Denver Trip #1

Got up at about 8:30 in the morning yesterday, and rushed around to make sure I had everything I needed packed for the first trip to Denver of the week.  Drove out to the vet to drop  off my dog for boarding, then drove over to my mom's.  We loaded up our stuff into my stepdad's truck, and we took off (after making three stops before we got on the highway). Did a stop at a gas station in Cheyenne, and continued on our way.  I pulled out my laptop and watched Flubber (the Robin Williams version), using my FM system to listen to it.  Was nice!  We arrived to Denver before the movie was over, but with the traffic and such on the highway, I was able to finish watching it before we got to the Colorado Rockies stadium.  Stepdad bought 3 tickets to the Rockies game for himself, his son and grandson (boys' afternoon out at a ball game).  Got to the hotel and got all checked in.  Drove around quite a bit, hit up a Macy's so stepdad could do some clearance shopping.  Then we went to the hair salon stepdad's sister works at.  While mom was getting her hair cut, stepdad, his niece, and I walked around a bit and ended up at Wizard's Chest.  I had never even heard of Wizard's Chest.  It's a neat store full of a variety of toys/games/gadgets.  Headed back to the salon, hung out until mom was done getting her hair done.  We all went to dinner at Patxi's Pizza, which was pretty good.  Back to the salon so stepdad could get his hair cut, then we headed back to the hotel for the night.

Melody and I are ready to go!

watching Flubber on my laptop

Melody's just chilling

Colorado Rockies vehicles on display

checked in at the hotel

The Wizard's Chest!

giant lady bugs in trees in the Cherry Creek area

Today, mom got me up bright and early, of course!  Stepdad and I grabbed some breakfast from the continental breakfast set up in the hotel lobby, then headed out to Swedish Hospital for my appointment with the CI audiologist.  Mom and I went in while stepdad went to get some stuff for the flower mart.  I checked in, and receptionist mentioned that my appointment wasn't until Monday.  I had to tell her I was seeing the audiologist.  Short wait, then I was led to a sound booth.  Audie did some quick testing.  Hearing aid alone, CI alone, then both devices off but tested with the headphones on.  I failed!  I got a few words and one full sentence with the hearing aid; few words with the CI but none of the sentences, and listened for the beeps/tones.  Then the audie went and got my mom so we could talk, and she could do some counseling.  She said I qualify for the second implant, since I did poorly with the left implant.  Should be no problem with Medicare covering the second implant.  She talked of the Naida and the Mid-Scala array which can help preserve residual hearing of the implanted ear (though it's not always the case).  Mom had some concerns of my going bilateral and the implant destroy what little hearing I have left, which is understandable.  Audie said I should do much better with the implant in the right ear, since I've worn a hearing aid on that ear since shortly after becoming deaf and having usable hearing (whereas with the left ear, it was a dead ear, no usable hearing, didn't wear a hearing aid since 4th grade, etc.) so doing the left ear was a big gamble.   But with the right ear being implanted, we should see improved results more quickly.  She also recommended that I get 2 Naidas, instead of one Naida and one Neptune.. I was already considering getting two Naidas myself, it just makes the most sense.  I would put a Naida on my left ear, one the right, and be able to take advantage of the newer features and bilateral features of two Naidas.  My thinking is that I would have the current Neptune that I have programmed to be a back up for the right ear, and leave the Harmony as is for the left.  Just have to decide which color, battery types, and accessories (which I will get all figured out at a later date).

in the sound booth!

being tested

After that, we were on our way.  Mom and I chatted some more about all this while we waited for stepdad to come pick us up.  After being picked up, we hit up Hobby Lobby, then we hit the road (after navigating traffic jams due to road work and all that insanity!).  Ended up in Loveland and had burgers at Red Robin (I had a crispy chicken sandwich instead), and roamed the promenade.  Mom and I went into Barnes & Nobel while Rob went over to Macy's to check out their clearance racks.  She and I also hit up Famous Footwear before meeting with Rob.  Headed over to the Outlet Mall... Rob hit up the Tommy Hilfiger store, mom and I went to Dress Barn and Rocky Mountain Chocolate.  Then back on the road again! We stopped in Wheatland to gas up and grab a quick bite from Taco John's, and kept going until we made it home.

bought a Stephen King book!

hanging out at the Dress Barn, waiting for mom.

corn fields!

uh, there's a buffalo on the hill...

Yay!  Denver trip #1 is done!  Home for a couple of days, then we take off again Sunday morning for Denver, for appointment #2, to meet with the surgeon and take it from there.  I would like to get the second implant done this coming fall, before November if possible (mom and stepdad both have November birthdays, and with holidays coming up meaning busy schedule for stepdad at the flower mart, and winter = icky winter weather for driving so best to avoid that...) I don't know, we'll see.  Let's at least meet with the surgeon and we'll take it from there.

Just nuts... to go all the way down to Denver for a short audiologist appointment...  But surgeon is out this week, and audie isn't on office on Monday, so there was just no way to get both appointments done in one day (like was originally planned).  ah well, things happen.

Busy weekend!

Whew, I had a busy weekend, for sure!  Saturday, I waited for my stepdad and stepbro (and mom and nephew) to go out to my sister's to get the stove that has been sitting in her garage for most of the summer... Sis and her husband got new appliance for their kitchen in their new house, and since I've been wanting a flat-top stove, they kept the old one for me.  I did check with the landlord to make sure it was ok to do a switch (hey, they're getting the stove that was in my apartment back to have on hand for another unit that is in need of a functioning stove, and a bonus free stove in my unit!).  All good and dandy.  Finally was able to do the swap on Saturday. 


After everyone left, I started packing up some stuff while still debating on whether or not I should bring my dog out to Alcova Lake.  In the end, I left Bryan at home in his crate.  I grabbed the package of unopened Keebler's cookies, an unopened box of crackers, my video camera, a towel, sunscreen, the AquaMic for my Neptune, etc... and set out.  I actually just got onto Wyoming Blvd. when I realized I left my phone, so of course I went back and got my phone, then for sure set out to the lake.  About an hour's drive, but not bad.  Made my way to Okie Beach, and drove around slowly until I found the group of deaf folks that were already there.  A family were camping and wanted to do a pot-luck with anyone who wanted to come out.  We ate, chatted, hung out.  Some left early.  A few of us went out on the boat.  Before walking over to where the boat was docked, I switched from the T-comm/standard headpiece to the AquaMic, and stuck my iPhone in a plastic waterproof casing/bag that I bought, and off I went.  The boat ride was fun.  Got splashed on a bit, no big deal.  Got some pictures and a few short videos with the iPhone.  Enjoyed listening to the sounds of the boat, and the waves hitting the boat.  Those were some new sounds for me.  After boating for a while, we returned to dock, and everyone pretty much started packing up, ready to leave.  Wish I could have made it out to the lake a bit earlier but oh well.  It was still a good time!

Made the drive back into town, and decided to swing by downtown and check out the balloon fest that was going on.  Part of a street downtown were blocked off, and there were several hot air balloon baskets lining the street.  People were able to go to the baskets (or even get in) for photo ops, chatting with the balloon person, and pulling the trigger for the fire.  Every time a fire blast went off, I jumped.  It was loud!  Oh man!  But it was interesting to roam around for a bit and hanging out. Even ran into my mom, stepdad, and others in the family, so that was fun!

