Basically: A flap of skin is lifted behind my ear, and a hallow will be drilled into my skull for the electrode to sit with a small hole drilled into the ear canal where the array will be poked down and curled directly into the cochlear. The array will damage the cells inside the cochlear that provide remaining residual hearing I currently have, while attaching itself to the auditory nerve. When the external processor is switched on, sounds will not travel through my ear canal as before, but via the processor, through the electrode, down the array directly into the nerve and up to the brain.
Once the implant operation is done, I won't be able to hear in the implanted ear. While the scar is allowed to heal for a few weeks, I still won't hear anything. The processor will be 'switched on' after 4 weeks and I will get a barge of sounds, but I'm told that this 'sound' may make no sense to me at all. As the way people 'hear' with a CI will not be the same as how normal hearing is perceived. I will undergo aural rehabilitation process to 'map/programme and relearn/translate a host of new sounds.
The length of time from the actual implantation to the time when CI actually 'starts working' can be as long as 9 months... a lot of hard work ahead... Gulp! Wish me luck!
Beaumont have invited me to a group meeting on Wednesday 26th August with other people going for the CI in October/November/December to meet a couple of CI Implantees and get more information on the process and find out what the CI was like for them. Looking forward to that!
Once the implant operation is done, I won't be able to hear in the implanted ear. While the scar is allowed to heal for a few weeks, I still won't hear anything. The processor will be 'switched on' after 4 weeks and I will get a barge of sounds, but I'm told that this 'sound' may make no sense to me at all. As the way people 'hear' with a CI will not be the same as how normal hearing is perceived. I will undergo aural rehabilitation process to 'map/programme and relearn/translate a host of new sounds.
The length of time from the actual implantation to the time when CI actually 'starts working' can be as long as 9 months... a lot of hard work ahead... Gulp! Wish me luck!
Beaumont have invited me to a group meeting on Wednesday 26th August with other people going for the CI in October/November/December to meet a couple of CI Implantees and get more information on the process and find out what the CI was like for them. Looking forward to that!
No comments:
Post a Comment