HearPeers Heroes Mary Beth Posted June 15, 2021 HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted June 15, 2021 The other week I was invited to join a podcast about why I chose cochlear implants and why I chose Med-El for the website cochlearimplantbasics hosted by Richard Pocker. Here is a link to my interview if you are interested. There is a transcript as well. https://cochlearimplantbasics.com When were you ready for a CI and why did you choose Med-El? MED-EL Moderator 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilary Beaumont Brown Posted June 18, 2021 Report Share Posted June 18, 2021 For me it took quite awhile. My loss probably started in early elementary but went missed and slowly progressed until I was identified with moderate severe progressive loss at 18. By 30 it was profound in basically the whole speech banana with some residual lows. I got to the point where my old hearing aids were giving me so little I couldn't tell the difference between having them on or not. 0% word recognition with them. My aud said we could TRY a stronger pair and get an FM and see if that helped but it was SO much money and she wasn't confident it would help much esp as my loss was still progressing. So I decided to at least see if I was a candidate for CI. I was quite reluctant if I am honest. While I waited I was having to rely on lipreading and a body worn FM system which ate AA batteries and required 2 in each transmitter and receiver. My Dad had a stroke and in hospital I had to rely on a social worker to take notes for me at all medical team meetings as I couldn't keep up. It was infuriating to me as the oldest, the most medically minded to be apart from these end of life discussions. I decided I needed to be able to better communicate as I need to advocate for myself, my kids (5, including 3 who have inherited my progressive loss), my Mom. It wasn't the answer I wanted but it was the one I needed and I came to a point of accepting that. My clinic only offered Med El and Cochlear America. Considering I had residual lows remaining my aud steered me toward Med El. I cannot even explain how incredible my hearing is now and how they have empowered me to advocate for those I love. Mary Beth 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes Mary Beth Posted June 18, 2021 Author HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted June 18, 2021 @Hilary Beaumont Brown The journey to CIs is a tough ride for most of us. Like you, I am so thankful of this gift of hearing with CIs. Thanks for sharing your story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John F Posted June 21, 2021 Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 This is long winded, I lack coffee in system to decipher how to condense this so… My Audiologist told me 5 or so years ago she believed one ear was more than a candidate. Bear in mind, I actually hadn’t even worn my HAs for a good 10 years due to various reasons, main being they were pricey and I couldn’t afford them. So I needed to get used to HAs again (didn’t take long) before I jumped into surgical solutions. Then in December of 2020 we had reconnected. I needed new HA since pups had sorta chewed up my ear mold. I was only wearing one HA in the good ear since it was all but useless for the other. Met in January, she asked to run a couple additional tests which I agreed to. And found the hearing loss to be worse than the bad it was previously, to the point she sat me in a bigger office and point blank said I was a prime candidate and felt I’d benefit immensely with a CI in that ear especially as a musician. So, she gave me all the literature for each brand and decided to have an official CI eval appt a couple weeks later where I technically failed the listening portion of the tests due to guessing. Had to redo that one a few weeks later. Even with the guessimating I was at like, 38% word recognition. Official result was mucho lower which put me well below the required threshold for a CI. Still wasn’t sold on the idea. Then Audi, as well as a few friends pointed out that I had nowhere to go with hearing than up and nothing to lose getting it done. Fast forward, another appt to pick the brand. I ruled out AB immediately. We talked about the other two, mostly me talking things out while Audi corrected or supported what my train of thought was. Cochlear was in the lead but then MedEl took the lead at the last minute when we discussed the music side of the two brands and MedEl had a musicologist on staff. That sealed the deal to go with MedEl and now I’ll be activated in about ~6 hours. Mary Beth and Kylie 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes Mary Beth Posted June 21, 2021 Author HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted June 21, 2021 Thank you for sharing @John F. Wishing you the best at activation! John F 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes Kylie Posted June 23, 2021 HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted June 23, 2021 For me as suddenly deaf from illness, I was in a different position than a gradual loss. They told me I could either stay deaf or go for the CI - nothing else was recommended for my particular ear. So I was all in immediately! Got them to out me on the waiting list, read everything I could in the meantime including this forum, and waited impatiently until it was my turn. 12 months later I was all done and never regretted it for a second, even those first few tough days. I was hearing something which was clearly going to be better than the nothing I had for that 1 miserable year. John F and Mary Beth 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lauren Posted June 23, 2021 Report Share Posted June 23, 2021 After about 25 years of HAs and another loss of residual hearing that made continuing with HAs pointless. My hearing loss was identified by an elementary school nurse when I was about 6. I'd had a lot of developmental delays and was a sickly kid that had always just copied what the other kids were doing so there's no way to know when exactly the hearing loss happened. It was sudden though, not born with it. I didn't exactly take it well (depression involved) and didn't want to do anything about it. Including a 10 year period where HAs were worn only minimally. After that I got dialed into HAs and did better. 15 years and 4 HA pairs later, things didn't sound too clear anymore and went to the audi in March for testing/evaluation to see about qualifying for CIs and if it was right for me. I did and they were. Funny enough I went to that first appointment practically waving Cochlear America's flag; audi told me to "pump the brakes" (direct quote) and really consider everything, to include all three companies approved for the US. AB was rejected immediately so it was between Cochlear and Med-El. In no way did my audi influence me, but simply asked that I look into Med-El the same as I'd done with Cochlear before next week's appointment. I did a deep dive into Med-El and liked what I was finding so got a 1:1 with a rep. In the span of a few days and I was all-in for Med-El. At the second appointment I finished the audi required testing, made the packet selection, and had my referral sent to the ENT surgeon. Oh yeah, and signed up for HearPeers 😀 (just didn't utilize until about a week before surgery). June 17 was the surgery date and June 25 is activation day. Both a long (25 years) and short (March 19-June 25) road to my CI journey. Or at least the start of it. Mary Beth and Kylie 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HearPeers Heroes Mary Beth Posted June 23, 2021 Author HearPeers Heroes Report Share Posted June 23, 2021 @Lauren Thanks for sharing your story. Wishing you the best at activation and I look forward to following your CI journey. @Kylie Your story always makes me smile. I love your attitude. Smile Kylie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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