February 25, 2021 International Cochlear Implant Day

[Mary Beth]

Tomorrow is International Cochlear Implant Day.  I am so thankful for the amazing hearing my bilateral Med-El CIs give me everyday.  I know you are as well.

Let’s show @MED-EL Moderatorhow thankful we are by posting how our CIs have changed our lives.

 

 

[Mary Beth]

As we celebrate International Cochlear Implant Day, I find myself thinking back over my hearing journey.  It has been a wild ride.  I heard fine from birth until age 13.  Then I started with a progressive bilateral conductive hearing loss, which made everything sound quieter and quieter.  Next came a progressive mixed hearing loss, which had both a conductive loss making everything quieter and a sensorineural loss making everything distorted due to missing sounds.  After that came a series of failed ear surgeries trying to repair the conductive component in my right ear which ultimately led to the complete loss of hearing in my right ear.  So I spent the following 24 years hearing only with my left ear using stronger and stronger hearing aids as my loss progressed.  Until no hearing aid could help me hear well.  My life had become reliant on speech reading and having one on one conversations.  I was so tired by the end of every day.  I missed so much of what was said.  It was frustrating.  That was when I explored getting a cochlear implant in my right ear, which I had been calling my dead ear for decades.  And my life changed.  Initial static and beeps turned into real words and everyday I heard more and more.  I loved training my brain to interpret the sounds delivered by my cochlear implant.  I woke up every morning excited to put my processor on and experience new WOW moments.  The CI journey was life changing.  Eight months later we implanted my left ear and hearing with two balanced ears is terrific!  A lot of people helped me on my CI journey and I am thankful for everyone’s support and encouragement.  A special thank you to: my two CI surgeons;  my amazing audiologist who has guided my journey with such dedication, skill and care; Med-El who made my cochlear implants, introduced me to so many wonderful people and gave me an incredible experience in Innsbruck; and all of the people I have met online and in person who share their CI journeys so openly.  My deepest thanks go to Jill who has made my CI journey, as well as my life, the greatest gift of all.  Happy International CI Day to all!
 

Thank you @MED-EL Moderator

[Joan]

Happy International Cochlear Implant Day!!  I am so very grateful to Med-El for enhancing my life in ways I never dreamed possible, for making it possible for me to hear so much better in my 70s than I ever did even as a preschooler. I was born hearing but with some hearing loss. The loss was progressive. I finally began wearing hearing aids in my late teens (stubbornly refusing to do so until then) and by my late 30s could not hear at all without them. Over the next 30+ years, my hearing aids needed more and more power; however, my ability to understand what I was hearing continued to significantly decline. Ultimately, this was the cause of my early retirement at age 60. The stress of struggling to understand all that was necessary to perform my duties was just too overwhelming and utterly exhausting. In retrospect, I wish it had not taken me another 12 years to decide to be evaluated for a cochlear implant. But, in fact, it did. At age 72 I received my first implant and, six months later, my second. I had bilateral hearing and it was awesome!
What an incredible new lease on life I received with those implants! One of my greatest joys is the second chance I received as a grandparent. Two of my grandchildren were already teenagers by the time I was implanted, and I had struggled mightily to converse with them as they grew up. Then, as luck would have it, I was blessed with an infant grandchild who celebrated her first birthday one week before my first implant. She and I have conversed nonstop since she said her first words! 
Not a day goes by that I don’t appreciate the gift of exceptional hearing I have received from Med-El. I am forever grateful to my family for all their loving support of me, both during my many, many years of struggling to hear and understand, and, more recently, during my incredible hearing journey.
My thanks to Med-El and my clinic for providing this unbelievable journey is beyond measure!
 

 

[Mary Beth]

Great post @Joan!

[Joan]

Thanks, @Mary Beth! 

[Mrs T7]

I’m so late in this post, but I figured it’s okay to be late then nothing at all. 
 

I am still very new to the CI world. But I feel the awesomeness that is coming. I have told my dr I want the second one done ASAP. I had my 2nd adjustment last week which made it a huge positive from the week before (1st week getting “plugged in”). I can actually hear my youngest child’s voice for once. Almost 4 years of her life and I couldn’t hear her. It’s been quite a journey but I still have a ways to go. I know it’s all going to be positive and well. Just the little things I can hear make me smile. 
 

I was severely hard of hearing growing up to the point audiologist were denying to sell me hearing aides (12+ years ago) so I just made the hearing aides I had, just be good enough (which weren’t). After months and months (maybe 2 years) of researching on CI’s, I made a self referral to the dr that did mine. Took about 5 months before I could finally get it done. I am happy now and like Mary said, I am excited to put my processor on when I wake up. 
 

MedEl has been nothing but amazing. Products, education, customer support and this platform. I am truly grateful for it all and absolutely excited to be here for this support and journey on the new life.