Yesterday, I finally hit up one of the pools at the apartment I live at.  The one closest to my apartment still isn't open/ready, not sure why.  But the other pool was open, so I walked over to it.  I enjoyed the swim with the Neptune on, just floating, listening to the water, the breeze/wind, etc.  One girl, who was swimming with her family, asked if I was listening to music.  I told her my device was to help me hear.  She was cool with it and went back to swimming with her family.  Was a really nice day for a swim!

 Of course, at random times, I would hear this clicking sound, coming from the Aquamic.  I remember other AB users mentioning this online, and that shaking the water out of the AquaMic helped for a bit.  So I shook water out of the Aquamic and it would be fine again, until the next time I went under water, then it'd do it again.  When I went back inside my apartent, I dismantled the Neptune, removed the battery, and put the naked Neptune and the Aquamic into the Dry n Store for drying.



Also, one of my appointments set for August ended up being rescheduled.  Turns out the surgeon is out of office the whole week of August 21.  Nice.  Made it work out so we'll stay in Denver an extra night, and I'll see the surgeon in the morning of August 25th.  Just really awkward timing, as first day of college classes is Aug. 25.  Not a big deal, I can work around it.  Two classes are strictly online, math is mostly online but with on campus class sessions (I will email the math instructor to give him a head's up), and the ASL class doesn't start until Tuesday, Aug. 26.  So I should be ok.  I'll have my laptop with me while we're in Denver so I can check in online and such.

Neptune Swim!

I hit up the Aquatic Center to go for a swim today!  And I took the Neptune,  obviously!  First time I've got to swim with the Neptune, finally!  It was fun.  I felt kind of odd, being by myself... but oh well!  I enjoyed listening to the pool environment, the water, and even hummed and snapped my fingers under water.  I also went down one of the water slides (the winding curling one, whoooo!!!)... of course as soon as I hit the pool, the AquaMic came off my head.  No big, I put it back on and kept on swimming and hanging out.  Excellent way to spend the first day of summer!

Last night, I started getting this crazy idea of videoing my pool adventures with the Neptune.  But alas, I don't have anything that would keep my iphone or camera safe... I did order some waterproof cases from Amazon, so maybe next time!  And next time, I shall perhaps kidnap a nephew or someone for even more fun at the pool!  :)
BIG Thanks to Advanced Bionics for the wonderful waterproof Neptune!  I love it!

Busy few days

Been a busy few days!  WYHI last Friday was a lot of fun.  Sure was fun seeing all the kids skating at the roller skating rink.  Some were just learning how to skate and needed some help, while others skated flawlessly with no problems.  Sure had a great time chatting with some of my former teachers and interpreters, and other folks who are in the deaf education field.  The open-captioned movie showing of Rio 2 was fun as well.  A very cute movie, I liked it.  Friday was definitely a great day!  By the time I got to work after WYHI, I was tired, and worn out when I got home.  So tired that I really shouldn't have been messing with kitchen appliances... uh, oops, made a mess out of my cherry smoothie with the small Ninja blender. 

Saturday, there was Deaf Ice Cream social at the Dairy Queen.  Many ASL students showed up to practice their ASL skills with the local deaf community.  I always like to go to the DQ socials, enjoying ice cream and socializing.  Well, actually, I like going to any of the deaf socials going on.  Just getting out and socializing with the deaf community is always fun!  And eating out is always a bonus for me.

This morning, I saw my CI audiologist and had my CI processors adjusted.  Audie and I talked for a few minutes, so she could find out how I was doing with my CI, volume levels, etc.  Ended up bringing down the volume in general a bit, so that I can get off the 8 o'clock position with the volume wheel (now I'm at about 9 or 10 o'clock position) and still have the option to turn down the volume if needed for noisy situations.  The higher frequencies were also brought up some more.  The first year with the CI, I just could not tolerate the high frequencies at all; it was just too much and overwhelming.  But over the last year/year and a half, the audie has been slowly increasing the higher frequency levels a bit at a time, so that I could get used to them.  Hopefully now I should be able to hear emergency vehicles from a bit of a distance instead of being extremely quiet while right next to my car.  My hearing with the CI was also briefly tested in the sound booth (beeps/tones) and apparently I did pretty well with that. 
When I go home, I'm also to switch over to my brand new never opened T-Mic, just to see if I get better clarity or if the original T-Mic (which I've been using for 2 years now) is still clear enough.  If everything sounds the same between new and old T-Mics, then I'll keep on using the old one and keeping the new one for back-up/replacement for when one of my older T-Mics (I have two, one on the Harmony and one with the T-Com for the Neptune) finally bites the dust.  My mom came to my appointment this morning, since it's been a while.  She didn't really know what was going on though.  She's not quite familiar with the process of programming the CI, the different programs and options available, etc.  Was still nice that she could come though!
Anyway, both Harmony and Neptune are the same again basically.  Same programs.  P1 is the old P2 on the Harmony, P2 has the adjusted volume settings and higher frequency level gains, and P3 is the same as P2 but with Optima added on.

Set for Fall Semester!

I am all registered for the fall semester at the college!  Will be re-taking PreCalc, this time the redesign course with the instructor I had for Elementary and Intermediate Algebra (also redesign courses).  Let's hope I do better and get a better grade for Radiography.  Looks like I'm shooting for Radiography again next year.  Also registered for ASL 2, General Psychology (online), and a PE course.  Should be fun times, right?  Yeah!  I went to the college's Health Science Center on Tuesday after work to register for a time slot for advising day, only to find out advising day was the following day!  Whoa....  So I got to see my advisor yesterday, and discussed a little bit about the math (she knows I was having trouble and worried about the grade) and that sort of thing.  Will have to remember I still need a Computer Science credit as part of the college's general requirements for graduation, so I'll take that class Spring 2015 (and any other filler classes to take while waiting to reapply for Radiography and keep the full-time college course load going).

Been kind of a busy week, with all the running around I've been doing it seems.  Had to take my dog up to the vet today for a quick blood test, see where his bromide levels are at and if there's anything else that's since popped up for whatever reason.  Was told the test takes about 15 minutes, but I still haven't gotten an email from the vet yet.... Will give it a bit more time.  In the mean time, sent off the dog's prescription for more bromide potassium from 1800petmeds.com.

My ASL instructor is also interested in having her dog trained, so we might take the same dog training classes this summer if it works out.  That should be fun!  If it works out, I'll have someone that I know, and she could possibly even interpret for me a bit at times if needed.  Either way, it'll be fun.

