Activation Day & First 5 Programs!

ACTIVATION DAY

Activation day went great! I went inside and my audiologist (Kristin) gave me a hearing test first, I couldn’t hear anything. Then she went and got my family and we all went into her office. First she put it on me and said that I would only hear beeping right now and to tell her if I could hear it. The first beep was so cool, I’ll never forget it. That was the moment when I knew that everything would be okay because it’s at least working. She went through all the beeping and I had to say yes if I heard it. Then the next step was to count how many beeps I could hear and to tell her. Then she did all the settings and then told us all to be quiet. She turned it on and LO AND BEHOLD, I could hear something while she was talking. It was overwhelming and I was trying to be strong while she was talking to me. It was so strange, it was full of beeping, buzzing and all sorts of sounds and I couldn’t quite hear voices, that’s something I didn’t expect and in all honesty, that part terrified me. When she finished that part up, I looked up at my family and they were all in tears and I started crying myself. Two and a half weeks with absolutely no hearing drove me crazy, I handled it better than I thought but I was ready to hear at least something and I got my wish that day. After that she had to test it out on various things. She rang the bell and it wasn’t too loud for me. She crumbled paper and it wasn’t loud but I got excited because it has been a very long time since I’ve heard that sound. She also clapped and did some other things and none of them were too loud for me. I was finished after that. Then, she went through all the parts of the processor and how to take care of it and all that good stuff. She asked while we were doing that, if I could tell the difference between her and my Mom and I said yes because the pitches are different between them and she said that was very very good since it was only the first day. She also explained the programs and that they were giving me 8 programs to work on when I was comfortable to go to the next program then I had to go see Dr. Peters. He said that everything looked good and that I was good to go on working out, roller coasters, and flying. I got to get a picture with the doctor that made this all possible and I will forever be grateful for Dr. Peters and Kristin. (I will remember to get a picture with her next time, I forgot with all the excitement!)

After that we left to head to the speech therapist, her name is Linda. I was so overwhelmed and everything sounded SO weird and I was scared that I didn’t really understand anything because every voice and noise sounded like beeping, dinging or some other sound and my brain at that point just didn’t understand what it was supposed to mean. Once we got to the speech therapist she asked how I was doing and did some testing. She did some sounds like eee, ahhh, sssss, shhh… and she would go through them with me then she would cover her mouth and I got every single one of them correct. I was like okay, well that’s weird… I didn’t think I’d be able to do that. She said it was good that I got all of them right. Then she did actual sentences and went through them and I had to pick out which one I thought she said and I again got everything right. She asked how I knew that was what she was saying and I kept telling her it was the “T” sound in that sentence and I just knew it was that one so that day it was the glorified “T” that saved the day haha. After that, she had told my Mom to try it with me and I felt so bad because at first, I couldn’t understand her.  Then she asked my sister, Tara, to try it and I got what she said right off the bat. I could tell my mom was sad so we tried it again and I finally got it right. Linda said that I was doing VERY WELL for the first day and that I just amazed her. I left the there feeling so much better. She showed me that each sound meant something so I have to teach myself what they mean. I said before that I didn’t think I was understanding anything at all and she showed me that wasn’t true. I left with my faith renewed and the confidence that I could do this. I have never been able to understand anything without looking at people’s lips so that was just so bittersweet that after all of this training in understanding, I wouldn’t have to work so hard to read people’s lips and understand what they’re saying.

We left for home that night after dinner and shopping. I took it off for the first part of the trip but towards the end I put it on to listen to the music and I could hear the guitar but it sounded like beeping. Some songs I liked but one song I absolutely could not stand. I wish I had written it down but I didn’t. After we dropped Tara off, I got in the front and on the way home I heard and understood my Dad and we had a full conversation in the Dark. That was another first for me and I knew that my adventure was just starting.

