First Appointment

So today I had my first appointment with the hearing Implant clinic. To be honest their is not a lot to say at this point in time, they asked me questions about my hearing stuff like how do I get on at work/home?, Do I have Tinnitus? (Yep!), When was the last time you could actually use a phone?, Do you use subtitles on the TV?, Do you have any balance problems? And some questions about my family history, nothing really interesting other then they reached the conclusion that my hearing problem is probably genetic (which is what I always assumed anyway).

Towards the end of the appointment I was staring to well struggle to understand what was going on, which is not unusual, so the consultant pulled up a word processor on his monitor and started using that to talk to me. Its a little thing but it makes communicating for me a lot less stressful, even if I am willing to have my head sliced open to get rid of such awkward situations, I appreciated it.

The result was that they are putting me forward as a candidate for an implant, so more testing to follow!

Well back from my cochlear appointment and its official I’m in for the testing.

We talked about the implant, I asked some daft questions like will it leak in me, will it break in me, will I be able to wash my head or is it going to break if water gets on it. All of course were answered with no its going to be fine once the wound is healed up, its even flexible inside you so it will move with your head in the event of an impact or something.

Also the question about if it would need to be replaced (the internal part) was answered that its designed to be a simple as possible in the internal part, its just a connection all the processing and other stuff is done on the external part, which is changeable, also the company that the NHS use for the implants has a policy of making sure that their new external parts are eventually compatible with every implant they have ever made, most reassuring that as the technology moves on I will at least be compatible with it (assuming I can pay/get the funding for these upgrades but thats a bridge to cross when it happens).

They then showed me the actual implant, its tiny, and thin its barely thicker then a credit card. And the actual outer part itself a couple of points about it:

• It has rechargeable batteries! JOY no more trips to get special hearing aid only batteries!
• Apparently it will eventually be able to use Bluetooth with a “software update”
• Not 100% sure about this since the booklet they have given me shows two different models so not sure which one I will be actually getting but the bigger one of the two has an accessory port to basically plug things in like anything with a standard headphone socket, hopefully I will be given a choice but I’m not sure yet, we are talking about the NHS I am getting this for “free” at the taxpayers expense, they might not stretch to the “Delux” model.
• It has a full colour screen remote control (yes they showed this to me)
• Said remote lets me play about with the settings like bass, treble and volume.
• It has covers for the fashionable Itchy. Both the head coil and the processor I wear on the ear (like the aids I have now)
• It can apparently adjust itself to different situations automatically by itself that I can override with the remote

Assuming the testing goes well I can’t wait to get it in and start the slow process of learning to listen again.

Richard/Itchy

Right I’ve decided

I know what I’m going to do about the cochlear implant, I’m going to go for it, assuming they let me of course. That’s it decided, done and dusted, not changing my mind. I just hope that it works, that I will be able to have a conversation without all the hassle and aggravation, both mine and the poor soul who has to have a conversation with me.

I’m also going to journal the process, so far I’ve not been able to find any blog or account of the process from agreeing to be tested to actually having the implant installed. So for my sanity I will be documenting my own journey or whatever you bloody call it, “Richard’s quest to become a Cyborg” has a nice ring to it. Not sure if I want to keep this private or publish it in a noble act of helping others, if you are reading this on the internet I obviously decided to make it public.

So yeah I just decided to have my head cut open and a machine stuffed inside it.

Not something you do every day.

How Cochlear Implants work & general FAQ about Itchy’s Implant

Right so this is a catch all post to refer people to who don’t understand exactly what this thing is and why I’ve set up a blog about it. This video explains it much better then I ever could (and it has subtitles/CC) so go ahead and have a look at it:

What model of Cochlear implant are you getting?

The model I am getting is a Cochlear Nucleus 6:

Are you having both ears implanted?

At the moment it will only be (assuming I am accepted in the first place) one ear that will be implanted, having a second implant (which is called Bilateral implants) is sort of rare on the NHS, not impossible but at the moment I would be happy with one and see where we go with it.

How much does it cost?

Since this is the NHS, yes I’m not being asked to pay anything towards having this done, since here in the UK we fund the NHS via taxation (VAT on goods/National Insurance contributions out of our wages and other various bits of taxation).

When is your operation?

Tuesday 14th July 2015

When do you get “switched on”?

I have a stack of appointments just under a month after the operation, the first is the Monday 10th August 2015, I’m assuming that is my big switch on at the moment.

Richard/Itchy

Welcome to my new blog

Hello

My name is Richard AKA Itchy (as some of you may know me) I live in Birmingham, UK and I’m profoundly deaf.

Recently my hospital The Queen Elizabeth hospital here in Birmingham have suggested I consider a cochlear implant to help me hear, hearing aids just don’t help me anymore. Can’t make a thing out with them.

So I’m starting this blog to help myself keep track of it all, to keep my friends and family informed and maybe even help other people considering an implant for themselves, I know it’s helped me read/watch other people’s opinions, so it feels right to “pay it forward” and document my own experiences for the vast collection of knowledge that is the internet (even if 25% of this collection is probably lolcats).

The posts will all come from my own journal that I keep anyway (and only the ones about cochlear implants before anybody gets any ideas! It’s private)

This post is just an introduction, the next post will be an explanation of what a cochlear implant is and then I’ll be back posting some of my journal entries till I’m caught up to make things more logical and chronological I’m hacking the dates so this post is the earliest post (it’s actually the 20th of December today) and the explanation of what a implant is will be after. The first proper journal
post will be the “Right I’ve decided” post.

Well thanks for reading and let’s get started then.

Richard/Itchy