Tomorrow is WYHI, yay!  Should be fun to see all the deaf and hard of hearing students from all over the state coming together for a day of fun!  Roller skating, open caption movie showing.  Should definitely be a lot of fun.  I've always loved going to WYHI, and being able to interact with other students with a variety of hearing loss levels as a kid myself.  Great opportunity for students to make new friends, connect with old friends, socialize, and just be themselves.  I've been to plenty of interesting WYHI's myself while growing up..  A Deaf Russian theater group came one time, and showed us some of their Russian signs, which was neat.  Deaf magician, a Deaf theater group from the U.S., Billy Seago was a guest and showed the kids how to be expressive and interactive with their signs, etc.  WYHI is now only held once per school year, whereas when I was in school myself, it was twice a year (once in fall, and one in spring).  There were 2 or 3 WYHI's that were done via webcams from different base locations (I think 5 or 6 locations), and that was interesting as well.  Kids got to learn more of the technology and resources available to communicate with others via webcams and such.  I may no longer be a K-12 student, but I still enjoy going to WYHI, sometimes to help out, but mostly to socialize and have fun.

Now, regarding Optima and my Neptune... I think I know why Optima didn't work all this time.  I had Neptune on Program 1, which does not have Optima added to it.  I am always getting Programs 1 and 3 mixed up!  I'm on Program 2, and put in a fresh battery yesterday at about 10:15 a.m., and it's still going today.  How much longer will it last, I wonder?  With a non-Optima program, an AAA battery lasts me about 14-16 hours.  D'oh!  Don't know why I didn't realize I was still using an old program on the Neptune and not P2 or P3.  P3 is too loud, so I'll stick with P2.



Also, today is World Meningitis Awareness Day.  I was 2 when I had HIB meningitis in November of 1987.  That was what caused my deafness.  No one should ever have to suffer from this horrible illness.  Vaccinations are available to prevent most strains.  Be educated and proactive in preventing meningitis, if possible! Visit Meningitis Angels and the Meningitis Foundation of America websites for more information on the different types of meningitis, and of the vaccinations that are available.

Another semester down

Got through another semester of college!  A in intermediate algebra, B in human anatomy, government, and English comp 1010.  Whew!  Also got the first half of the radiology observation done in December as well (second half will be in a couple of weeks).  Observing the radiology department at the hospital was interesting.  I had my FM with me, wore the Neptune with the FM receiver plugged in and all that.  I kept the transmitter on me, and just followed the instructor around, doing my best to follow what he was saying, and what others in the department were saying as well.  Got to observe an ultrasound being done on a gentleman's arm (checking for blood clots), a CT scan of another person, a couple of different type of X-rays.  Instructor asked if I wanted to observe an MRI and I had to decline, due to the cochlear implant.  I emailed Advanced Bionics later and they confirmed that I cannot be in an MRI area at all with my CI (I also forwarded their response to the head of radiography program at the college as well, so she knows I cannot include an MRI observation on my application).  All the information I was told, it was all kind of overwhelming. Whew.  But I got through the morning. 

Got through the holidays, which had its crazy moments.  Christmas Eve with all families over at my mom and stepdad's house was nuts.  A FULL house, with kids running amuck.  It was all fun though.  Sis and I exchanged stockings (yay we did our sister stocking exchange!), and funny enough, we both got each other the wooden peg games, which was hilarious.  We definitely know each other well haha.

my dog enjoying the snow

a video project I worked on between Thanksgiving and Christmas

bunch of tapes to go through, whew. Ended up with 3 sets of 8 DVDs for 3 members of the family.

some cookies I made

my new toy.  Decided I wanted to get back to videoing stuff again.

Am registered for the Spring 2014 semester.  Let's see if I remember what classes I signed up for... oh yeah.
Pre-Calc Algebra (online); English Comp 1020 (online); Human Physiology (online), BLS for Healthcare/CPR (on campus); ASL 1 (on campus, evening class).  English and human physiology I need to take in general to graduate from the college, ASL will fulfill my culture credit (and it couldn't hurt to try to improve my ASL skills, I'm rusty and still have trouble converting English language structure to ASL language structure).  Will still need to take PE, Psychology, and maybe another class or two just to graduate from the college in general.  Deadlines for applying for the Radiography program is Feb. 15, and hopefully my midterm grades will be good enough.  The CPR class is done with (originally I signed up to take it Feb. 22, which is after the application deadline, and then decided I should take an earlier class if possible, so I signed up for yesterday morning's class instead!).

Did the CPR class yesterday.  Got through it just fine.  No interpreter, no captioning.  I didn't request any accommodations for any of my classes this semester.  ASL I'll be fine, no problem.  And the instructor and I know each other so we'll get along just fine.  CPR, I've taken CPR a couple of times before so I had an idea of how it's done (there were some changes since the last time I took CPR, but no big).  I did buy the book for the CPR class, reviewed it the night before.  We watched a video in class, it wasn't captioned but it had random bits of text here and there.  I used my FM, and I got through the class just fine.  The video showed how to do the CPR on adult, kid, and infant, then the students each got to practice on the manikins.  Not a problem! 

College classes don't start up again until after MLK day, so I still have some time to enjoy a break from school.  Of course, I'm still working in the afternoons, and hanging out here and there.  Will possibly start getting my textbooks needed for classes soon enough, will call Vocational Rehab one day to make sure the paperwork/vouchers have been sent to the college and that sort of thing.  Will also be receiving the Pell Grant again, which will help with paying for books as V.R. doesn't cover all of my book costs (they have limited expenses).

I did also get my Neptune back from the audie, yippie!  Not sure Optima is actually installed on it.  Audie said she added it, but I haven't noticed any improvements in battery life.  Wondering if something went wrong somewhere.  Oh well, she'll be back up here in town in April so we can figure it out then.

I bought a few of the Little Critter interactive books on my iPad... I can listen to the stories, interact with them, and just enjoy them.  Have gone through about half of them already with just the CI alone.  I know, little kid books.  But, oh how I remember reading some of them as a kid!  And it's good auditory practice for me as well.  Have slowly been making my way through the audio of The Little Mermaid as well (free classic book I downloaded from the iTunes app store on my ipad ages ago).  I'm trying to get more audio book listening in, trying to do some actual rehab with just the CI alone.  Oftentimes I go to work with just the CI on, the hearing aid is turned off.



Oh yeah, I made a jack o lantern with CI's for Halloween.  Thought it'd be fun, hehe!

I keep adding to my skeletons family each year it seems.

Geez, I sure do ramble on don't I?  Of course, this does tend to happen when I don't blog for quite a while. Oops!  I shall try to update my blog a bit more often, but we'll see if that actually happens.  I may start blogging about random stuff every now and then.

saw the Wizard of CI's!

Saw the Wizard of CI's (audiologist) today!  I was really hoping to get Advanced Bionic's new Optima programming loaded up onto my processors. No such luck, the laptop the audie brought with her is old, and has the older software on it.  But she is taking my Neptune with her so she can load Optima onto it when she gets back to her office in Denver, and then send it to me. She tested 3 of the electrodes (3, 9, and 15) to make sure the Harmony is programmed in the right spots.  Brought up the middle frequencies a bit more, and voila!  Program 1 is Hi-Res P which is what I had on Program 2; Program 2 is now Hi-Res P with the adjustments, and Program 3 is Hi-Res S with the adjustments as well.  She also tested me real quick in the sound booth.  When the tones were being played, at times I wasn't sure if I was actually hearing the tones with the implant, or if it was the tinnitus in the right ear. Augh!  Tinnitus, why must you be so confusing?!  She also said a few phrases while I was in the booth with just my CI on.  A couple she had to repeat but I was able to repeat them all back to her.  She's still amazed with my progress. She was telling me she really didn't think I'd be able to understand speech with the implant, considering how long the left ear was DEAF for, and the fact I had meningitis which did cause some ossification.  I'm pretty much in awe of my progress too!

