I am touched by how many of you have left comments and emailed me after my first blog post. Thank you! Along with wishes of support and excitement, many of you had questions. What exactly will the surgery do for me?
Well, as I already stated in my first post, a cochlear implant is not a cure. Rather, it is a piece of technology that will ultimately give me access to a greater range of sound frequencies. My current hearing loss limits my sound awareness to low frequencies, preventing me from hearing sounds like birds chirping, a person whistling, or certain letters of our alphabet. Advanced Bionic's new technology is impressive in that the number of outputs on the processor and implant have increased, enabling the device to pick up and transmit to me, a greater range of the natural spectrum of sound. With time and therapy, I will learn to decipher these new sounds so they become meaningful and recognizable for me. In the beginning, I will be asking "what is that sound?" a lot! Thankfully, Matthew is one of the most patient individuals I know.
While I'm excited for the days after the surgery, I'm nervous about the procedure itself. I have full confidence in my doctors that they will do an excellent job; that is not my concern. The greatest source of anxiety for me, personally, is that at the start of the surgery, my doctors will sever the remainder of my natural hearing. From that moment on, I will never have any normal hearing in my right ear again. I was telling Matthew the other day that I had this mental image of myself putting in my right hearing aid one morning a few weeks after the surgery..just out of habit...and after turning it on -- nothing will happen. My stomach does flip flops at that image...it's a scary thought for me.
Back to the procedure itself...the surgeon will drill a tiny tunnel through my skull to the cochlea of my ear. They will insert the electrode array (the implant) through the tunnel and place it in the cochlea. After the device is implanted, they stitch me up, bandage my head, and I'm done! Some of you have asked...and yes, they will shave some of my hair off. While a buzz cut is a small sacrifice to make, I'm still a girl, I'm still vain, and it will still make me grimace when I look in the mirror. =( But no worries -- it won't be nearly as dramatic as Brittney Spears.
After the surgery, I will be given a month to heal and then I return to John Hopkins for "activation day." On that day, they will turn on the implant in my head and I'll be using it for the first time. The whole idea of an "activation day" is kind of weird to think about; it'll be an interesting experience. When they turn it on for the first time, I will not have an "aha!" moment where I'll immediately be able to pick up the phone and call someone. Rather, it'll be a slow, gradual process of my brain learning to interpret these new sound vibrations.
So in a nutshell, that is what I have ahead of me for the next month or so. I hope this post gives you a better idea of what the surgery is about and what my first experiences will be. 15 days!
Love,
Becky
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Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Friday, February 16, 2007
Welcome!
Growing up, some of my friends affectionately described parts of my vocabulary as "Becky words." Until someone corrected me in middle school, I always thought the word "herb" was pronounced with an emphasis on the letter h. I never knew it was silent! Cello was "shello" and chocolate was "shocolate."
This year, some of my "Becky words" just might fade into extinction.
This past November, my older brother, Matt, emailed me a link to a CNN news briefing reviewing recent technological developments of the cochlear implant. Specifically, the news article reviewed Advanced Bionic's latest developments. From that first day reading about the HiResolution Technology, I was hooked.
After a month of research, I made a very personal decision to begin the candidacy process of obtaining a cochlear implant.
On March 8, 2007, I will have the surgery at John Hopkins Hospital.
For many of you, this will be the first time you're hearing about this. Outside my most immediate family members and a few friends, I have kept this information to myself. In order to have the procedure, I had to be medically tested to determine my eligibility to receive the implant. Just last week, I completed the final medical exam, which was a CT scan of my brain and the anatomy of my ear. Until the medical team at John Hopkins gave me a thumbs-up, I maintained a very guarded optimism about the procedure. I was worried that because I do so well with lip-reading and bilateral hearing aids, I would not be eligible to receive the implant.
My concerns were put to ease when both of my primary doctors on the surgical team echoed their decisions: "You are an excellent candidate for a cochlear implant." I couldn't believe it! I still can't believe it.
As they explained, there are two primary reasons behind their decision.
1. My medical diagnosis is progressive hearing loss. When I was born, I was most likely hearing. Doctors believe I began to lose my hearing immediately after birth. After I was fitted for bilateral hearing aids as a toddler, my hearing continued to decline incrementally throughout my childhood. The point is this: my brain knows what sound, sounds like. My brain has a stored vocabulary of what a dog's bark is, what a lawn motor sounds like, and what laughter means. Therefore, when the implant is activated, neural pathways in my brain will transform the vibrations into meaningful sounds.
2. I lip-read like its my job! In order to understand simple human conversation, I rely 99% on lipreading. I also use environmental cues to figure out what a sound is. These are cognitive and problem-solving skills that I will use when I'm learning to hear with the implant. My implant will receive the sound, my brain will register it, then I will lip-read or see the book that just fell on the floor, and figure out exactly what I just heard. This process will take six to twelve months before I begin to see real results.
