3 month's implant journey (video)

It's boring to see the 3 months journey in words, How about seening it in pictures and clips.

well, Richard my fiance has created a video on what i've been doing over the past 3 month's with the implant.

Enjoy the video:

3 months, what a journey!

Hey all,

wondering where i've been, and not posted or a while? Well, here I am and have alot to tell you all.

I'm telling you now that almost 4 months ago i had the operation and it wasn't to bad at all, but to be switched on and it's now 3 months since I've been activated. I can't belive how quick it has gone. It feels like I have been hibernated for sometime and to wake up with this wonderful weather, but with all these crazy sounds.

I'm soooooo loving this implant journey with world full of sounds, it can be annoying but what more could I ask for.

I'd my 3 months mapping the other day and it went great. I walked into the door at the implant centre with a big grin on my face because I was so looking forward to having my implant turn up. As I arrived at the centre I had 2 appointments. 12-noon was the hearing therispt and 1:45pm - audioligst. I had to wait almost 1 hour and 45 mintues just t get tun up.

So, here I was in the hearing therispt room. As I sat down, Charlotte the hearing therispt asked me tons of question. It felt like I was being for some sort of job.

Since we discuss how the implant getting on, and happy with my all my feeback. It was time to get my thinking cap switched on and do all these test.

firstly, we did some sentence test, which charlotte had to read one sentences out of the four choices that were on the page. Without lip-reading and only listening, I had to pick out what she said. The test got harder as we go along and at the end of the test., I realised how much I've improved sinced the last time I had this test done. Last time I only got 6/35 and now it turn out to be 24/35. Which was great. After that she read out a story frm this sheet and given me a copy. I had to follow (pointing) to the word she reads out, same again without lipreading. Last time I had to look at her a few time because i was lost. This time i didn't look at all and managed to follow her without looking what she was saying.

Finally the test was done and she discuss how well I have improved and when i'll be seening her next time and what i'll be doing next time. So, now my next appointment is in Oct!

Since, that appointment only took about half an hour.we had a while yet before it was time for the mapping appointment. So, myself, richard and my interpreter took a walk down the shopping centre near by and had something to eat and had a good chat. The time soon went by wuick and i was getting excited to have my mapping.

As I walk back into the centre again, my audiogist was already out in the waiting room and just about to call my name and untill she saw me and said "this way katie" I got into the room and sat down. Same again, she came out with loads of question just like charlotte did and also asked me even moorre question on how Greece went! I had no choice but telling her how i got on.

I was hoping she would connect me up right away just so i can shoot off out thoses doors and try out the new sounds, but what happened - I had more tests!

same as usual we did a hearing test by pressing the button every time i hear a sound. Did well but still got alot of work on high frequency sounds. Obviously I didn't hear them at all before I'd the implant done.

Next, I did this test which involves a grump old man on the screen saying a loads of sentense again. I did much better than last time - before I had the implant i couldn't event pick up a full sentences, then after week 1. manage to get 5 or 6 right. This time I got 17 out of 20.

finally I was finished. She had turn the implant up a quite alot which she thought it was enough for now and now my next mapping is not untill october (6-month)

So, now it will be short while untill i next visit. As, i left the implant place. Already I notices that I was hearing more things and seems to hear more things that was a bit of the distance away. When Richard and my parents spoke to me it sounds all echoy again. I felt like I was back in disney land again.

few hours later, i connected my ipod and it was on the same volume as before when I pressed play I was shocked on how loud it was, so I turn it down a bit. It seems like the music starting to sounds much better than it was before.

3 days later, the diseny voices started to faded a bit, and now I'm hearing much better but I keeping hearing this sort of "hmmmmmmmmmmm" which I still haven't go a clue what it is. It feels like the sound is traveling through head which make some sort of hmmmmmm. I tried taking the headpeice to check if it was tinitus and it wasn't.

I jst seem to think its making that sound because my brain doesn't know what it is and still working it out to make i into a real sound. " don't ask where I got that idea from but that what i think" It wasn't some sort of wind and now i'm still working it out. oh, well it will fade eventually.

