Evaluation Process for CIs - Your experience?

Little update…

Received an email from my implant surgeon a few days ago. They asked if January 27 or 28, 2020 would work for me to have the second implant surgery. I told them either day would be fine. They have not replied yet but my guess the second implant will happen one of those two days.

Everything is moving pretty fast. Really looking forward to hearing in two ears again, getting some directionality back.

In my case, Cochlear has been very helpful from the CI evaluation, implant surgery to processor activation and on.

@Raudrive wonderful news for you. The next few weeks will go very quickly for you. Then your journey will start all over again. I’m hoping by then the K2 number 5 magnet will grip for you. Fingers crossed Good Luck

A little CI update.

Yesterday I had a cochlear implant to my left ear. The surgery went well, very much like the right ear implant surgery.

I did ask the doctor about the Kanso 2 processor not holding well to my implant, even with the #5 magnet. His response was the newest 600 series implants have a weaker magnet for MRI flexibility. He also said that Cochlear will probably do something with the processor concerning this holding issue. There have been a lot of complaints and returned K2 processors. So I still have my fingers crossed about using this off the ear processor.

I had some pain yesterday and took a few pain pills. Today there is very little pain. Never had any nausea, dizziness or balance issues. No activation date yet.

Didn’t sleep well last night. Hopefully I will get some sleep tonight.

If you looked at my right ear implant pictures before, this left ear is almost identical. The clear gooey stuff over the implant stitches is called a glue by the doctor. It is what enables me to take the soccer ball sized dome off my ear the day after surgery and take showers too. That’s a good thing.

congrats bro, You will become a Bilateral hearing and hear more well, step forward, never stop

The newest 600 series implants use different magnets. The Kanso 2 5i is the strongest magnet at this time.
The older implants can use stronger magnets like the one you pictured.

It’s the magnet that has been altered in the 6 series to allow recipients to have an MRI should it be needed. This is why they are not as strong as the 5 series magnets.

Another small update. Coming to an end I believe.

Things changed my second day after the implant surgery. I began to get balance issues and nausea. That was on a Friday. Most of Saturday I still had these issues so I took a nausea medication. But I ended up vomiting big time a few hours later. Sunday I took the nausea medicine regularly and this stopped that problem. By Sunday evening I was feeling much better.

Monday and Tuesday went pretty good but Wednesday my left eye started swelling shut and I noticed some pain from my eye across the temple and in the area of the implant. I was scared an infection had started.

Thursday, today I had the regular scheduled appointment with the implant surgeon. He checked me out and said I was doing fine, not to worry. So, I guess I got a little anxious for no reason. He did give me a shot for balance issues.

He cleared me for implant activation, February 25th. I mentioned the 26th in another post, I was mistaken.

Stereo sound is not far away.

@Raudrive more importantly did you hear anything when he connected the magnet from your old implant ear? Or didn’t he get that far?

I’m glad to read you can still giggle at your surgeons faux pa! Typical of highly intelligent people, they lack practical skills.

I’m really happy to read that your complications are not as debilitating as they could be…

@Deaf_piper said:

more importantly did you hear anything when he connected the magnet from your old implant ear?

No sound, I mentioned this too. The doctor was quick to mention it is a software protection. Each implant is identifiable, then each processor can identify only one implant to turn on to. So the processor will only activate with its correct implant software wise. Pretty slick.

Shortly after the doctor did this experiment he noted the N7 did attach and hold to the new implant. He then asked when my activation date was. I then mentioned he has to release me first. He smiled and said ”you are released”. He has a since of humor too.

It’s been a while since responding to this thread.

Two cochlear implants now. Second implant activation was February 25th, almost a month ago.

All I can say is the CI’s have been a good choice for me. In a matter of 5 months I have gone from 4% and 8% word understanding with hearing aids to +/-80% in each ear with CI processors.

A week ago my son and his family came to visit. That included my new 1 year old grandson. Today my son and I had a great talk on the phone, he mentioned our earlier visit and how well we could talk. Asked me to come visit this weekend. All I can say is my world is opening back up with these CI’s. I can only imagine how much better my hearing will be in a few months or a year.

Thanks to members on this forum and their help I have made the choice to get cochlear implants to improve the quality of my life.

Raudrive your CI’s outcome has to be music to your ears. What fabulous results you have so far. Just to be able to hold a conversation with someone, either on the phone or in person, is simply magic. But the best part is if you want peace and quiet just disconnect your magnets. Bliss!

I’m watching you and your progress with your bilateral Ci’s with interest.

This was a very informative and interesting series of posts. Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences! Please keep them coming…

But what about music? This is the main reason for my wife’s hesitation.

The first implant music sucked.
The second implant music is trying to sound like music, not good yet.
When I talked to my audiologist about this, he has two CI’s, his comments were music is decent. He also was very clear to say that music is like speech, you have to practice it for it to improve. He mentioned a couple different patients who are musicians and love music with implants. CI is about learning sounds.