New day same Shit

Yes I said shit and no i do not apologize for it. I am sitting here at Madeira Beach for father's day and although i am enjoying it. I am quite p'd off that I am still paralyzed. My doctor will let me go back to work with safety goggles but my Boss said no. So I sit here paralyzed and unable to make any money. Yeah for my sucky life. Well thats all for now. The hearing aspect is going great I will be in full hearing by the end of the year most likely. Later, time for me to fill the empty basin.

Post Op Doc Visit number One

Ok, I have been to the doc, and even thought the paralysis has not changed he did nothing different. DUH! I am not medically allowed to return to work until he decides to release me. He said it may be before the paralysis heals but he deffinetly wants me to give it a week or two more of rest. I had hoped the note he wrote for my boss would give me a date, however it just says until the doc releases me. yay! Time at home on my ars with nothing to do except sit here and be bored. Maybe I will start playing the lotto and win....with my luck HA! Ok, well I will be heading into work to let my boss know of this situation and at that point we shall see how he takes it.

Day 2 of recovery

Well its day two after surgery, and I removed the big cup thingy on the side of my head. I think I may replace it too. My ear is swollen, which I believe is normal, and it looks like the doc sewed it back on a little higher than when he found it. But that could just be cause of the swelling. I have spent the last day and a half in and out of pain, as I take my meds and they wear off. Overall I am feeling good, just swollen, stiff, and sore. Oh and I am having tinnitus like never before. I think it is my brain adjusting to not hearing anymore. We shall see.

Surgery Day

I got up early, about 6 am, and left for the hospital in order to arrive at 7:30. Things went pretty quick for the 2 hour wait we had until I was on the table. The registration was taken care of on last Friday during my pre op. That stop lasted all about 30sec. From Admission/ registration we went on surgical prep on the second floor. At that point I had probably the longest wait. Once they called us back and gave me a room, I was once again instructed to strip and put on the butt exposing gown. Yay! Once they got me stripped and verified the paper work with me, they transported me to Pre-op for the final prep before the cutting board. In here the nurse seemed like Pitt bulls in waiting to be fed. As I was wheeled into the room and parked at my respective plug, they jumped up and headed right over to me. Don’t get me wrong I am not complaining, at St. Joe’s you would have been told to wait and you would have waited; I just found this to be ammussing. As they got my vitals and everything else they needed, I was told to sit tight and the nurse that was going to be in the operating room with me would be right in to talk with me as well as the anisethiologist. The nurses came in and everything was set and in order, then the chemical doctor came in and started my IV. First he went to the side of my wrist on the left side but that wouldn’t feed anything into me. The he got it on the top of my right wrist. Once that was all done I was transported to the Cutting board and placed on the ice cold slab like a dead cow waiting to be butchered. At this point I was covered and waited only a few minutes before the anisethiologist waved nighty night to me. His assistant placed the sleeping mask on me and within about 30sec I felt my body seem to shut down; soon I did no longer consciously exist. After surgery I was woken by my wife and the nurse who seemed successful in finding my magnet on the right side of my head for replacing my existing implant. I went home and started on all my lovely drugs, and passed out for the remainder of the day, except the two time I rose for food.

Here we go again!

It's that time. I have made my final appointment and and requested the time off work. I will be going under the knife on Tues April 28th. what time i do not know but i do know i will wake up and have a CI in both ears. Approx. one month from that day....may 28 the day before my birthday I will be given the gift science was able to give me- Hearing! So 2 weeks and counting until I get my ears back!

And yet another Update

Ok, as i am on my anniversary with my wife I am going to throw this update together for everyone.

I went to the doctors last week for a Hientz test (or somehting like that). Basically I was test on word recognition with and with our background noise. MY scores? Do you really want to know? ok ok stop twisting my arm i will tell ya. I get 100% on the absolutly quiet room (which and normal hearing person gets) and I get 85% on the noise induced room. Basically my CI has placed my hearing on a level of, are you ready for this? NORMAL!!!!!

