Activation news....read it and learn!

Okay! So, last night I wore the implant for about 2 hours. I thought I was going to die. Things were so loud. Everything sounded like a chain saw. Even in silence there was noise. When I heard the chain saw sound I realized I was hearing something. My husband told me what the sound was when I heard the chain saw. It was different sounds at different times. No matter what sound it all sounded like a chain saw. My voice was a chain saw. My husband's voice was a chain saw. A car passing the house was a chain saw. Needless to say I have been freaking out. Extremely worried. Susan my bionic buddy has been worried along with Laurie my other bionic buddy. Abbie has been talking to me as well and trying to encourage me. Thank God for these people!

So, last night I told my husband we are calling cochlear after work tomorrow (which now means today). I am so glad we did that! Jason talked to them tonight. I was able to ask question and Jason would tell me the response. They told me to go back to the audiologist ASAP and that something is wrong with the mapping. You see the audiologist never did a threshold test. She just asked me if I heard the beeps and I said yes and then she turned it on. She never asked me if the beeps were comfortable. I asked her several times to turn it down and she said she couldn't...but she can and she will. Lesson number one for activation....never, ever let an audiologist activate an implant when a threshold has not been established.

We will call the audiologist tomorrow and set up a sooner appt. Right now I'm not set to go back for two weeks. As I said earlier the audi from Cochlear told me to return ASAP! The Cochlear audi also said NOT to wear the processor since it is so uncomfortable....literally unbearable. The audiologist at Cochlear also said that I should be able to wear the implant when I leave the office. We need to turn things down A LOT and even if it's too soft that's okay. The most important thing is...being able to wear it and there is no problem moving the volume up at a slower pace. I won't get any where without wearing it.

Things were so loud that the thought of putting the processor on made me sick to my stomach. I was a nervous wreck all day. I knew that when I got home from work I would have to try to wear it...of course we were going to call Cochlear first. Thank God we did. They were excellent and helped so much. So, right now I am so happy and relieved to know that this is not the norm and that something is wrong and it can be fixed. There is NOTHING wrong with the implant. The settings are just too high and that needs to be fixed and it CAN be fixed.

I'll let you all know when I go back. In the mean time...rejoice with me...I am so relieved. I feel like a a 100lbs has been lifted off my shoulders....actually I feel like 100 decibels has been lifted off my ear! LOL! That describes it better. :-)