I was also able to sit in while a teenager had her CI remapped as well.  She has a Cochlear device, and I've been curious of how other CI brands were programmed.  Very interesting to see the differences in programming options/softwares.  While the audiologist was going through each electrode, the teen had to count the beeps and report to the audiologist how many beeps she heard so the audie could make some adjustments if necessary.  I don't have to do that with AB, and audie says those with MedEl don't have to count the beeps either.  The softwares for AB and MedEl just automatically measures the responses and records them, but Cochlear's doesn't?  I'm not too sure, I missed bits here and there.  Still interesting anyway.  Now, who has a MedEl implant so I can sit in on one of their sessions so I can see how things are done? Ha, kidding.


Anyhoo...  Oh yeah!  I ordered some skins from SkinIt for my processors last month!  I ordered a couple for the Harmony, and one for the Neptune.  Found a 40% discount code online so got 40% off on each skin ordered, which was nice.  Took a while to check out all the different patterns and designs available on the site, but I finally narrowed them down to the three I chose.  You could also add in your own custom graphics/colors/designs/patterns too instead of choosing one already available.  Pretty neat!

Harmony!

Neptune!

the layout of the skins. definitely many more pieces just for the Neptune (including both the controller, and the waterproof cap).

No Neptune swim

Headed off for my trip and made it to Yankton, SD with my grandparents and aunt on Thursday evening. Granda, Aunt B and I decided to go down to the pool at the hotel, so I took myAB travel case out of my pack pack so I would waterproof the Neptune. The battery had just died too so I was needing a fresh battery. I searched through the entire case and realized jaws missing something... An important piece that makes the Neptune waterproof after removing the Control.... A cover cap! Oh no! How didi manage that?! I was so looking forward to experiencing the sounds of the pool with the Neptune.  I'm fairly certain it's still in the Neptune case that I left at home.

I ended up deciding I wanted to bring both processors for the trip, so I redid the packing of my implant processors. I packed the Harmony in the Harmony dry case and put that into the AB travel case. I stored 7 or 8 extra AAA in the Little Things wallet thingy, and that went in the travel case. The AquaMic and spare UHP was packed into the travel case. But somehow, I forgot to take the waterproof cover out of Neptune case, so that got left behind. Dang!

I had considered calling AB to see if they would overnight a cover cap for me. Ha ha.  I didn't.  I'll just have to take my nephew swimming when I get back home and give the Neptune a try then.  The quest for swimming with the Neptune has been delayed.

Getting ready for vacation

Next week I will be heading out for a short vacation to another state, which should be fun!  I have a cousin that is getting married, so that is where I am headed.  The hotel has a pool, which has me excited. Hopefully I'll have some free time so I can take the Neptune processor for a swim.  I have really been wanting to try the Neptune in a pool setting, but haven't had the opportunity to do so. So hopefully I'll get the chance next week.  I haven't gone swimming in such a long time.  I basically have quit swimming because I hated having to take my hearing aid off and not being able to hear what's going on.  Last time I swam, I think it was when I did the brief swim test in high school, and haven't been in a pool since then. That's a long time.  But now that I have the Neptune, I really ought to start going to the Aquatic Center or the Y and go for a swim.  My mom has been checking into taking swim lessons and I'd like to take them with her.  Having the Neptune would definitely be very useful and helpful during the lessons.

Am also debating on whether I should just take the Neptune, or both processors?  Seems to make more sense to just bring the Neptune, as I'll also be bringing my FM with me so I can listen to music during the trip, and that sort of thing.  Bringing both processors, I'd have to bring both cases, both sets of batteries, etc., I think I would just go crazy trying to keep track of everything!  Yeah, think I may just do the Neptune alone, and make sure to pack plenty of AAA batteries.


I also have a new earmold in the make as well.  Finally saw my hearing aid audie last week to get the earmold impression made.  I have requested a red cat-eye design for it, so we'll see how it turns out when Westone sends it back to the audie's office.  I probably won't get the earmold before I head out, which would be a bummer, but that's ok.  At least I'll have a new earmold at some point!

Got the CI tweaked!

Had my MAPping appointment today, and it went well!  Audie did the same test with my CI that she did when I was still in the OR, testing the nerve response.  She said each response looked beautiful and was very happy with it.  Then we got to making new MAPs.  P1 is the old program (60 IDR, HiRes-P), P2 is the new one (70 IDR, HiRes-P), and P3 is 70 IDR, HiRes-S.  This way I can experiment between HiRes P and S and see which one I like, and see how I tolerate the IDR 70.  So far I'm tolerating it, and have switched between P2 and P3 just for experiment's sake.  Tomorrow night's ASL Silent Dinner at On The Border should be a good place for me to experiment with the different programs, as well as the bowling alley this coming Saturday for deaf social and so on.  I didn't need more volume; been using the same volume level since October basically.  So now we can focus on trying different things, see which programming works best, that sort of thing.  She brought up all of the frequency levels a bit, and the very last one was brought up quite a bit as I was able to tolerate better today. 

My very good friend, who's been my interpreter for me in school from K-12, came as well.  She wanted to ask the audie a few questions, and I didn't mind her tagging along.  She was curious about the different programming strategies and that sort of thing too.

I can definitely say this.. P2 with HiRes-P, is loud.  P3 with HiRes-S is quieter, and audie brought up the volume levels for P3 too.  Thinking maybe she could have brought up the volume some more for P3, but that's ok.  That's what the volume dial is for.  Just have to remember to turn it down before switching back to P2!  Now let's make sure I'm not getting P1 and P3 mixed up on the Neptune... I always forget which slot is P1 and which is P3. P2 is obvious, as it's in the middle. But the other 2, I get them mixed up. Will have to look in the Neptune instructions book to make sure I have it right.


Also, last Friday was WYHI Day.  I went, and had a great time!  Usually WYHI is for deaf/hoh students in grades K-12, even preschoolers.  But plenty of adults still like to come too.  I really enjoyed myself, chatting with different people.  There was one person who came up to me and another interpreter (we were chatting, and she was asking if I knew who that person was and I said no), and I got t looking at him... Well, his face certainly is familiar, but his hair wasn't!  He was one of the coaches for the Wyoming team for the Deaf Academic Bowl in 2003 and 2004, and he was completely bald then.  I almost didn't recognize him with his hair.  But it was great chatting with him for a bit!  And my former school for the deaf teacher has told me to get to planning a reunion for our group from the deaf school days.  I've already been texting with one friend, asking if she'd help me plan it and recruit everyone.  I'm pretty excited with the reunion idea, and sure hope I hear back from everyone I've sent messages to.  So far I've only heard from one classmate.  Hopefully the others will chime in soon enough.  The friend that's helping, she'll contact her sister and brother, and another classmate, since they're all in Colorado, and will text yet another since I'm not sure how often he gets on facebook. It would be fun if we all could get together.