After the test was over my audi dissapointly told me i am not eligible for the second CI. I was confused but since it was stupid insurance issues there was nothing to do. Although I was dissapointed I am ok with it I told her, and that ended our appointment. (well that part of it, the rest is private) no just kidding, I had her send in my controller on the back up since it stopped working on one of the volume switches again. And that ended the appointment.

Once i got to work, i received a phone call, (no your probably going why can't he get the other one...and who cares about your work call, just bare with me ok) On the other end of the phone was my audi saying...."please don't kill me, but I was wrong on the insurance thing, only Medicaid/Medicare will pay for only one CI, privet (which I have) will pay for both. You see apparently our goverment only wants the deaf to be half normal (thanks you stupid democratic monkeys). However since I have private insurance they will pay for it all. I win! Once i go back for another Hientz test in my deaf ear I will then be fully qualified for the second CI. I actually already am, just it has been so long since my last qualification i have to redo it. Well thats all on the sunny side for me.

These updates will probably be getting closer and closer together once again, as my surgery date (still undeterminded due to stupid work issues) gets closer.

Long awaited Update

Ok it has been quite sometime since i have typed my little finger off and updated my lack of loyal followers about what i am expaeriencing and doing. Well as far as experiencing it is kind of a given with the last post. My hearing tested normal. But since then i have reached a point that i am ready to do my next ear. and i will hopefully by the end of march. well thats it from this side of the bionic world..

Normal? please define.....?

ok, first things first....one i have been slacking off on this stuff; why? I shall tell you.

with the new hardware on my head i have been able to do thing i wasn't able to do in the past. For instance i am going back to school starting Oct. 13th. All of my courses will be online and i will finishe with in a 2 year period my AA degree in Crimina Justice. After that i will be Applying for a job with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department. thats right, me MR. Deaf boy will be a Cop....



Speaking of Mr. Deaf Boy......that name no longer applies. Why do you ask? Again i will tell you. I went today for my monthly MAPping and after a few minor adjustments the levels were good for me. At this point my wonderfull (and truly mean that) Audi put me in the booth. I sat int he sound booth for the first time since my surgery and raised my hand to the static noise i was having played for me. After i stepped out and looked at my test results and about fell over. My hearing which had been at a profound to deaf hearing loss for the last 15 - 16 years, and now with the CI activated and Tuned has testede to be normal to moderate hearing loss. The moderate on the high frequency sounds. so you can say I HAVE NORMAL HEARING AGAIN.

now to go on to be a cop and give back to my community the way i always wanted to.

ok a gonna quit now before i start writing odd things that make no sense at all. but to end it i will say:

I LOVE MY CI!

electrifyingly odd day

well, yesterday i went for a new mapping after one month of the same maps. It was good we upped the volume and even balanced it out some and that ended up making people less roboticy. How ever it became increasingly odd, as everything was fine and then that night at dinner there was a really bad lightning storm, so bad i lost my computer and it directly hit my house causing a surge so strong it blew one outlet, popped a breaker and fried my computer, and cable boxes. (inside and outside) so i lost a fridge, one comp and two cable boxes woo hoo! well i got up this morning and realized i am now on program 3 and should not be there yet after one day, and the down button on my primary controller is not working, i am wondering if i caught some static electricity in the storm. It struck close enough to the restaurant that the windows almost blew out. yes it was that bad, i am gonna make another appointment on Monday and see if i can't get this fixed and mapped back on right!

sizzzilin hot hearing!

like the title huh? he he, well anyway this will be a short entry as i am only noting that i have been hearing even better with the CI as i was on the phone today with my HA and actually heard and understood what came over the loud speaker at work through my CI. BUT thats not the coolest part, I was grilling some steaks tonight and amist all the wind from our lovely storm FAY, i heard through the wind the sizzle of the steak hit the hot grill grate.

so you understand what i mean, i have heard the sizzle of food before but, if you have ever blown into a mic while it was on and functioning on a amplification system. yeah, that "Darth Vader" breathing noise. Thats what i hear on really windy days when i am outside. But today i heard the steaks sizzle over all that. it was cool.

