Today is approximately 1 year and 6 months since implantation of implant #1, and about 9 months since implantation of implant #2.
I haven’t been writing in this journal much lately because I haven’t had much to report on. Progress is still very slow. I don’t really seem to notice myself making leaps and bounds of progress as I did in the beginning, but every once in a while it will hit me that I am hearing or heard something that I feel is a sign of improvement. For instance, the other day I was putting towels away in the cupboard under the bathroom sink, and my husband was listening to his shower radio in the bathroom on the other side of the door. Our bathroom is weird, the sink area is part of our bedroom, but the toilet and shower area are separate, completely with it’s own door. Anyway my head was only inches from the door while I was putting the towels away, and I know I heard the words “500 dollars” in the radio announcement. It was very clear. Another time not to long ago, I was driving and listening to talking on the radio and I heard the weather announcement for the day, “a high of 92 degrees today”. Once in a rare while I will overhear people’s conversations and catch a word here and there. I still have moments where I am hearing something faint and I can’t figure out what it is, then once I do I am amazed, such as crickets singing outside at night or a bee buzzing around me.
However, I very recently discovered something that I consider to be a significant discovery for me: headphones. By headphones, I mean the old school style, like what everyone used to get with their walkmans in the 80’s and 90’s, the headband style with the wide flat ear pieces that fit over the ear. ( I can’t believe I’m old enough to remember that.) Anyway, one day I was really desperate to try out our new iPod mini that I got for free, so I broke out my old bent up headphones from my CD player in the 90’s, with the pads half ripped off the ear pieces. I put both of my processors on the setting that uses only the T-Mic, to avoid interference from the headphones scraping on the mic up next to the processor, and put the headphones on. Despite the shape they were in, I was blown away at the sound quality that I heard! This wasn’t an iPod thing but a headphone thing. I then immediately plugged the headphones into my computer. Wow!!!! I heard the computer in a way I never have before! I proceeded to raid the house for anything with a headphone jack and plugged myself in to everything I could find.
The sound that I hear via the headphones is a completely different world from the sound I hear on telephones and computer/stereo/car speakers. I know that a very large part of it has to do with the fact that I have bilateral implants and the headphones bring the sound as close to the microphones as it can get in both ears at the same time. The sound itself is so very clear, and loud but not too loud at the same time, just loud enough to really be able to hear everything. What was even neater was the fact that I could still hear sounds outside the headphones at the same time, such as the dogs playing and growling or my husband talking, although a bit muffled. I’ve never experienced that before.
What really blew me away more than anything, though, was the natural quality to the sound. I was immediately brought back to my hearing aid days, when things didn’t sound as robotic. I used to absolutely love listening to the likes of Norah Jones, which ended when I got my implants because the music no longer sounded good. Over time all music in general is gradually starting to sound better, but the only music I could really get into is heavy metal, as it sounds the best with implants. But once I listened to everything with headphones, it was like wearing hearing aids again, I couldn’t believe the difference they made. All my favorite songs sounded almost as good as they did pre-implants, only better and definitely clearer! I even heard more to the songs than I ever did with the hearing aid OR the implants without headphones. I’m pretty sure that from this point on, headphones are going to become part of my regular every day accessories. If I could just find headphones like that but tailored to be used with a phone, I might actually be able to use the phone!
I did try a different style of headphones, the noise-canceling kind that have donut shaped ear pieces, thinking that it’d work even better. But I found out that it actually makes things worse, because the pads are bigger and rub against the processor itself more and causes interference. It’s also really hard to get the T-mic positioned in the hole of the “donut”. The plain old headphones that are flat work the best, not to mention they are a lot cheaper and more light weight. If anyone who has an A.B. implant (or two!!!) out there is reading this and want to try headphones, I definitely recommend starting with the regular old school kind, and make sure that you have a program which only uses the t-mic, because otherwise the ear pads rub against the mic next to the processor and cause a lot of feedback. It’s opened up a whole new world for me, so I’d be really interested to get comments from other people who have tried headphones, to get their opinion on how it works with their implants!
As can probably be gathered from the tone of my writing today, I am rather excited about this discovery. But, unfortunately I have to write about some not so happy things too.
A few months ago I began noticing some uncomfortable static on the side of implant #1, my right side. I never paid much attention to it, writing it off as interference from a nearby electronic. But it began occurring more frequently in a variety of places, including places I was sure there was nothing to be causing it. Finally I realized it was an internal problem, not an external problem. The last time I experienced static, I caught it quick enough to tap around my processor to see if I could hear the tapping through the static, which I couldn’t. That confirmed that it’s something going on with the implant. So I went to the clinic and after running some tests on the electrodes, it was determined that the internal parts of the implant are fine. Thank goodness! I don’t think I could handle another surgery!! So, while they aren’t 100% sure it’s the processor, they’ve decided to blame it on that by process of elimination, because everything else is ok and I very recently replaced the t-mic. They have already ordered a replacement, which fortunately is free since it’s covered under warranty, and I am just waiting on them to put my programs on it so I can go up and switch it out.
Two weeks ago, I began noticing problems with the other implant, implant #2 as well. Great. I have an appointment for a mapping in a couple of weeks, so I’ll bring it up then. It’s not worth the gas prices right now, especially since it’s only 2 weeks away. The problems with this implant are different though. It’s not static, but what I’ve noticed is buzzing that only occurs when I am looking down for a long period of time, or laying back or sideways, or any way but upright. When I make my head go upright, or even just move the processor upright, the buzzing stops. Sometimes I can make the buzzing start at will, just by turning the processor any way but upright, and then it stops when it’s upright, starts again when it’s not, stops when it is. Some days it’s like that all day long and some days it doesn’t do it at all. Very frustrating. The buzzing itself is faint enough that it doesn’t bother me, it’s nothing like the static in the other that makes my hair stand on end when it occurs. It’s just the principle of the matter, I feel that the darned thing should work correctly as high-tech and expensive as it is.
I suppose I assumed that with such high-tech and amazing devices, that it would not be likely that I’d experience equipment problems. That was a silly assumption on my part, because as amazing as it is that I’m a cyborg, things malfunction just like with any computer equipment. It happens, so I’m not really too put off by it, it was just unexpected, is all. I’m just thankful that after everything I’ve been through, it’s not an internal issue, which would mean more surgery. I’m also thankful that these problems will be corrected at no cost to me. That is a huge relief. It would be highly frustrating to have to pay for a replacement, especially when I’ve done everything I can to keep them in top shape.