PROGRAM 2

The next morning I got up and started out the day with channel one but then I decided to change it to two. I was hearing all sorts of sounds. I ate my breakfast and I could hear myself chewing and I was like wow, it was cool but at the same time just SO weird. After that I went outside and let Kyra out with me and I was overwhelmed with hearing all the dogs barking. Marley sounded like a police siren with the whining bark that she does. Maddie and Kyra both sounded like little bitty robot dogs. After that, I walked inside and I heard this sound every time I would walk and I found out that it was me dragging my feet. Gosh, now I understand why Tara gets onto me about dragging my feet, that sound was very annoying, it’s okay Tara, you don’t have to get onto me anymore now! I hung out around the house by myself for most of that day. I was looking through all of my CI stuff and discovered that I don’t like the sound of paper. It wasn’t too loud or anything, it just sounded so weird, I don’t even know how to explain it. After that I tried to watch some TV and ended up having to turn the sound of the TV off. I didn’t like the way it sounded, it just sounded like garbled robot sounds or something. They said that it would take a while to like hearing technology. I went with Tara out to her classroom that night, and as we were leaving I heard a beep and I asked Tara what it was and she said it was a bird! Wow! It was the first time to at least hear a bird even if it was a beep. I also went crazy when I heard running water for the first time when my mom was doing dishes. I don’t understand why people think it’s a soothing sound, but maybe soon I will. I still wasn’t hearing actual voices at this point yet. The next day I went to my Memaw and Pepaw’s house to swim. I surprised Memaw because I could her say “sh” when she said She. I also ASBOLUTELY did not like listening to one of Gavin’s toys, did not like that toy! I went back to work on Monday with Program 2. I could hear one of the guys next to my office roll up his maps, I’m telling you, I don’t like paper right now haha but it was interesting because I’ve never been able to hear him do that. I also was able to figure out if someone was walking down the hall or not at work. I still couldn’t hear actual voices at this point yet.

PROGRAM 3

I finally can hear a little bit of voices, it still didn’t sound “normal” but I was happy to finally have it change a little bit. As I was leaving, I had to open the gate so I went outside and I could hear something and I stopped and waited until I figured it out…. It was the tree leaves rustling! So Cool, another first for me!!! I went to help Tara in her classroom last week and as I was walking up to her classroom I could hear people talking but I didn’t know where but when I got closer it got louder and louder and as I got there, my 3^rd grade teacher Mrs. Hart was in there talking to Tara about me. I was happy to see her. Before with my hearing aid, I wasn’t able to tell the difference if it was getting louder or not. I was either able to hear them or not. We cut out things that were laminated and I could tell the difference between paper and plastic, still didn’t like the sound of that either.  We went to Summer Mummers and I kept it on. It sounded like a whole bunch of people together and they were mumbling and garbling. Weird experience, but interesting. I also got to hear rain for the first time with Program 3, I don’t know exactly how to explain it, but I know it will get better. Water still sounds like a bunch of static and birds still sound like beeps but everything else seems to be getting better with every program.

PROGRAM 4

I switched to program 4 on Sunday (9/8) while I was having my birthday dinner with family. It’s a blessing that I got it activated before my birthday. Anyway, that night I was listening to everything, the birds sounded like different pitches of beeps when they were chirping, so I guess it was better than a regular beep. Also that night, my dad had his head turned and he said “Hey Mallory” and I looked at my mom and I said slowly, “Did he just say Hey Mallory?” We all got very excited about that. As I’m writing this, I have had so many firsts since it got activated and I’m not even finished with tuning and mapping it, it’s only the first mapping and tuning. On my birthday, I got a 100% on my speech and understanding while working with mom. I went from not understanding her behind a piece of paper to understanding her WAY better so that was a drastic improvement. I need to start doing this with everyone I know. At work I was doing the dry write out and it made a sound and I was shocked and said “Whoa!” and I turned around and asked Brandi, “does this make a sound?” And she was looking at me laughing and said “yes, did you hear it?” I said “yes, I never even knew this made a sound.” She said “that’s so cool!” Last night I came to my parents’ house, the power was out, and there was this aggravating sound and so I finally said what is that?! My mom listened and said is it Kyra chewing on her bone? I watched Kyra and listened and said yes it is. It got so aggravating I had to take it off haha. I was so tired by the end of the day. I get so tired so fast these days from trying to listen to everything and figuring it out. I’m doing good though, I don’t take it off at all during the day and they said that I would probably need breaks from it, but I only take it off in the evenings if I do. I got my other processor from FedEx so I was excited to start Program 5 the next day.

PROGRAM 5

Today, I have program 5 on and my processor is a sand color and looks neat. The voices sound better on this program, not perfect yet, but better. I’ve been at work so I haven’t heard anything “new” yet except I noticed that the keyboard when I type doesn’t annoy me anymore and I didn’t realize that it annoyed me until today, but I will keep writing it up as I notice differences. I did notice at lunch that my cousins sound better to me too and I catch most of what they say when they talk to me, they don’t sound too much like midget robots anymore. I will never get tired of them calling me robot ear (Thanks to Micah), it makes me laugh so much, they’re so cute.