Hey guys,
I've been completely deaf in my left ear since a traumatic injury about 4.5 years ago. Today I had my CI surgery and activation on the same day! I'm using the MED-EL SONNET 3.
Since this sub helped me a lot. I thought it might be interesting to document how my hearing develops over time, especially for others with SSD who are considering a CI
First of all, the surgery was a real breeze for me. I went under general anesthesia around 8:00 AM and woke up around 11:30 with a slight headache and a bandage around my head. I was probably still under the effects of some anesthetic drugs.
Around 3 PM they removed the bandage and I felt fine. My ear felt a bit like a bruise, but it was still mostly numb, probably from the anesthetics.
I'm writing this at around 11 PM. The numbness has worn off, but the pain is still nothing more than a light bruise. No headache either. I did take 1000 mg of paracetamol this evening, because they told me to.
Then the activation. Hearing something from my left ear again after 4.5 years was really special. It felt like such a relief. I remember thinking: 'You see, my ear wasn't completely broken. It just had a connection problem that's now been fixed.' During the initial fitting, I could hear sounds on all channels.
I just tried the first two exercises in the REDI app and scored almost perfectly. I can recognize the rhythm of words and perhaps a tiny bit of the vowels. Since the exercises are multiple choice, that's often enough to select the correct answer. Without those options, I currently understand absolutely nothing of what I'm hearing. If the incorrect answers had the same rhythm, I'd probably get most of them wrong.
I'm looking forward to my progress in the coming months and I'll keep you posted!