Trying FM on Neptune again

After a few more attempts of trying to get the Phonak FM system to work with my Neptune with no results, and after a few emails back and forth with an AB regional specialist, he called AB and asked them to send me a new Neptune Connect, in hopes that would solve my FM problem.  Yesterday when I got home, there was a FedEx package waiting for me under my welcome mat.  Yay new Neptune Connect is here!  I dropped everything else I had with me onto my chair, then got the Neptune from the book case where I keep all my CI stuff on and got to work.  Took the original Connect off, put the new one on, plugged the MLxi FM receiver into the FM port on the Neptune connect, turned everything on and voila!  FM was working great.  Something must have gotten loose or something like that in the original Connect.  Hopefully I don't encounter this problem again.  I remember the first time I tried using the FM set up on my Neptune, months before I even got the new transmitter, and had no problems with getting the FM to work.  Worked great right off the bat but then a few months later (after getting the new Phonak transmitter), lots of trouble.  Hmmm...  The original Neptune Connect is being mailed back to AB today.

Was going to play with the FM today with my iPod... This morning, the iPod still had enough battery power that it should have lasted while I worked.  Tried turning the iPod on a few minutes ago, and nada.  Oh great.  It's charging now, but I can't play with it while it's charging, since it's an older iPod.  Wish my iPod Touch's audio port wasn't broken, it didn't matter if it was charging or not, it would still be playable.  Ah maybe I should just load some music to my iPhone instead... but alas, my desktop tower seems to be dead (and my iTunes is on that computer with all the music loaded on it).  I'll have to spend some time updating the iTunes on my laptop and resyncing the music over (good thing I have an external hard drive that has all of my music and photos!).  There's no school tomorrow, due to it being Good Friday, so perhaps I'll have some time to get my iTunes all set up on my laptop and get some music synced to the iPhone.

Technology.... most of the time it's fantastic, but there are moments when it's just a pain to deal with.

Interesting....

I was almost at work.... I had just turned onto the street in front of the newspaper when I saw an ambulance in the distance.  I pulled over to the curb (I was already out of the ambulance's way), and waited until the ambulance went by.  I wanted to see if I could hear the sirens with my implant.  Nope, not really.  When it was right behind me, I heard the sirens, but it was really quiet and low pitched.  Interesting!  Anything that has a high pitched sound (like female voices and such), they just sound low to me.  Perhaps my audiologist can try to fix that when I see her again in April.  Even listening to certain music, music that was made when the artists were kids, they sound like they have low voices even though they actually had high voices at the time.  I get amused listening to such music, knowing the voices were originally high but they sound low with the implant on.


As for the FM use with my Neptune processor... Well, I have discovered that the set up doesn't always work.  If the Neptune doesn't recognize the MLx receiver, I have to fiddle with it, taking the Neptune apart and everything.  Sometimes it takes a few rounds of disassembling, then reassembling, the Neptune and FM receiver before it finally works.  Not something I want to do during English class, I have no time to be messing around!  I haven't used the Neptune with the FM the last couple of weeks or so.  I use the FM with my hearing aid, then the implant is just the implant with no FM input, and it works out I think.  The set up just has been finicky.  Don't know if it's the Neptune processor, or if it's the FM receiver, but it gets kind of annoying when it doesn't work when I want it to.

No luck with the FM today

Well, this morning was a mess with the FM.  Phonak sent the wrong receiver for my hearing aid (they sent the ML11i instead of the ML10i), and they also sent the SmartLink transmitter instead of the Inspiro.  They said the Smartlink is more sophisicated, and the Inspiro is old and outdated. Whichever, I can accept the Smartlink. 

We also tried getting the FM to work with the Neptune processor. No-go at all there.  We kept trying different things, audie even called Phonak for some support. Nada.  After the appointment (she kept the Smartlink, and I'll see her again Monday afternoon so we can be sure everything works with the proper receiver for my hearing aid).  I went home, and got out the old HandyMic transmitter and played with it to see if I could get the FM working with the Neptune. Again, nada.  What?!  I had it working in very late Oct./early Nov. when I tried it out with the T-Comm for the Neptune; plugged the MLx receiver into the Neptune controller, plugged transmitter into my iPod and music was flowing to my ear!  But today, I got absolutely nothing. So I'm wondering if there's something going on with the Neptune, at least with the controller.  I've taken the control off, put it back on and saw the green light flash saying it was synced to the Neptune, but I still was getting nothing. So I'm stumped.

I did email Allison about this, as well as the Wyo/Colo AB clinic specialist, see what they have to say.  Just weird.  If I end up just using the FM with the hearing aid only, and using the CI for hearing what's going around on around me in the classroom (like students saying something during a discussion or whichever), that might work too. But it would be nice to have the FM working for both ears.  Hmm......

I now have the T-Comm!

I was oh so very rudely awaken by my dog at about noonish today.  I was oh so cozy in my bed, dreaming away, when all of a sudden I was hearing my dog barking up a storm and he was also bouncing all over my bed. BRYAN!!! STOP! Then I realized he must've been excited due to someone being at the door. So I bolted upright, jumped out of bed and fled to the front door. Grabbed hold of Bryan's collar so he couldn't attack whoever was at the door, took a quick peek through the peephole... Hey it's Fed-Ex Man! Opened the door, gave him my signature and took the package from him. Yay! My T-Comm has arrived!

Fed-Ex Man left so I closed the door.  I didn't tear into the package just yet though. I had to feed the dog and get myself together.  After I had gotten dressed, I then opened the packaging, and started assembling the T-Comm with the Neptune processor.  Found my spare headpiece (which was still new in its original box), found a spare Harmony headpiece cable, got the Neptune and the UHP neptune cable out of the Neptune case, and got everything plugged in where they needed to go.  Then of course I had to fight with the Neptune a bit, to get the Control to sync. Finally, it synced! I ran over to my computer, pulled up iTunes and found all of my random cables/etc that I use for listening to music. I wanted to try the T-coil setting, so I tried the MusicLink telecoil earhook.  Heard nothing.. uuhh.. Got my headphones out and tried that. Still nothing.  Checked the volume on my computer and it wasn't registering the music playing from iTunes. My desktop is a little funny about that sometimes, so I shut down iTunes and opened it back up again. Then finally I was able to hear the music!  Switched out to the telecoil earhook again, aww yeah! It was great!

the T-comm in its packaging

found a spare magnet from one of my headpieces that is broken... nice!

Neptune with the T-Comm, and the Harmony

T-Comm on the ear

Now I need to find my Phonak FM unit so I can experiment with the FM set up again with the Neptune and T-Comm.

The T-comm!

The T-comm accessory for the Neptune processor from Advanced Bionics is now available in the United States and Canada! There's an introductory price of $150 now until April, then it'll be $300.  You'll need a headpiece with a BTE cable, a T-mic and a UHP cable to use with the T-comm.  I'm pretty excited!  I already have one ordered, and from my understanding, you can use it right away without having to program the Neptune to use it (and it can also be used with the PSP processor as well).  The T-comm also has telecoil built into it, ready for use as well. Pretty cool!  The T-mic capability will definitely come in handy when I use the FM on the Neptune in college. I'm definitely looking forward to using the T-comm!