A cochlear implant is absolutely not a cure. Rather, it is a very powerful technological device that will allow me the opportunity to hear a much greater range of frequencies of sound. My hearing loss limits how much of the letter "s" I hear, or the word "grass" I understand. The implant, with intensive therapy and training, will enable me to possibly hear all of the letter "s" and all of the word "grass." Eventually, my sound comprehension will increase dramatically and understanding simple conversations will become much easier for me.
Starting the process of receiving a cochlear implant is definitely a milestone decision in life. Since Matthew and I are living in Fairfax, Virginia, far away from our closest family and friends, I needed to come up with a way to share my news and as the months go by, highlights of my therapy. Sending the same generic email to everyone seemed impersonal so Matthew made the excellent suggestion that I create a blog! My sister-in-law, Leah, started a blog to document her experiences as a 1st year medical student and we've enjoyed reading it so much. Her blog keeps us informed of whats going on with her, 500 miles away in snowy Vermont!
On a regular basis, I will post updates as the weeks go by with the implant. I'll post again before the surgery to explain more about why I've decided now to get the surgery. You'll be able to write back, or leave comments, if you want to. I hope you enjoy my blog and I'm looking forward to sharing my experiences with you!
Love,
Becky
This year, some of my "Becky words" just might fade into extinction.
This past November, my older brother, Matt, emailed me a link to a CNN news briefing reviewing recent technological developments of the cochlear implant. Specifically, the news article reviewed Advanced Bionic's latest developments. From that first day reading about the HiResolution Technology, I was hooked.
After a month of research, I made a very personal decision to begin the candidacy process of obtaining a cochlear implant.
On March 8, 2007, I will have the surgery at John Hopkins Hospital.
For many of you, this will be the first time you're hearing about this. Outside my most immediate family members and a few friends, I have kept this information to myself. In order to have the procedure, I had to be medically tested to determine my eligibility to receive the implant. Just last week, I completed the final medical exam, which was a CT scan of my brain and the anatomy of my ear. Until the medical team at John Hopkins gave me a thumbs-up, I maintained a very guarded optimism about the procedure. I was worried that because I do so well with lip-reading and bilateral hearing aids, I would not be eligible to receive the implant.
My concerns were put to ease when both of my primary doctors on the surgical team echoed their decisions: "You are an excellent candidate for a cochlear implant." I couldn't believe it! I still can't believe it.
As they explained, there are two primary reasons behind their decision.
1. My medical diagnosis is progressive hearing loss. When I was born, I was most likely hearing. Doctors believe I began to lose my hearing immediately after birth. After I was fitted for bilateral hearing aids as a toddler, my hearing continued to decline incrementally throughout my childhood. The point is this: my brain knows what sound, sounds like. My brain has a stored vocabulary of what a dog's bark is, what a lawn motor sounds like, and what laughter means. Therefore, when the implant is activated, neural pathways in my brain will transform the vibrations into meaningful sounds.
2. I lip-read like its my job! In order to understand simple human conversation, I rely 99% on lipreading. I also use environmental cues to figure out what a sound is. These are cognitive and problem-solving skills that I will use when I'm learning to hear with the implant. My implant will receive the sound, my brain will register it, then I will lip-read or see the book that just fell on the floor, and figure out exactly what I just heard. This process will take six to twelve months before I begin to see real results.
A cochlear implant is absolutely not a cure. Rather, it is a very powerful technological device that will allow me the opportunity to hear a much greater range of frequencies of sound. My hearing loss limits how much of the letter "s" I hear, or the word "grass" I understand. The implant, with intensive therapy and training, will enable me to possibly hear all of the letter "s" and all of the word "grass." Eventually, my sound comprehension will increase dramatically and understanding simple conversations will become much easier for me.
Starting the process of receiving a cochlear implant is definitely a milestone decision in life. Since Matthew and I are living in Fairfax, Virginia, far away from our closest family and friends, I needed to come up with a way to share my news and as the months go by, highlights of my therapy. Sending the same generic email to everyone seemed impersonal so Matthew made the excellent suggestion that I create a blog! My sister-in-law, Leah, started a blog to document her experiences as a 1st year medical student and we've enjoyed reading it so much. Her blog keeps us informed of whats going on with her, 500 miles away in snowy Vermont!
On a regular basis, I will post updates as the weeks go by with the implant. I'll post again before the surgery to explain more about why I've decided now to get the surgery. You'll be able to write back, or leave comments, if you want to. I hope you enjoy my blog and I'm looking forward to sharing my experiences with you!
Love,
Becky
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