Hearing with a Cochlear Implant is absolutely a Brain Thing

Hearing with a Cochlear Implant is absolutely a Brain Thing.  Let that thought sink in for a minute.

Recently I flashed back on the memory of my visit with my surgeon, August 2010. After telling me the risks of the surgery, he told me that getting fully used to a cochlear implant could take up to two and a half years.

I thought to myself, I'm a person who has worn hearing aids most of her life, the doctor doesn't get it that I am a high functioning deaf woman. Getting used to a cochlear implant will be challenging but it will be a slam dunk for me compared to someone who hasn't worn hearing aids for years.

WRONG.  NOT GONNA HAPPEN!

The good doctor is absolutely correct.  One year and seven months later after that initial Activation Day, November, 2010, my doctor knew what he was talking about.

The more recent the hearing loss, the more hearing memory you have.

The biggest mistake that someone can make is to put the auditory rehabilitation process in overdrive and race to the finish line. You set yourself up for disappointment that way. It is kind of like being back in school: So and so didn't study for the test and missed the last two classes and got an A.  So and so studied his ass off, took copious notes, studied for three nights straight, and got a C.

You literally are learning to hear all over again.  I cannot stress this enough. The harder you push yourself with listening to National Public Radio, music, "listening" exercises, the bigger the frustration and getting overtired.  That's a good way to bring on a migraine.  That hasn't happened to me, personally, because I knew not to push it.

I have said the hardest thing that I have ever done was to remove my behind the ear hearing aid to my unimplanted ear and wear my cochlear implant processor in my left, newly implanted ear.  My CI audiologist was right.  We had to force my brain to hear.  By June 2011, I was used to wearing my cochlear implant processor, and felt so imbalanced when I put my ancient behind the ear hearing aid in my right ear. I did get a taste of what hearing with two cochlear implant processors COULD be like.

 I wear my cochlear implant processors from sunrise to sundown.  The hearing process with the second cochlear implant - my right ear this time - is a lot easier now that my brain recognized the second cochlear implant. I had hopes that on Activation Day, March, 2012, that my brain would "click," and recognize the implant.  It did. My right ear has been catching up quickly. The same thing happened when I wore a hearing aid for the first time in my right ear when I was in college, at the audiologists' suggestion.  From then on, I hated what I called "single-sided" deafness.

I think back to November, 2010, and just laugh.  Sounds were wild and crazy, alright. My sisters were like, "Yay! Mindy can hear!"  And the entire time I'm thinking, Oh My God, this is NOTHING like hearing with a hearing aid!  My older sister wanted to know if I would be able to hear with an ipod one day.  I think back to her comment and just laugh all over again.

My "WOW"! moments have usually happened when I wasn't even TRYING to listen. The first time I heard a bird call, for instance.  I just knew that the sound was coming from the trees and wondered if that was a bird I was hearing.

Now, that I am bilateral, hearing with two cochlear implants, my world is a lot noisier, but I am starting to discriminate sounds - hearing different bird calls for instance, or different ring tones from a phone.

The thing that continues to stun me the most, is how deaf I am.  I am just floored at how I managed for so many years WITHOUT the benefit of cochlear implants.  I am reminded of that fact every night when I take my cochlear implant processors off and recharge the batteries.  My world was still silent, even with hearing aids.

How can you put a price on hearing?  I continue to be blessed beyond measure - experiencing the gift of two cochlear implants - a dream that is still out of reach of many.

Hearing with two cochlear implants is priceless.