Also, the T-comm comes in the same 3 colors as the Harmony; dark sienna, silver and beige.  Check out these spy photos of the T-comm from the HLAA convention in June. There's a switch on the T-comm so you can use T-coil alone, T-coil + T-mic, or T-mic alone. When you use the T-comm, the headpiece mic will be disabled and the T-mic will take over. You cannot use an aux only program with the T-comm.

Call or email AB's customer service to order a T-comm (or 2 if you're bilateral) at 877.839.0036 or customerservice@advancedbionics.com.

MAPping day

Yesterday, my alarm went off at 9 in the morning, my bed shaking me awake. Slowly got up, got dressed, got my dog fed and walked quickly... Grabbed all the stuff I had packed and threw them into the trunk of my car, then "stuffed" my dog into his crate in the backseat of my car and off we went! I took my dog to the vet and dropped him off for boarding, then went to work. Got the fire calls taken cared of first, then waited and waited for the rest of the public records to arrive.  Turns out the employee who picks up the public records from the police station was sitting in at court for a report. Whew, hadn't counted on her having to go to court, as my stepdad wanted for us to leave town at noon! Finally at about 11:30ish, we got the public records and I immediately got to work.  The boss took the easier two public records and I got the inmate roster and the police calls in.  Because Tuesday was a parade day and there were no public records then, I had 2 days worth of police calls from the local police department (and I should have gotten the Tuesday police calls on Wednesday instead of yesterday!).  Oh well.  It was barely noon when I got done and clocked out.  Pretty much ran out of the building, hopped into my car and headed to my mom and stepdad's house. Of course, it was lunch hour so there was quite a bit of traffic to deal with.

As soon as I parked my car in the driveway, I jumped out and grabbed my stuff and put them in stepdad's truck, then went inside the house to find mom and stepdad.  "It's about time!" Sorry!! We grabbed some lunch from Hardees and hit the road! Stopped off in Cheyenne to refuel and continued on our way. Made it into Denver after 4 and got checked in at the hotel, the same hotel we stayed at for my earlier CI-related appointments. Sat for a few minutes, then left to head to the salon step dad's sister works at. Did some waiting until the sister arrived. Stepdad wanted to get his hair cut and such and his sister is always happy to do the job. She cut my hair a bit too. She noticed I had some short hair on the left side from where the surgeon shaved the hair for the CI surgery. She also made sure I wasn't hurting anywhere around the ear either, she must've seen the bumps or grooves from the implant surgery.  No pain at all.  We all went to dinner at Piccolo and the food was great. Mom, step dad and I then headed back to the hotel for the night.  I went straight to "my room" (we always get a suite at this hotel), got my laptop out and just chilled.  Took me quite a while to get to sleep, even though I was tired.

Mom got me up bright and early today (8:30, really?). Got dressed/ready, yada yada, we grabbed all of our stuff, loaded up the truck and checked out.  Stepdad's sister told us to check out Duffeyrolls Cafe (or something like that), saying they had really good cinnamon rolls. So that was where we went.  The rolls weren't too bad.  Since we still had a bit of time to kill before my appointments at the CI center, we drove around for a bit. Even went into a sporting goods store (Sports Authority, was it?). Soon enough stepdad dropped mom and I off in front of the Swedish Hospital Medical Complex, and he took off to get some more flowers/items for the flower shop.  Mom and I headed in, I checked in, and we just hung out.  She flipped through some magazines, and I played with my ipod touch. One of the assistant audiologists took me back for a quick hearing test with the right ear. Then waited some more. Finally (at about 11:45 or so), I was called back to Dr. Kelsall's office (the whole office was running a bit late, since there had been quite a few drop-in's). Kelsall looked in my ears, made sure I didn't have any problems with the implant. Told him of my progress so far with the implant, haven't had any pain or aches lately. He was happy.  Then back to the waiting room.  Recognized a kid that arrived/checked in for his evaluation appointment from WYHI in May, and Mom and I chatted with him and his family for a bit. I showed him my CI equipment, since he was curious about it.

Allison then came out and got me, and told mom she could come back with us too. Mom was pretty excited about that. We were introduced to Allison's student, and while Allison was doing something out of her office, we talked with the student about my implant experience and how amazing the technology is and that sort of thing. It was fun.  Allison came back in, and we got to work! Talked of my progress, she checked both of my processors and they were working as they should. She also tested the T-mic to make sure it was still fully functional (well I would think it would, since I haven't used it for a few weeks due to using the Neptune).  Told her I was ready to go back to the Harmony, the Neptune's been driving me crazy.  The dials on the control gets messed with far too easily, I keep losing the headpiece often, I hear the hair brushing over the mic on the headpiece, etc.  She turned up the volume on the Harmony, then sent me to the sound booth with the student for a quick test with the implant on.  Push the button when I hear the tones, OK.  Slight improvements from the last test, but not much and Allison wasn't too happy with that.  But it's still early enough so I'll get there eventually.  She then did some more fine-tuning of the programs for my processors. Brought up all of the levels, turn up the bass levels, and put the same set of 3 programs on each processor. Excellent! At times when I would put the processor back on, it would be pretty loud at first until the ClearVoice kicks in.  I'm still at Medium for ClearVoice, which is fine with me.

Then we all went into the soundbooth since Allison wanted to see my progress with the implant.  She started off by having me hold a card with different pictures on it (ice cream cone, airplane, hot dog, shoe, etc.) and she would say the words and I'd repeat them back.  The first 3 I got right, "Meghan, are you sure your hearing aid is off?" Yes, it sure is! We did more words and I got most of them.  Then we did a different card, and I did pretty good with that too, mixing a couple here and there.  Then she said some sentences, and that one I had more trouble with.  Some sentences I got, and the others I did not get at all.  There was one sentence, like one of the last ones she said to me, and I only heard 3 words, but the others in that sentence I didn't quite hear but I was able to piece it together anyway. I definitely blew Allison away with my progress, as she wasn't expecting for me to have made this much progress just yet.  So that was pretty cool. And mom was just happy for me.

After the booth testing, we were good to go.  Yay!  Was a great day! I am still completely amazed with the cochlear implant technology.  To think, I've been profoundly deaf in the left ear for possibly almost 25 years, and to actually be able to hear with the implant (even if everything has a bit of an electronic tone still), ..... it's just amazing.  I am so extremely happy I finally got the cochlear implant and to be making some progress with it. Very exciting stuff!

Anyway, we were done with my appointments, so mom called stepdad to find out where he was, and we waited for him to get us.  We hit the road and stopped off in Loveland for lunch and a stop at the Tommy Hilifiger store.  Headed on to Cheyenne, stopped off to refuel again, and get drinks/snacks, then kept on going until we finally made it! Of course we had to stop off at the flower shop first to unload the truck. Hung around for a bit, then finally made it back to the house.  I hit a button on my car remote while I was still sitting in the truck to pop the trunk on my car, and stepdad was a bit confused when he saw me still in the truck and the trunk on my car was open... Hehe.  Yeah, was a good trip, exciting day.

