I had a response that Dr. Cain’s schedule was booked solid and made my appointment for a CI evaluation with her on September 12th, which was kind of a disappointment, since I was ready to get this ball rolling! Anyway, this past Thursday evening, I got a call from Hearts for Hearing. This is the post I made the following day to two Facebook groups – Adult Musicians With Hearing Loss and Hearing Loss: The Emotional Side.
I write a family newsletter and made this addition last evening.
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Sometime around 5:20 or so, my phone rang. I was across the room and, of course, couldn’t get to it in time to pick up the call. It was from Hearts for Hearing, so I called the number right back. It turns out that there have been a few cancellations and my appointment for the cochlear implant evaluation could be moved up. I was on the calendar for September 12th, but have rescheduled for July 31st, just a month away. I don’t know how quickly things will begin to move after that evaluation, but guess I’ll find out soon enough. I have to admit that I’m a bit frightened – well, I’m scared as hell – about the possibility of losing my ability to hear music – and to make music – as I have been able to do for so many years. The last few haven’t been the best, of course, but I have been able to make sense of the piano, at least, and I continue to enjoy playing. I’ll walk courageously into this future, whatever it holds. I know that ‘audio recovery’ after a cochlear implant is a difficult task, physically and emotionally, but I’ve committed myself to it. I’ll turn my piano into an ‘ARC’ – audio recovery center (my own term) – and use it to help retrain my brain to make sense of the new ‘aural sensations’ it receives from the implant. I’m going into this with my fingers crossed, hoping for the best possible results.
The post drew quite a number of comments from other members, including the administrator of the ‘Hearing Loss: The Emotional Side’ FB group, who added a link to a book he’s published, a compilation of 25 podcasts he selected from a number of interviews he conducted with cochlear implant users, audiologists, and surgeons. I ordered the book yesterday and finished reading it just a few minutes ago. While it needs serious attention from an editor (to correct the numerous spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors), the information included in the book is quite wonderful. The opening section includes interviews with CI recipients; another section contains interviews by CI researchers and developers; another presents interviews with doctors and surgeons; and the book ends with a number of helpful resources for CI users, or those who are considering having an implant surgery. If nothing else, reading this book has made me believe that my decision to proceed with an implant is the best decision for me.
Today is the first day of the month; my appointment with Dr. Cain is the last day of the month, just 30 days from now. In a comment to my family in a recent letter, before I learned that Dr. Cain’s schedule was booked until mid-September, I wrote that I was hopeful that I’d have the surgery by my birthday. One of the questions I have for her is “How soon after the evaluation can the surgery be scheduled?”. I suppose it depends totally on the surgeon’s schedule.
I believe my surgeon will be Dr. Wayne Berryhill, whose Norman office is less than a mile south of our house. He also has an office in Edmond. I learned that he is on staff at the Norman Regional HealthPlex, which is just across 36th Ave. NW from our neighborhood, about two minutes away from us (including opening the garage door and backing out the car to walking in the front door of the hospital). I’m hopeful that my surgery can be done there. It’s an outpatient surgery and I will not be able to drive myself home. Carolyn doesn’t want to drive in Oklahoma City, so the HealthPlex would be the ideal location. I guess we’ll know fairly soon.
Meanwhile, my next appointment with my HA audiologist, Dr. Mathews, is July 13th. The appointment is mostly a checkup to be sure my hearing aids are working at their best level. They will probably both get new tubing while we're there. One of the concerns that I will bring to her is that I believe the hearing level in my right ear, my 'good' ear, has decreased noticeably in recent weeks. My appointment that day is at 11 a.m., so I imagine we will have lunch at the taco place Dr. Mathews recommended the last time we were there - Hacienda Tacos. Their tacos are quite tasty! My appointment on the 31st is at 2:00 p.m., so the afternoon 'rush' traffic will be gearing up about the time we finish that appointment. I'll suggest to Carolyn that we find a new restaurant somewhere in Edmond or near the clinic, or perhaps shop at Quail Springs Mall for a while, so we can miss the frustration and danger of rush-hour traffic.
