I met with the surgeon yesterday. We went over some questions I had and we both agreed that cochlear implant would be ideal for me. I did find out that I will NOT be able to go bilateral right off the bat as previously discussed. Medicare has changed some things and the chances of me getting a second implant is slim to none. That's ok, I will just move forward with the one implant for now and hopefully in the near future I can work to try getting the second implant. In some ways, this actually gave me a sigh of relief. I was really apprehensive about going and doing both ears at the same time, even though I knew it would be for the better to get it out of the way now; one surgery, one recovery, etc. But that silence for 4 or more weeks was what was bothering me. And now, I know I don't even have the option of going bilateral at the moment, I'm relieved in some way that I know I'll still be able to hear with my better ear that I can wear a hearing aid in. But I'm also somewhat mixed up in emotions because I know eventually I'd like to go bilateral. I'll just have to go through surgery and recovery all over again if I'm able to explore going bilateral at a later date.
Surgeon expressed that the fact I was not born deaf and my hearing loss has been progressive over the years, he feels I will benefit very well with a cochlear implant. Especially since I do have 'speech memory'. He let me know that there are certain signs that he has learned over the course of the years he's been doing cochlear implants that lets him 'guess' how a person is going to do with an implant. And for me, he expects that I will do excellent with it. And he was very pleased with my decision to go with Advanced Bionics for my implant. Told me I made an excellent choice and did my homework. So that made me feel even better about my decision for choosing AB.
So anyway, surgery is scheduled! April 26th is the day. I swear when the scheduler gave me the date for surgery, I felt like I lost my stomach. (You know like when you're riding a roller coaster, you reach the top and are ready to go down, that kinda feeling.) It was kind of like 'wow this is really happening'. I'm sure my feelings about this will get more 'scared' the closer I actually get to the surgery date.
I have quite a few things to do prior to surgery to get taken care of. I have to get an MRI done which is scheduled next week Friday. I need to get into my doctors office for a couple vaccinations the surgeon wants me to have soon so that the vaccinations can start 'working' prior to my implantation. Persons with cochlear implants are at higher risk for meningitis. These vaccinations will help curb that from happening. I also have to get scheduled for pre-op clearance from my family doctor, meet the surgeons nurse one week prior to surgery, and meet with the cochlear implant audiologist again to choose the processor I want (as well as some of the accessories).
I'm really glad that my surgeon does not require psych evaluation done for the cochlear implant as I have heard some people had to have a psych evaluation done. I'm sure I would fail that miserably! I don't like being asked questions and be evaluated on your answers... it makes it feel like 'trick questions'.
Until next time...
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