And I am ready for a 2-year-old's birthday party tomorrow afternoon.  Once again, it's a full out pool party at his grandma's house in the backyard (few inflatable pools all over, slip n slides, the whole works). Last year, just a tiny itty bitty splash was enough to make my Phonak Naida hearing aid go crazy (until I ran it through the Dry n Store overnight, then it was fine).  But this year, I am waterproofing the Neptune and leaving the hearing aid behind.  Or, at least bringing a small case to stick the hearing aid in for safekeeping.  Should be a fun afternoon, that's for sure.

Sounds everywhere!

This world sure is full of sounds!

One evening, I took my dog out, and there was a bird in a tree. I was watching the bird, and listening to it chirp. Kind of neat.

We had a thunder storm one night, and I heard thunder a couple of different times with just the implant alone. Whoooaaa! 

On Saturday, after I drove a friend home and was ready to return to drive to a grocery store, I realize the rain drops I was hearing on my car was pretty loud (I still had my hearing aid on at this point). So I turned off my hearing aid, and I could still hear the rain drops with the implant. That was pretty exciting.

Today, while I was on my way to work, I saw a fire truck pull out of the station with its lights flashing. I stopped as it got onto the street and heard the sirens going, with just the implant alone. It wasn't very loud, but I was able to hear it. Cool!

One night, I decided to try out the Neptune in the shower. As soon as I got under the shower water, the water was hitting the Aquamic and it was loud. But it was fun! And another day, I took a bath with the Neptune. Submerged my head under the water, that was interesting.  Hey, had to try out the Neptune in wet settings, I mean why not!

Also, today, I decided to take my ipod to work with me. So I swapped out the ear hooks on the Harmony so I could use the direct connect.  Ended up snaking the direct connect cable under my shirt just so it wouldn't randomly get caught on something. I started off listening to Hanson's "Middle of Nowhere" album, as I am most familiar with that album. Music sounds extremely different, very odd and electronic, but for the most part I was able to make out the lyrics to most of the songs. There was one song, which happens to be one of my favorites, and it sounded terrible and I couldn't make sense of the lyrics. Wow. But it was still fun, listening and figuring out what song was playing and trying to catch the lyrics. Had more trouble listening to Hanson's "This Time Around" album, I only recognized maybe half of the album, the other sounded too different. Even listened to a little bit of Michael Jackson, which was fun.

There is this one sound that happens at work. I've been hearing it for weeks now, but I cannot figure out what it is! It sounds like the gate on my dog's kennel flopping back and forth, hitting the kennel if it's not latched in the car... Sounds exactly like that. But, there's no dog kennels at the newspaper so it's definitely not a loose gate. So what the heck is it?! I'm going to have to ask around and find out, otherwise it's going to drive me crazy.

I can hear the phone ringing. The sounds the pre-press machine makes when it's spitting out pages, ugh it's annoying. Definitely can hear the wind very easily, as it blows right into the mic on the processor.  I've just been hearing this and that, some sounds I can figure out, others have me stumped until I investigate.

This certainly is a very interesting journey with the implant so far. And I'm eager to keep on going!

Some progress

Yesterday was Mother's Day. I went over to my mom and stepdad's house to spend time with my momma! A couple of different times, I turned off my hearing aid so I could use the implant alone for practice. Mom and I talked on the bench swing in the backyard, and as long as I could lipread her, I was able to make sense of what she was saying (although she did have to repeat here and there). My sister, her husband and their son came over too. At one point my sister and mom got to talking of making some pepper poppers, and I clearly heard my mom say (while she was several feet away by the grill) "let's make some!" and I clearly heard my sister say "I'll help!". I didn't even look at my sister when she said that, but I knew what she said. That was pretty exciting!

Everything still sounds electronic at this point.  But I am hearing voices, they just sound electronicish. My bro-in-law asked if he sounded like a robot, and I said yeah, kind of. He thought that was pretty cool.  I don't really exactly know what robots sound like, but hey ok! But yeah, electronic voices, electronic everything.

I also ordered "Sound and Way Beyond" from Cochlear (it's $25 from their webstore, plus shipping/handling), so I have another resource for auditory training. It arrived in my mailbox last Thursday, and I wasn't expecting to see it until sometime this week. But hey! I played with it a bit on my laptop. The tones portion, that one was really tricky. Some tones I couldn't even hear at all, and at times they all sounded too similar I couldn't tell which one was the different sounding one.  But the environmental sounds, and the difference between male/female voice, I didn't do too bad with. That's all I've done so far with Sound and Way Beyond, but I'll work with it some more. I don't use my laptop for auditory rehab on a daily basis, it depends on my mood and how mentally tired I am.

I've been very slowly making progress with the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland audiobook. Before the mapping on April 23, I made it to Chapter 5. But when I would try to follow along with Chapter 5 (I was also reading along with the Kindle app on my laptop), boy oh boy I just kept getting lost so quickly and easily. Over and over and over, I'd try again, changing the volume and the speed of the speaker's voice, and just couldn't do it.  But last week I gave it another try, and I was able to get through Chapter 5! At a few spots I kind of got lost, but was able to pick up again with the next sentence. Will have to keep going and get through the whole book before my audiobook rental expires again.

Am up to Program 3 on the Harmony right now, so soon enough I'll switch over to the Neptune and work my way through the 3 programs on that. When I get to Program 2 on the Neptune, then I will FedEx the Harmony to the audie and she'll load up more programs on it for me.

Listening practice

Tonight I decided I needed to check out the Listening Room at HearingJourney.com.  First, I just browsed around, seeing what the Listening Room had to offer. Navigated my way to the Teens/Adults section, Listening Activities, Discrimination Activities. Ooo Clix! I've heard/read of that while lurking through the HearingJourney.com forums. So I downloaded the Beginner's Clix program, and got that up and running.  I did the 10 lbs Warm Up first, repeating the sounds so I could get an idea of what they sounded like. Then I did the Test - On Your Own, which covers all 10 levels. Certain words or sounds were very tricky, but I ended up scoring 70%, which I think is not too bad at all! And I am hearing little bits of speech sounds here and there. Like 'aaaAAAaaa', I'd hear the AAA portion more than the aaa's. That sort of thing. Very interesting. I am really happy with the Clix program so far, and will continue to work with it. I wasn't hearing ALL of the sounds or words, just little bits here and there. Mostly I was experiencing the sensations, so during the test, I'd listen, look at the words, repeat the word/sound if necessary and click on what I think the word/sound is. It's definitely a tricky process, but hey, my left ear needs all the practice it can get, right?

I even played with Cochlear's Hope app on my iPod touch for a bit tonight as well. I have the lite (free limited) edition, which you can download to your ipod touch/iphone/ipad from iTunes or the App Store. I forget how much the full app costs, but I figured the lite edition would be fine for now. It may be more aimed for kids, but it's still listening practice. There's a picture that comes up, with a word under it. You tap the screen and the device will say the word. I will tap the picture a few times to repeat the same word over and over.

