Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Doctor Visits Coming Up!
My friend, (Bless her heart for her support in getting in touch with the doctor she used for her son!) heard back from the doctor who did an amazing job on her son's cochlear implant. My friend also asked him for the other doctor that he highly recommends in Columbus. As it turns out, the doctor that he recommends happens to be the one that my audiologist set me up with in the beginning of February! How wonderful is that?!! That just blows my mind away that I went to to get a cochlear implant referral that I just picked from Columbus and she set me up with the doctor that three weeks later was recommended by a top cochlear implant specialist! I am anxious to speak to this doctor in Columbus in two weeks because he specializes in two things that right now I am struggling most with: dizziness and tinnitus. And let me tell you just how annoying tinnitus is!!! Augh, I have it 24 hours and most of the time, if I am focused on something I am able to ignore it. But it doesn't help when trying to sleep (especially when you desperately need the sleep when you're up feeding a baby through the night!), or when I hear a noise, like today, I thought I heard a siren and I immediately turned around frightened thinking something was wrong with the kids and I didn't know it and the police was here making the sirens. (I know I have such a big imagination!!) Hopefully I can get some answers from this doctor. Then a couple weeks later in February I will be visiting the other Doctor that my friend recommends and I hope then I can move forward and get a game plan going. There is a waiting list to see both doctors and I am thankful that I will be seeing them in February rather than much later! So until then, I am taking it one day at a time til I see those doctors!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Researching for a Doctor
So now that I have made the decision to get the implants. Now I need to find the Doctor that I trust to implant them in my skull! A dear friend of mine shared with me a doctor they used for their son and had amazing results. They also told me just how meticulous and serious this doctor is on cochlear implants and he actually does this kind of surgery weekly. (that is more than OSU- they said they do 30 a year!) As with any surgery there are risk, but this doctor rarely has any complications. So I would love to see this Doctor in KY and get in, we are now waiting to hear from my friend to tell me if he will see me. So now I need prayers for my research and that God will lead me to the right Doctor for me-one that I can completely trust and feel at ease to do this on me.
Meanwhile, I am continually wondering what I am going to be able to hear. My daughter today was giving me details on what she can hear and she opened my eyes to things that I was never able to hear with hearing aids and didn't realize the things that made sounds and I asked, "do you think I will be able to hear those things with these implants?" And she shrugged her shoulders and said, "maybe, maybe not, but that is okay, I will still tell you these sounds." What a sweet daughter I have! (smile)
And my 4 year old son totally cracks me up, I just found out that he has been mouthing his sentences to me. I thought he has been talking, but someone just informed me that he would come up to me and only mouth the words to me. I guess he thinks since I can't hear anymore, there is no point in using your voice to talk to me, so he is mouthing to me! (double smile)
Meanwhile, I am continually wondering what I am going to be able to hear. My daughter today was giving me details on what she can hear and she opened my eyes to things that I was never able to hear with hearing aids and didn't realize the things that made sounds and I asked, "do you think I will be able to hear those things with these implants?" And she shrugged her shoulders and said, "maybe, maybe not, but that is okay, I will still tell you these sounds." What a sweet daughter I have! (smile)
And my 4 year old son totally cracks me up, I just found out that he has been mouthing his sentences to me. I thought he has been talking, but someone just informed me that he would come up to me and only mouth the words to me. I guess he thinks since I can't hear anymore, there is no point in using your voice to talk to me, so he is mouthing to me! (double smile)
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Beginnings of a new journey!
My journey with my hearing loss started when I was very young when I was fitted with hearing aids at the age of 3. And now 29 years later (you can figure out my age if you add it up you know?) I am starting a new journey; being able to hear with cochlear implants. As with any story, you need to know details of how this new journey started, so I thought I add the note that I sent to my friends about the recent (December 2011) prognosis:
"Hi all, I am sharing with you as a friend in hopes that you will join me in prayers! Just a year ago I was in a coffee shop crying happy tears that with my new hearing aids i could hear the harps play for the first time in my life. Just a year this past week, i find myself crying to find that i have lost all my hearing and now considered deaf! This has come in such a shock to me, so quickly and sudden. The doctors do not know why or how i lost my hearing, they have some theories but in all, my hearing will not come back. I thought this would happen, but at a much older age, not now among my thriving lifestyle as a mom and wife! Needless to say i have been grieving over this loss. Our hope right now is looking into cochlear implants, i meet with specialists in January to find out more. I remember as a little girl asking God to take my hearing away, He instead changed my heart, and now I ask Him of nothing but His will! I trust Him as I have and do with my life! Please pray for me as I struggle more so with no hearing with my children (bless them for their patience and help!), and being reminded daily of what I cannot hear. Rob and I are trusting Him because we have hope in Him! I love my husbands support, my children's love, and my all my friends prayers!"
