God Works in Mysterious Ways?!?!

If you read last night's post, you are well aware that yesterday was  f.r.u.s.t.r.a.t.i.n.g!  Today is 8 weeks which was worst case scenario for activation, but hearing it might be four more weeks...that was rough.  I didn't sleep much last night and when I did sleep, I  had crazy dreams.  This morning, I was exhausted and stressed.  I carpool to work and my carpool buddy was driving, which is nice because I am TOTALLY deaf in my right ear.  Think about that for a minute.  You can't lipread if you're driving and you can't hear anything in that ear.  It's loads of fun...  Anyway, she was driving but I was still having a hard time understanding her because you also can't lipread when someone else is driving since they have to look at the road.  I reached into my purse for my remote to turn up the volume on my left (first) implant except I was so tired and frustrated, I accidentally put it on the new, unactivated implant and turned it on.  Seriously.  I didn't even realize it at first!

The reason activation is after healing is because the sound quality is bad when there's fluid in the middle ear.  Based on my tympanogram (ear pressure test), there is still a whole lot of fluid in my middle ear.  It's basically like having swimmers ear the entire time.  Of course, you can't hear well when there's fluid in the ear.  Unlike a hearing aid, the Esteem does use the ear drum as a microphone (which is how normal people hear), so if it can't move, it's bad.  So the sound isn't great, but it works.  There's very little clarity, but the volume helps tremendously.  In fact, it sounds just like a hearing aid.  That's right, hearing aids sound so awful that they make implantees wait practically forever to get activated so it won't sound that bad.  They really do sound awful.  (Note: I know I have lots of family/friends with deaf/HOH kids.  This is exactly why implants are GREAT! Do the surgeries!  It is worth it!)  Even when the implant is not programmed at all and my ear is full of fluid, it sounds just as good as my hearing aids ever did.

Of course, I called my surgeon's office right away.  His office manager  (love her!) told me it wouldn't do any damage to leave it on and was amazed that it sounded good.  I was actually using that ear to talk on the phone.  Before this morning, we were debating whether to do oral steroids to aid in healing or not.  After talking with her and getting a voicemail from the surgeon (love him!), the plan is...

1) Keep the implant on (like I was going to turn it off even if they told me to...)
2) Start a nasal steroid ASAP.
3) Check tymps (ear pressure) on Tuesday.  If they're good, keep using nasal steroid.
4) If tymps are NOT good on Tuesday, start oral steroids.  It's a short round, just five days.
5) HOPEFULLY, the pressure will subside and I can have "activation" on the 18th.  Of course, it's not really activation since I accidentally activated myself, but the audiologist can actually program the device.

I can't believe how good this sounds without any programming.  It's not personalized and it's poor quality, but overall, it's decent.  Having sound in two ears helps a lot.  Now, I can't wait for it to be working at capacity!!  Turning on the implant was really an accident (I swear!), but I kinda think it was God's answer to my tearful prayers all night last night. :)

Funny story: My surgeon is wonderful!  When he left a voicemail today, he told me to do try the nasal steroid then said, "I don't know any details about your personal life, but if there is absolutely no chance that you could be pregnant, try the oral steroids, too."  I laughed so hard!  Obviously, I am okay to take oral steroids. :)