There is also another app available at the App Store/iTunes that's free and called Hear Coach. It's made by Starkey Labs, and several folks from HearingJourney were raving about it. I tried it the other day but couldn't make sense of anything so I think I'll wait and try Hear Coach again another time. Just level 1 is overwhelming for me so far.


I also got out my Phonak FM unit (the Handy-Mic transmitter, and the mlx receiver that I originally got with my Phonak Supero hearing aid), and it works great with the Neptune! That was a fun experiment. Have the transmitter charging up so it's ready to go whenever I want to use the FM.  I used the  audio interface cable that was in my Neptune box and plugged the Neptune into my laptop for the Clix program. Works great too! Of course, if I want to use the direct connect with either processor, I have to use it with battery operated devices. So I can use it with my ipod touch or my laptop if they're not plugged into the wall.




Here are the scores I got tonight:

Turned on!

My implant was turned on today! Such an exciting day!

We made the trip down to Denver yesterday. Got up at about 7:30ish and got going. Made it over to the implant center and waiting for my 9 a.m. appointment with the audiologist Allison. She ran a bit late so we weren't take to her office until about 9:20 or so. That was fine. We got situated in her office, and Allison brought in 2 suitcase-type boxes, and both of Advanced Bionic's monkeys, Buddy and Melody! Oh I figured I'd see Buddy, but I certainly wasn't expecting to see Melody too! So that was pretty exciting. I got my video camera ready and handed it over to my stepdad so he could record the actual turn-on. Allison dug through the boxes, pulled out the Harmony pieces needed. Got a Powercell plugged into the charger so it could charge up while we were getting the Harmony processor tuned up and loaded. One magnet was definitely not enough to keep the headpiece on, so she had to get another magnet out of her own box (apparently the OR lost a magnet when they used my headpiece to test my internal implant during surgery...!).

My Harmony was connected to the computer, and Allison ran the NRI test. She said she would run the NRI test again after about 10 minutes, so we could see the difference in numbers of the electrodes' responses. One electrode had a high number (24), so she thought there was an air bubble or something. Then she ran through the volume/sensitivity levels, and I started feeling and hearing the beeping going on. Whoa, weird sensation. When we got to the higher frequencies, I was overwhelmed pretty quickly, so Allison kept the high frequency levels low enough for now. Got everything loaded, ran another NRI test so we could see the difference in the numbers (the electrode that had the 24 number dropped down to 6.4, which was much better!). Then she turned me on! Stepdad recorded my reaction and all. I was hearing beeps for every sound that was going on, and feeling a lot of pulsating going on in my head. My brain even felt like it was vibrating! Very weird stuff. Even felt like a heart beat going on in my head for a little while there too. Allison played with the volume some more, saved that set for Program 1, and increased the volume for Programs 2 and 3 so that I can work my way up over the next couple or so weeks.

She then unhooked me from the computer, and had me play with the dummy Harmony so I could get a feel for how to take it apart and putting it back together while she loaded the programs to my processor. Then I put it on myself, took me a few seconds to find the magnet in my head of course. I'm sure once I've gotten enough practice, I'll get the headpiece on in the exact right spot without hunting around much. Yahoo! I've been turned on! Put all of my random accessories/pieces back into their respective boxes, and handed them over to my stepdad to take out to his car.

Loaded up stepdad's car, then mom and I got out again so he could take off to get to the wholesale house to pick up some things for his flower shop. Mom and I walked down to the Copper Pot for lunch. Burgers and mac and cheese, and oh it was quite a tasty lunch. I randomly turned off my hearing aid here and there, just to "listen" with the implant. Still just beeps, which is to be expected. We then found a Walgreens, got a couple of items there, then headed back to the building the implant center is located at for my 1:30 post-op appointment. We hung out in the lobby, as we still had more than an hour to go before the appointment. Again I turned my hearing aid off and on here and there, and played with my ipod and blackberry. There was this guy with his little boy that sat in the lobby with us for a while, and they and my mom struck up a conversation. Eventually, they left, and we headed up to the 5th floor. Sat in the waiting room a bit longer. Finally I was called back to Dr. Kelsall's office, and waited a few minutes in there. While waiting, stepdad returned. Kelsall came in, we talked, then I sat in his special chair. He turned it around and leaned it back so he could remove the stitches. He also looked inside my ear as well. Said everything looked good. He did spot some blood under the ear drum, but he said that would clear up on its own. Set up another appointment for July 13 for a follow-up with Kelsall (will possibly get an appointment in with Allison for this day too as well), and then I was free to go!

Allison will drive up to Wyoming later this month for appointments with her Wyoming clients. I will see her again sometime on April 23 here in town, whenever we get a time set up. She gives her traveling Wyoming clients preference on time, and the locals will get whatever time she has left basically. Understandable! She said we may try adding Clearvoice then, but we'll see. I'm to try to use the implant as much as possible with the hearing aid off (even just 2 hours a day with hearing aid off will be good). My brain needs to be trained! I haven't heard out of the left ear for so long, so it will definitely take some time before my brain starts making sense of the sounds coming in through the implant. So in the mean time, I'll be hearing a lot of beeps/electronic type of sounds. None of it makes sense, and I do feel a lot of random sensations depending on what sound is going through the implant.

Most of the afternoon, it's been sounding like a busy signal, like when you call someone on the phone but it's busy on the other end. Similar to that. At one point, just before we got to Cheyenne, I heard/felt a truck driver's horn I think. Later on during the trip, I got the sensation someone was knocking on my head... Then I heard something similar to someone tapping on an empty aluminum or tin can. But for the most part, it's the busy signal I'm hearing.  And my brain is already confused with the new implant, that I'm having trouble making sense of speech with my hearing aid in the right ear. Too much going on for the brain very confusing stuff.  Also, after I had been turned on, Allison did a quick speech test with me. She covered up her mouth, and said "airplane," "ice cream cone," and "shoe." I was to tell her which one she was saying. The first few tries, I didn't get any of them. But then I got 5 in a row correctly. I didn't hear the actual words being said, but I felt the sensations in my head as she said them, so I was able to figure out which word matched the sensation I was experiencing. Very weird.  And it's kind of like a shock/blast to my head when the door closes and such, very strange stuff. Hopefully over time, my brain will start making sense of all this and sounds will sound more normal instead of just a bunch of beeps. Will just have to keep exposing the implant processor to different sounds and let my brain figure out everything.

As soon as I got home, I pretty much dove into the boxes, starting with the Harmony box. Got the Powercell charger plugged in and set up to go, read the info/instructions on how to work everything. Same with the Neptune box. I put the Neptune together and put the magnets in the Universal Head Piece (UHP) that came with the Neptune, so that I can use it tomorrow instead of the Harmony. My ear is still a bit sore/tender from the surgery, so I'll give it a bit more time to heal up before trying the Harmony again. Alison put the same 3 programs that are on the Harmony on the Neptune too. She did say if I should reach Program 3 and feel like I need more before I see her on the 23rd, to let her know and I will Fed-Ex a processor to her so she can up the volume some more. Hopefully I can hold out until the 23rd though. I am going to try to spend a few days on Program 1, then progress up to Program 2, then 3 after that. But let's see what my brain wants though.