Second Day of my First Sounds

Hello,

I just woke up and I was excited to get into my routine with my activated bionic cochlear. I learned how to recharge the batteries and put all the gears together, and it was pretty neat. I like the feel of transmitter being held to my skull by magnets. Then I turned it on.... beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!beeeeeep!

That's what I heard throughout the day. But I am learning.

On the way to work, I was about cross the railroad tracks and I heard:

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!! BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!

I stopped at the track, guessing that this loud beep is the train horn.... I looked left and right of the tracks... Yes, I was right, that was the train horn, but the oncoming train was more than half mile away!!! That was so awesome!

I came to office, and I found my co-workers gathered a surprise celebration breakfast. Their voices are all beepings, but it was so nice to hear such pleasant voices.

And I went outside of my office in downtown San Antonio, and it was so noisy! The sounds of buses, cars, crackles, etc... all echoing between the walls of the skyscrapers. It was so cool to hear these bouncing echoes. This is the first time these downtown noise has not bothered me at all. I am so glad I am not wearing hearing aids on my right ear anymore.

I went to a crowded grocery store - and it was so noisy with all the shoppers pushing carts around, but I heard a squeaking shopping cart about 30 feet away, so I walked to spot this one. I picked the right one. Boy, it was so awesome that I was able hear through the noise and clatter just to hear what I want to hear!

First Sounds!

Hi,

I just got back from my doctor's office. Today was a big moment for my wife and my folks. It is a big deal that even my folks came over from Houston to see my reactions to the "First Sounds". My wife videotaped this big moment, too.

My audiologist opened up the package and got all the gears in place. Then she connected the transmitter to the processor and put it on my ear. She put transmitter to my implanted chip by magnet. Then audiologist plugged the cord from her laptop to my processor unit to activate it. It is interesting to watch the audiologist programming the bionic cochlear from her laptop... very much like the science fiction movies... The audiologist pushed buttons, slided some sliders, and more. Waiting for the "first sounds"....

Beeeeeeeeeeeep!!! Beeeeeeeeeppp!!

That's what I heard for the first time. Just the beepings... Then audiologist and I spent some more time to get the bionic cochlear programming right to start off the adventure.

I really like to hear these beep's. What a nice sound. It is very pleasant to hear the tonality of these beeeeeeeeps. It is wonderful to hear these sounds than using my hearing aids - which is very loud, vibrates, and often hurts my ear I had to turn it down everyday. Now from on, there will be no more unpleasant hearing - because hearing through bionic cochlear will be wonderful! I really like to hear these wonderful tunes of beeeeeeps.

All day today, all the sounds I heard are all beeeeeeeps, beeeps, and beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeps. This is expected. I have to ask where the sounds came from, learn the voices, and more. It is so cool to learn the hearing all over again. These sounds are so pleasant to hear.

Successful Surgery!

Hi,

I am now home now from the surgery... all went well, it took about 6 hours. I guessed my doctor wanted to spend a good amount of time to ensure that my implanted bionic cochlear in my right ear is working and set in all the right places. They did activiated the bionic cochlear during the surgery and ran lots of tests to check the brain activity for any responses. I guessed all went well.

I am wearing a "white ear muff" covering my right ear, held by gauze wrapped around my head. This way, they wanted to be sure that my ear won't fall off... just kidding. They told me that I can take it off in two days.

I don't feel any pain except for the anesthesia from the surgery. I got up and walked around the room, rode the wheelchair, got in the car, and my father drove me home. No loss of balance, just woozy and wanting a big juicy burger... My wife even cooked up a steak dinner to celebrate the day. I got some prescribed painkillers, but never took one at all.

My "first sounds" is only two weeks away. That will give me enough time to allow my incisions behind the ear lobe to heal so I can wear the implant on my ear lobe.

Dan

Welcome!!!

Hi, this is Dan Solcher. I am making a new blog about getting Bionic Cochlear... It does sounds like a science fiction movie, but it is for real.

The date of implantation of bionic cochlear is scheduled is for March 9th, 2004. That's only seven days away! I have no idea what to expect from this experience.