Anyway that's it for me now, by the way we won the bronze medal while we were taking part int the world cup in Greece. We did well, even though it was pretty tough in the heat.

I'll try and pop up some photo's sometimes this weekend for you all to see. Also, i'll post up a photo that I had done in my photoshoots too, which was for the implant centre.


anyway, i'm speechless now. I've ran out of words.

so, i'll send you all the gossip soon.

take care for now x
k x

1 month mapping

Hey all,

Sorry it's been ages since i've updated my blog. God, i've been ever so busy trianing for England Deaf Women, which i'm due to Jet off to Greece tomorrow for the World Deaf Cup - c'mon England, rooaar!!!

Anyway, I've had my 1 month mapping. The implant going great. finally the disney voices gone, and i've been able to indentify more sounds better. I had some test done, you know the one with the grumpy old man on the screen. I manage to pick up 2 or 3 sentences on that but the enivouriment sounds test I got all of them right and no longer need to do that test anymore woop!!! What a result.

I still need a bit more practise on hearing voices without lip-reading which is slowly improving but getting better.

I'm due to go back to the Implant centre on the 27th july - so there will be updates on that too

Anyway, I better be off now gotta maaking my way to london - ready to jet off to Greece, woop! how exciting!

take care all

katie

P.S - some updates about me on my facebook - try clicking the links to become my friend
www.facebook.com

facebook name : katie-louise Bailey, nottingham, UK

3 weeks - post activation

Hey all,

Sorry I haven't updated this blog for a short while, I have been ever so busy trying to complete my studies before the "Deaf World Cup" in Greece, which i'm looking forward to playing for my country.

The C.I going very well. I have learnt alot and the mickey mouse sounds has finally disappeared. Just feels as if I need it turning it up as it does sound a bit quite, which i think because i'm used to the volume and wanting to turn it up more but I can't. I have a while yet for my one month appointment - you think they should fit me in before?

I have found my self a new hobbie which I have never been interested in before. I have started to listen to music - my sister is teaching me and finding the best music for me to start off with and try out the top 10 UK charts music.

It great listening to the music. I love all the beats and of course I am doing a bit of homework trying to follow some word by following the lyric sheet. It quite tough but i'm getting there.

I am able to hear on the phone now, but not understanding what the person has said yet, which I need alot of practising and also still quite shy about using my voice as I don't really know if i'm talking loud or too quite.

One thing I found the most annoying about the sounds this week is the "birds" god, don't they ever shut up. It is nice to hear them but they can be annoying when i'm trying to do my college homework outside in the loverly weather!

anyway that's it for me now, better get back into training as it is only 3 weeks left before I fly over to Greece which I am really looking forward to as I am hoping that England will bring the cup home.

