On the end of June, I underwent a CAT scan. The doctors basically wanted a picture of my head so they know what to expect come surgery time. Also they look for signs of ossification and such...but they said I'm 100% healthy and it's all systems go for the surgery.
I met up with my doctor after the CAT scan and he checked my ears and vitals. Nothing out of the ordinary. And he asked which ear I would like to have the CI inserted (I picked left ear) and asked if I had any additional questions. I didn't have much of any questions except on how they were going to perform the surgery. So basically, no surprises were encountering and we both felt very confident going into the surgery.
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Last week, I met up with my audiologist. She asked me a series of questions on what I want with my CI...that is the color choices, adapters, etc. I am hoping that they would provide me with rechargeable batteries as it is economically friendly...but she doesn't know if I will get it as the FDA has recently approved of rechargeable batteries for the CI. So if I don't get it now, then I would get it sometime in the near future.
Outside of color choices, my audiologist asked me a series of questions on what I expect from the CI. Questions like: Do I expect the CI to make me hear like a normal human being? My answer: No. But I know with practice I can expect to hear a LOT more sounds than I can currently do. The keyword is "practice". So all family members, friends, animals (yes Dexter, I'm talking about you), etc... I need to work with you to help me improve my hearing skills as well as my understanding of sounds (words). I know it is not going to be easy, but I don't give up easy and I always work hard at my task to achieve my goals.
One thing I found out during this visit with my audiologist was the fact that I could have some really cool coverings for my CI. She even mentioned that I could have a "Jimmy Buffett" cover (my audiologist knows me too well)!!! Just how cool is that!!!
So all in all, the visit with my audiologist went well, and I'm not expected to get my CI hooked up until August 25, 2010.
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I knew that when I have the surgery, the nurses would shave off part of my lovely hair so the operation could be performed. But...I have saved them quite a bit of work. This past weekend, I had my lovely girlfriend take the honors of using the hair trimmer and she gave me a nice buzz cut. My buzz cut looked a lot better than I anticipated... Yes, I have received comments about it, ghostly blank stares, you name it.
Here is a picture of me:
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Tomorrow I will need to be at the hospital at 8 AM to commence Operation CI. I'm looking forward to it and I know that I would get through it and recover quickly.
So look for an update soon after I have recovered from my surgery.
