Setting a Date

[Emily C.]

Whew...  freaking finally finally yaaay!  Yes, yes I know the 'big insurance machine' can be tricky or difficult, but when my surgeon's secretary said she was handling my claim for me and it would take "about three weeks", I went from finally being at ease with decision and looking forward to doing it, to getting a little worried/impatient/nervously hopeful/etc once I hit the four-week mark of waiting!  I guess I was hoping to have the quiet summer to work on it!

Finally, at about four and half weeks, insurance came through, and they are covering it.   

So now, uh, I run into a slightly different bit of silly indecisiveness!  Thanks to how long that took, the dates available are running into August.  Which wouldn't be a big deal, except I work retail, and we always get super busy leading up to back-to-school (which starts August 27th, here).  So I'm trying to chart it out in my head, with the idea that I'll be off the week it happens, "half-deaf" for the week after that, activated the week after that, (roughly speaking, I guess, depending on audi availability), then first mapping two weeks after that.  Which means, if the current dates available are the 8th, 15th, 22nd, or 29th, some of those will have a week that falls during back-to-school or right before, where I'm at the half-deaf or freshly-turned-on point.  Am I overthinking it, or would that be a bit much to deal with while trying to keep up with everything?  Maybe I should wait til after that busy weekend is over and do it on the 29th.

My gut is saying that sounds like a nice idea, to be able to focus and relax better, although my audi (who is great, but very vague since she doesn't want to 'decide for me'), said to "do whatever I feel comfortable with" and that it might be a good idea to instantly "expose myself to all the sounds in my environment".  Well, sure, but there's a difference between newly hearing at a normal workday, and a crazy week filled with students needing stuff.  Plus, I have no idea what it'll be like for me, although if it helps, I'm not going from complete deafness to suddenly processing an implant-  just very hard-of-hearing, which I suspect will help with the learning curve.  What do you guys think? 

[Mary Beth]

Hi @Emily C.

Whichever surgery date you pick, I wish you the best.  Everyone’s CI listening journey is unique so there is no way to know when listening to certain things or in certain environments will be comfortable.  

 

I jumped right in when a surgical space opened up.

 

Which processor did you select?

[Emily C.]

Hey @Mary Beth.....

Thanks.  I knowwwwww...!  ;D   Ack... I wanted to just impatiently grab the first one, but then I started getting stuck (overthinking?) on having patience for a couple more weeks past that, in order to pick a date away from crazy back-to-school week where I'll be running around trying to hear what everyone needs.  Will it help to have a 'better ear' during then, or will it just be more frustrating trying to hear everyone differently?  You know?  Because can't really predict.  Just wondered how other people were, or if their instinct would be similar to mine, knowing what they now know.

Ack... and I'm not sure of that part, either!  ;D   Ha... I asked my doctor about details once, with how to know which of the particular versions of implant I should get, to specify for insurance, and... now I forget where all that email conversation ended up going, because we never sat down and discussed that... I think the gist was that he said they'll submit the generalities and we'll talk about which one to get when I meet him?   Now I'm going to go write him a long email about that....  :/