So fast forward to yesterday, January 2012, I went to OSU to meet the specialists, after several hours of testing (never had so many different hearing tests), the specialist said that I qualify for cochlear implants. Now if you don't know what this all entails, here is a website that tells you more about this implantation in the skull/ear: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlear_implant
I was overwhelmed by the information of how much work this would require: coming in for 3-4 hour surgery, going home to recover and let swelling go down for 6 weeks, come back and then turn it on and hear, then come back every week for adjustments for the next six months. Then I was told there were lots of side effects such as paralysis of side of face, loss of taste (So I reasoned, OK: I can lose weight easily this way! Not a bad thing!), and other risks as well, but those two were the ones that stood out to me. The good news is they told me that I would be able to hear 30% more from wherever my hearing level is on the chart. At this point, I am not on the chart at all, so I asked where that would put me on the chart, she showed me and my jaw just dropped!!!! I said, "You mean to tell me that I would be able to hear at this level, a level where I have never been even with my hearing aids on all these years?!!!!" She said, "Yes I know, isn't that incredible, we can't predict exactly what you will be able to hear, everyone is different as to what their ear allows them to hear, but it hits this amount at least." I just cannot even comprehend being able to hear at that level! So with mix feelings of the fact that I am not a big fan of surgery and I was just dreading this and not wanting to go through this and want alternatives to be able to hear again(which the doctor informed me that there are none, this is it!). So on the way home, I felt a tap on shoulder by my bright and beautiful 7, soon to be 8 year old daughter who informed me that the remote control to my hearing-aid-processor that I would have to wear would be cool and she can't wait to have fun with me on that! Then it dawned on me, I want to hear her laughing at that moment, so risking paralysis/loss of taste would be worth hearing her laugh again, to be able to hear the ocean again, to hear my newest baby coo in my arms, to be able to hear my rambunctious 4 year old boy run around screaming "awesome" again, to hear my hubby say the words, "I love you." So yes, I am going to get the cochlear implants, until God can completely restore my hearing in heaven, why not enjoy this gift here and enjoy my life again?!
"Hi all, I am sharing with you as a friend in hopes that you will join me in prayers! Just a year ago I was in a coffee shop crying happy tears that with my new hearing aids i could hear the harps play for the first time in my life. Just a year this past week, i find myself crying to find that i have lost all my hearing and now considered deaf! This has come in such a shock to me, so quickly and sudden. The doctors do not know why or how i lost my hearing, they have some theories but in all, my hearing will not come back. I thought this would happen, but at a much older age, not now among my thriving lifestyle as a mom and wife! Needless to say i have been grieving over this loss. Our hope right now is looking into cochlear implants, i meet with specialists in January to find out more. I remember as a little girl asking God to take my hearing away, He instead changed my heart, and now I ask Him of nothing but His will! I trust Him as I have and do with my life! Please pray for me as I struggle more so with no hearing with my children (bless them for their patience and help!), and being reminded daily of what I cannot hear. Rob and I are trusting Him because we have hope in Him! I love my husbands support, my children's love, and my all my friends prayers!"
So fast forward to yesterday, January 2012, I went to OSU to meet the specialists, after several hours of testing (never had so many different hearing tests), the specialist said that I qualify for cochlear implants. Now if you don't know what this all entails, here is a website that tells you more about this implantation in the skull/ear: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlear_implant
I was overwhelmed by the information of how much work this would require: coming in for 3-4 hour surgery, going home to recover and let swelling go down for 6 weeks, come back and then turn it on and hear, then come back every week for adjustments for the next six months. Then I was told there were lots of side effects such as paralysis of side of face, loss of taste (So I reasoned, OK: I can lose weight easily this way! Not a bad thing!), and other risks as well, but those two were the ones that stood out to me. The good news is they told me that I would be able to hear 30% more from wherever my hearing level is on the chart. At this point, I am not on the chart at all, so I asked where that would put me on the chart, she showed me and my jaw just dropped!!!! I said, "You mean to tell me that I would be able to hear at this level, a level where I have never been even with my hearing aids on all these years?!!!!" She said, "Yes I know, isn't that incredible, we can't predict exactly what you will be able to hear, everyone is different as to what their ear allows them to hear, but it hits this amount at least." I just cannot even comprehend being able to hear at that level! So with mix feelings of the fact that I am not a big fan of surgery and I was just dreading this and not wanting to go through this and want alternatives to be able to hear again(which the doctor informed me that there are none, this is it!). So on the way home, I felt a tap on shoulder by my bright and beautiful 7, soon to be 8 year old daughter who informed me that the remote control to my hearing-aid-processor that I would have to wear would be cool and she can't wait to have fun with me on that! Then it dawned on me, I want to hear her laughing at that moment, so risking paralysis/loss of taste would be worth hearing her laugh again, to be able to hear the ocean again, to hear my newest baby coo in my arms, to be able to hear my rambunctious 4 year old boy run around screaming "awesome" again, to hear my hubby say the words, "I love you." So yes, I am going to get the cochlear implants, until God can completely restore my hearing in heaven, why not enjoy this gift here and enjoy my life again?!
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