Cochlear Implants: How well do they work at an older age?

Robin and I were on the road before 4 am - not a whole lot of traffic but had to dodge fluffy coyote. Of course we managed to get there before the doors opened for out patient! Hospital side too us in to wait out of the dark and cold.

I passed my blood pressure test even though my 'white coat' was a little high. Everyone was super nice. Explained everything and were good with my 'what?' The surgery lasted almost 2 hours. Ready to check out really quickly on we couldn't find Robin. Turns out that Mayo building has really bad reception! She didn't get her text messages or voice mail until we had been home for an hour (and it takes about on hour in traffic to get home!

In the meantime I have a plastic cup covering the incision and a headband to hold it in place. The headband is stiff and wants to press against my left ear hearing aid. Reading glasses are a challenge As they don't fit over the cup - so I have them balanced on my nose with the frames going straight up to the top of my head! Look like the lady from Mars. In 24 hours I can remove my cup/headband.

No problem walking around. Napped for 4 hours with our kitty, Lady Gray, holding me in place. She likes playing nurse.

The doctor and team seemed really pleased with how I did. I think I got an A or A plus (hope so as I love doing well on tests and this is one that they wanted me to do well on - no cheating like on the hearing test).

On December 1 I see the doctor and then if all well I get activated. In the meantime I'm continuing to use the left loaner hearing aid so I have hearing in the one ear. Robin commented that my voice sounded more like my old pre hearing loss voice. Not sure why that is but glad.

Thank you all for the support, prayers and best wishes.

I don't know if hospitals have changed a lot or if Mayo is simply exceptional!

Almost no wait before they whisked me in to start the proceedings. Even the gown was better than I've ever seen at a hospital and warm socks for my feet. Normally I freeze in a hospital and they had me immediately tucked into a warmed blanket. They also put pads on my feet and lower back - I guess it keeps them from chaffing, especially during long surgeries. Mine lasted close to 2 hours in and out of the surgery room. They also added compression pads to my calves. And, of course, the stylish cap!

The whole team was in and out, checking to see everything was ok and set to go, to answer any questions. They were so thorough that I didn't have any. I just smiled as they wheeled me away.

I apparently woke up very quickly and was ready to go.

The exit papers were thorough as well, even giving descriptions of what I might be feeling and/or hearing in the right ear (popping, cracking, etc.) so that way I would know what was 'normal' and what wasn't. Talk about stress free!

Every single person Robin and I dealt with, starting from a guard who let us know when the out patient door was open early, to check-in desk and the whole rest of the way, were amazing. No wonder Mayo has such an excellent reputation. Not only is it the technical side but the human side.

Now for getting the 'egg' and headband off this afternoon. And activation on the 1st of December. Next Saturday we are having a gathering of our Phoenix clan (there are a lot of us) to celebrate youngest great grandson's birthday and for the rest of them to inspect their new bionic Mom, Grand and Great Grams.

I am reading your posts @billchitwood, albeit a bit late, with great interest because I am on the course to possibly get a cochlear implant. I feel very fortunate to be close enough to Mass Eye and Ear IMEEI) to be able to make that my hospital of choice - it's rated second in the country. The doctor I had an appointment with this week was absolutely great. He was very patient with our questions and explained things very well. You sound very happy with your Mayo doctors too. That makes such a difference.

I have an appointment for the first week of January with the audiologists at MEEI. I will be with them for about two hours and then another appointment with the doctor. It's so nice when you feel so good about a doctor, he was everything I could ask for in a doctor, at least so far.

When the audiologists do their tests do they test you with hearing aids in? I am trialing some Oticon More hearing aids and I think they are helping but I'm not sure if that's my imagination so I would really like to have a test to see my word comprehension with them. Unfortunately, by then I will have to either return these or buy them, they are from my local audiologist.

I will be very interested in hearing how things go with your activation.
JK

Your Audiologist might be able to extend the trail period if you ask - or test out another one because if you do the Cochlear Implant the side that is done will have the piece you will need - and you would probably need a whole different one for the other ear. So I would definitely wait in purchasing a set until you know if the Implant will work for you.

And yes, they should test you on a good hearing aid as well when they do the tests. But don't do a dumb thing like I did and basically 'cheat'. I've been so used to filling in words that when I took the test with the HAs I automatically filled in the blanks, which made it appear I was hearing better than I was! When they did the test with noise and the hearing aids I couldn't even get one right, at which point the audiologist figured out I wasn't hearing most conversations. Over the years I've gotten very good at faking hearing conversations. My family didn't catch on for years and one son is still convinced I hear everything he says over the phone (boy is he wrong!)

Today I went to lunch with son and daughter and basically enjoyed being with them. The one hearing aid I was able to use on the left side kept turning on and off and didn't seen to want to work well at all. I suspect it might be because the right side (which I can't use now) is the controlling HA? The right side one just wanted to whistle, driving both Robin and Craig nuts and not helping the left side at all. For past two days it hasn't streamed into my Iphone either, which means being on the phone is really hard.

Until they activate me I won't have hearing on the right side where the implant has been done. So I shall just smile a lot. Understand I'm going to have a lot of re-learning to do and they won't just be able to flip a switch and I'll be able to hear. Becoming a bionic woman is a lot of hard work, but hopefully will be well worth it in the end. I'm more than willing to put the time in - today was so hard sitting there and unable to join in the conversation, and when I did I wasn't sure I wasn't shouting as I couldn't hear myself.

Good luck with your venture and wishing the very best for you. If you have any questions this is a wonderful group for getting answers and support.

My son recently received the Johnson & Johnson booster vaccine and had sudden sensorineural hearing loss in his left ear and his right ear appears to be falling directly behind. Please tell me what can be done to reverse this adverse effect. He has been evaluated by his local urgent care clinic.

My son recently received the Johnson & Johnson booster vaccine and had sudden sensorineural hearing loss in his left ear and his right ear appears to be falling directly behind. Please tell me what can be done to reverse this adverse effect. He has been evaluated by his local urgent care clinic.

@lisa0359 I've heard of cases of hearing loss as a result of getting the vaccine. I've also heard the same for people that have gotten Covid. I believe the hearing came back in most, if not all, of the cases. It would be nice to get the statistics on this though. Please let us know how this turns out
Tony in Michigan