I failed to mention a couple of things in my recent 'hearing update.'
One is not related to hearing at all, but is a byproduct of the surgery itself. One of the several side effects that patients can experience is the loss of the sense of taste. My first meal after my surgery was a hamburger and fries at Interurban in Norman. It tasted pretty much like what I think fried cardboard would taste like. I couldn't even tell it was a hamburger, except it looked like one.
With most food, I can at least tell by the taste what it is, though it doesn't taste nearly as good as I know it to be. Watermelon and ice-cream still taste pretty good to me. If there are donuts at church, I'll have one and can enjoy the taste. But for the most part, I've lost most of the pleasure one gets from eating. Everything is just 'blah.'
The second thing is that, as my hearing through the CI improves, I sometimes am not certain that my hearing aid is still working. For understanding speech, in particular, I still rely on the hearing aid, but sound is becoming a weird mix of 'normal' sounds through the hearing aid and the more 'digitized' sound through the CI. I wish I could fast-forward through this transition stage - but the CI sounds continue to improve, albeit very slowly.
Since I was a kid, I've always liked hearing the chorus of the cicadas in the summer. For quite a long while now, I have been unable to hear them. But this summer I'm able to hear them again. At first I didn't even realize what I was hearing.
The CI seems more sensitive to sound than the hearing aid, so sometimes I hear something through the CI, but cannot detect it in the other ear. Such was the case with a nearby cicada a few days ago. Evidently it was in a tree I walked past (another issue for me is determining where sounds are coming from - I'm clueless). I could clearly hear a 'regular' cicada in my hearing aid, which was closest to the tree. In the CI, though, I definitely heard the sound of a rattlesnake warning me that it was about to strike. Honestly, that's exactly what it sounded like.
No, I didn't look down to avoid stepping on the snake - or trying to avoid it as it struck at my leg. I knew from my hearing aid that it wasn't a snake. But that's where I am with my hearing right now.
I'm happy to have missed out on the other common side effects to this surgery - extreme nausea and vertigo are common complaints, and it's not unusual for a facial tic to develop, because the device passes very close to the facial muscles.
I wish I was better able to describe sounds I hear. I played the special music and offertory at our church this past Sunday and the sound from the piano was quite strange to my ears. In my hearing aid assisted ear, the sound was very much like a piano should be, but on the CI side, it was that tinny, robotic, digitized sound that is so difficult to describe to someone. I continue to play; the sound continues to improve.