OMG THIS IS SO FRICKIN COOL

I am now progressing into the audio understanding period of my CI journey. =Basically, i am beginning to understand words and even though they are a bit robotic i can still understand most of them. Most sounds are still on the dingy level, depending on their pitch. The "S" sound still sound very much like a high pitched whistle.

OK as for the title, i decided today to try and hook up my CI directly to my Ipod, and OMG i can hear the music, its not perfectly clear but i can hear enough to make out the words and most of the music sound the same as before. he he i feel like a little kid i can hear!!!!!!! Now i just have to learn how to understand people with all of the worlds background noise, maybe it is time for some different style maps? these progressive ones are good but i need more! I guess i will have to wait until my next appointment on The 28th of this month.


wow, thank you GOD for this oppurtunity! ITS SO FRICKIN COOL!

Bullets, coffe cans, and Fans

well, i got home from work today....yes i went to work for the first time in 6 weeks. It was kinda odd, most people left me alone to do my job, but most asked me how i felt and questioned about the surgery itself. This was no problem, i had no issue explaining things over and over again, however, it kinda kept me from receiving the 1000 guns we got in. Boy did i walk into a Heap of a mess. I kinda think my boss wanted to make sure i had work to due and ordered a 1000 guns. Boy will i be busy. I got to listen to gun shots with the CI only and it sound like a "bading" yes that is spelled right. Although i didn't know they got the deflector plate back up, i never heard this before, when i was warned about the sound i noticed it right away.
The sound of a bullet hitting the plate sounded like a coffee can getting hit by a golf club. On another note, i was kind fearful that the CI would be a constant dinging drone, with the fans in the back but was able to lower the sensitivity to block them out, in fact one of the new fans drove me nuts....as i first walked in i was checking an invoice and noticed this sound almost like a nest of distressed frogs, and it was actually the fan. odd. well other than that my first day back at work was definitely a busy one. now to rest so i can go play with more guns tomorrow.

new news and no new shoes

first of all i just want to let everyone know i am sorry for not blogging more frequently as i have been busy with life. Second the title has really nothing to due with this post, i just had it pop out of my head so stop wondering.

Now i had my third progressive mapping on Thursday, my Audi went ahead and adjusted everything accordingly with a lower volume and more beeps. Well i am actually hearing less dings and more robot noises....yes this is good, i am able to recognize my own voice much easier but others are still taking time. speaking of time, wow can time fly when Ur out of work. I have been out for six weeks and finally was released to go back by my doctor tomorrow. So tomorrow i will enter work and feel like the new kids again. I actually am happy to be back at work, It will really test my CI to what my needs of it are. I also can't wait to hear what gun shots sound like, i am thinking for now ding ding ding. But hey it will be an awesome experience. Well, i guess now i should be off to bed and get my rest for the next day. so until i can tell you all how tomorrow went....sleep tight and remember wives bite not bed bugs!

2ND Mapping

well, i had my second doctors appointment since being turned on today. Everything went well, My Audi turned my volume up some, and made sure all the electrodes were at the same volume level, I spoke with her on how everyone is starting to sound like robots, and she suggested doing some word recognition exercises. As an example she did the days of the week with me, all though i understood her better than i would have the last week I was only able to get Saturday correct. After thinking about it and having each ding (now a more robotic ding) sound off for each syllable, I was only able to get Saturday cause it is the only one with 3 syllables. other than that its still the same as yesterday,

The bell's Palsy is subsiding, and i am no long droopy, but i can't close my eye enough to work yet. God i can't wait until i can, i actually miss work. well other that that life is just still one bug paralytic ding.

robots on the loose

this title means exactly what it says. In my little world of electronic sound the dings have some what subsided. OK here is what i mean: People sound more like robots, programed with a bad voice box. but things like the keys on my keyboard still make the ding sound. so yeah.....

I noticed it when putting my 3 yr old to bed, that his love you daddy sounded a little funny on the CI side. I took my HA out and had him repeat it, and noticed he sounded like he had a voice box, that was not "speaking" clearly. I am not hearing words, just the syllables sound more distinct than a simple ding.