YouTube videos are up!...
...here!
I have the first one captioned, and am working on the other two. I will try to get them posted here tomorrow night :).
I had my second map today. We set my first program at Hi-Res P, Fidelity 120...my second program was just a louder version of the first. Then I asked Susan to set my third program at Hi-Res S in hopes that a simpler program with less stimulation would be easier to adapt to, and when she started setting the levels on it I was surprised at how much better it was. We got to looking and it turns out that entirely by accident, we had set the programming at 50/50...which means that half of the sound was coming in through my T-mic and half of it was coming through the external mic on the implant itself. That has turned out to be MUCH easier to listen to, and we were actually able to increase my overall volume using that. Katie was in the bedroom tonight talking to her cousin Bethany on the phone and, just using the new ear, I was able to make out a few words here and there. I am thrilled! Not bad at all for 48 hours out! :)
The hardest part has been adjusting to the whole bilateral business. I had gotten used to the way my good ear sounded, and combining the two is taking a bit of doing. Factoring in that the two ears sound different, that it's been thirty years since my brain has worked two ears at the same time, and that one of my ears doesn't work exactly like the other one does, it has occasionally been overwhelming. Today I actually had some balance issues after my mapping...if I took one ear off, or turned my good ear down, I would get unbalanced...it was the strangest feeling! I had heard of people having balance issues with cochlear implants, but since I've never had them before, it had never occurred to me that I would. After being reassured that it was normal, I quit stressing over it and am just muddling my way through. I did take a long nap this afternoon...without ears...and woke up feeling a lot better. I had forgotten how discombobulated I felt the first few days with my good ear...I am feeling it with this one, too...and this time we're trying to work two at once. I may take a lot of naps in the next few days!
As far as the sensations I feel (and yes, DJ, I hear sounds with them, they're not just feelings) here's the odd thing: I only feel them when I wear the new ear alone. When I'm wearing it with the good ear, I don't feel them. This is SO totally different from the first time around when I couldn't wear the two ears together at all. I don't have another map for about another week and a half...so I will have time to adjust to what I have now. I am doing lots of listening therapy...I just love the Direct Connect cables. I plug right into the laptop and can listen to books on CD or music with no outside interference...it's so nice!
Will try to get those captioned videos up soon...watch this space! :)
I have the first one captioned, and am working on the other two. I will try to get them posted here tomorrow night :).
I had my second map today. We set my first program at Hi-Res P, Fidelity 120...my second program was just a louder version of the first. Then I asked Susan to set my third program at Hi-Res S in hopes that a simpler program with less stimulation would be easier to adapt to, and when she started setting the levels on it I was surprised at how much better it was. We got to looking and it turns out that entirely by accident, we had set the programming at 50/50...which means that half of the sound was coming in through my T-mic and half of it was coming through the external mic on the implant itself. That has turned out to be MUCH easier to listen to, and we were actually able to increase my overall volume using that. Katie was in the bedroom tonight talking to her cousin Bethany on the phone and, just using the new ear, I was able to make out a few words here and there. I am thrilled! Not bad at all for 48 hours out! :)
The hardest part has been adjusting to the whole bilateral business. I had gotten used to the way my good ear sounded, and combining the two is taking a bit of doing. Factoring in that the two ears sound different, that it's been thirty years since my brain has worked two ears at the same time, and that one of my ears doesn't work exactly like the other one does, it has occasionally been overwhelming. Today I actually had some balance issues after my mapping...if I took one ear off, or turned my good ear down, I would get unbalanced...it was the strangest feeling! I had heard of people having balance issues with cochlear implants, but since I've never had them before, it had never occurred to me that I would. After being reassured that it was normal, I quit stressing over it and am just muddling my way through. I did take a long nap this afternoon...without ears...and woke up feeling a lot better. I had forgotten how discombobulated I felt the first few days with my good ear...I am feeling it with this one, too...and this time we're trying to work two at once. I may take a lot of naps in the next few days!
As far as the sensations I feel (and yes, DJ, I hear sounds with them, they're not just feelings) here's the odd thing: I only feel them when I wear the new ear alone. When I'm wearing it with the good ear, I don't feel them. This is SO totally different from the first time around when I couldn't wear the two ears together at all. I don't have another map for about another week and a half...so I will have time to adjust to what I have now. I am doing lots of listening therapy...I just love the Direct Connect cables. I plug right into the laptop and can listen to books on CD or music with no outside interference...it's so nice!
Will try to get those captioned videos up soon...watch this space! :)
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