Things have continued to be really busy lately. The good news is that Chloe is doing really well - she continues to put on weight and make progress. We couldn't be happier or more thankful with how well things have gone.
Yesterday, I went in for an appointment with Dr. G., my Cochlear Implant audiologist, for my first programming update since the initial activation two weeks ago. Just a note for those of you who haven't been through the process - after the CI is activated, you go through a period of adjustment and re-programming of the speech processor as your brain gets accustomed to all the new things. Initially, the re-programming appointments are pretty frequent, but then they slow down until you basically go in once a year for minor adjustments.
When I first arrived, Dr. G asked me how things were going - I gave her a brief synopsis and also handed her a printout of my training report from Angel Sounds - the computer software that I've been using to train my ears. Then, after Dr. G found someone to babysit/play with my 2-year old daughter, we did some testing. Dr. G. hooked up my speech processor to the computer - the first test was where the computer played a number of beeps and I listened to report whether I heard 2, 3, or 4 beeps. This test repeated using beeps at different frequencies. I didn't ask, but I think this test was to figure out the softest sounds that I could hear. We then did some testing on the other (loud) end of the scale; the computer played beeps that got gradually louder, and I reported when the sound was "comfortably loud" - in other words - right before it got "too loud."
After those tests, Dr. G updated the programming in the CI. She explained that all of the electrodes would be turned on; apparently, they don't turn all of them on at activation to avoid overwhelming the brain. I was missing the higher frequencies at activation. She also gave me a much wider range of volume to work with. When the programming was done, she then switched the speech processor on. Things sounded a lot different... I could definitely hear those higher frequencies. I heard a sound that I couldn't identify and had to ask Dr. G about - it was the wind blowing outside. Dr. G gave me 4 different programs to play with. Programs 1, 2, and 3 were basically the same, just progressively louder. Program 4 was for "emergencies" in case it all just got to be too loud and I needed to scale back. The plan is that between now and my next re-programming next week to progressively increase the volume and move up to the different programs to get my nerves and brain used to the more stimulation.
When we were done, my 2-year old came back. She sounded like Mickey Mouse again. Dr. G said that it wasn't unexpected, as my brain was now getting input at those higher frequencies that I hadn't had before. One thing that I did notice is that things sounded clearer, and that the volume level didn't seem overwhelming anymore. As I drove to the hospital to see Chloe, the car sounds were clearer, not as overwhelming as before. I increased the volume a few notches on the way, and didn't have any issues. When I got to the hospital, Josephine, my wife, was going back and forth between sounding like Mickey Mouse and sounding more normal. I did notice that she sounded clearer.
The first time I really noticed how good things were was a bit later... as I was washing my hands in the neo-natal ICU, I noticed that I could easily understand the video that was playing at the hand-washing station, even without looking at it to lip-read. I couldn't do that before. In the actual room, I could hear the machines and other noises so much more distinctly. There was water bubbling in the breathing machine - that was a new sound. The nurses were going back and forth between Mickey Mouse and normal, but in either case, I could understand them distinctly. I was excited - both because I saw how well Chloe was doing and because the hearing was so good.
As I left the hospital, I decided to try an experiment. I put on the phone clip / bluetooth streamer and played some of the same music videos that I had tried earlier, just after the activation. What a huge difference - I could hear guitars... complex harmonies and layered songs all sounded good. On the advice of my mom, later on in the evening, I tried some songs that I'd never heard before to see if it was my auditory memory or if it was just really good hearing - I was able to appreciate songs that I'd never heard before. I tried making some phone calls (no captioning, just the audio) - this was something I hadn't been able to do well for quite some time. The voices were crystal clear!
All in all, it was an overwhelming, but happy day. Even though I was tired (I had woken up at 3am to work so that I could be away for the drive and AuD appointment), but happy with the results. The thing that now really excites me is that I'm still really early in the progress, but already am ahead of where I was with the hearing aid. I have so much more improvement ahead of me, and I'm looking forward to what things are in store for the future. Already, I can hear things that I hadn't heard before. Parts of songs that I could see on the video but couldn't hear. I'm looking forward to getting some time to do the Angel Sounds training now to see how much better things are - more on that to come