middle! The implant and the sound processor are functioning as they should. That's progress. I go back in two months.
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