take care for now

x

Deaflymipics 2009

Medal contenders face the prospect of not going to the 2009 Deaflympics after Government diverts their money to the London 2012 Olympic GamesBritain’s leading deaf athletes may miss the chance to represent their country at the highest level next year after the Government diverted funding for the 150-strong team to the London 2012 Olympic Games.Medal contenders in training for the Deaflympic Summer Games, in Taipei in September 2009, said that the decision threatened to shatter their lifelong dreams and would further marginalise the nine million people in Britain with a hearing loss.From March this year, UK Deaf Sport, which represents deaf athletes, lost its £42,000 annual grant from UK Sport, the public funding agency whose priority is now to back Olympic and Paralympic athletes competing in Beijing in August and London in 2012.Forced to sack its staff because it was offered no alternative public funding, UK Deaf Sport is trying to raise the £500,000 needed to send a team to Taipei next year. “We are a national governing body and we are running on a voluntary basis out of our homes. We have tried everything, but people in Government keep passing the buck,” Josef Baines, the secretary, said.“Meanwhile, they are pouring millions into the London Olympics. We are taxpayers, too, and, given the choice, we would rather not have London 2012.”The Deaflympics was established in 1924 by nine European nations, including Britain, making it second only in heritage to the Olympics. The Silent Games were held in Paris that year, with 148 participants, marking the first Games dedicated to athletes with a disability.Since then, it has grown as a movement: 2,200 athletes from 67 countries took part in the Deaflympics in Melbourne in 2005. Britain, comprising 80 athletes in eight sports, won 16 medals - more than Australia, the host nation, and one of the team’s biggest hauls at the event.“It would be embarrassing if the Deaf Olympic Games, which Britain helped to found, had no Britain team,” Philip Gerrard, chairman of the Great Britain Deaflympics Organising Committee, said. “It would cause so much damage to the deaf community and our profile worldwide. We may have to pull out of Taipei if there is no financial support from the Government within the next few months.”Deaf athletes claim that they have been “pushed out of the equation” in British sport. They cannot compete at the Paralympics because no other nation sends a deaf team to those Games. “I feel we are marginalised. It may not be deliberate because you could walk past me and not know I’m deaf. It’s more about awareness,” Xander Hurley, 31, a badminton player from Oxfordshire who is ranked in Britain’s top three, said. “But the mentality goes to the highest level of government.”Born deaf, his parents were told by a doctor that he would be good for nothing but factory work and would never utter a word. He is now a software engineer with virtually fluent speech and hopes to be selected for the Deaflympics team. He worries about the future after the funding cut because he already spends more than £5,000 a year to pursue his sport.Esther Maycock, 28, a television signer who won a bronze medal for football at the Melbourne Deaflympics, has an anxious wait until August, the deadline for submission of the deaf football team. UK Deaf Sport cannot risk incurring the £50,000 fine for pulling out once it has signed up to Deaflympics, so is waiting until it knows how much money is available.Gerry Sutcliffe, the Sports Minister, told UK Deaf Sport in a letter in February that the “difficult decision” to cut Exchequer funding had been made because of the need to focus resources on the Olympic and Paralympic programme for Beijing 2008 and London 2012. A spokesman for UK Sport said: “We informed them as far back as 2006, so we have been very clear about this for some time. As the agency charged with delivering medal success at the Games, we have taken the decision to prioritise our investment on Olympic and Paralympic sports and athletes. This has led to some organisations, previously funded, no longer being so. It does not lessen their relevance or appropriateness, but in a world of finite resources the decision is the right one.”However, deaf athletes argue that they are better value for taxpayers’ money than their Olympic and Paralympic peers. “The cost of winning a medal at the Deaflympics was £1,400, a stark contrast to the £1.6 million per medal at the Athens Games in 2004,” Gerrard said. “We are not asking for a massive amount. It really is peanuts compared to the millions being spent on the Olympics. That is what is so frustrating because it will have a massive impact on deaf athletes.”http://www.britishdeaffootball.com/?fid=197&pid=960

post Activation - 1 week and 6 days (Thank You)

It's nearly 2 weeks since i've been switched on, it's has gone pretty quick for me.

I really can't belive that the first week I was about to give up with the implant as the beeping sounds really annoyed me. Without the encouragement from Abbie, Laurie, Jenniefer blogs and of course the yahoo group. I probably would of given up with the implant by now which I would still be in the silents world and leaving the implant in the poor box.

Now it's the 2nd week things has changed alot for me. I've started to become more confident. I can't belive how much stuff I have heard that i've never heard before this week. I know it's early days yet which i've alot more mapping to come and voices still sounds a bit muffled (mickey mouse) etc

what I really want to say in this post, is a BIG THANK YOU to all those that supported me all the way on here the blog and the yahoo group. You have really help me alot and my life with the implant is getting better and I am proud to become a Bionic women :-D

will keep you all updated on the next mapping etc.

bye for now x

1st Mapping. - Beeping has ended!

Today was my first mapping since the switch on. After having a week with those awful beeping sounds, today the beeping has finally ended. wohoo

The new sounds all started off with a new set of loudness and different range of frequency, which I and my audiogisit set up during the tuning session. When the tuning was done, Ellen then switched it on.

Firstly, I heard ellen going how does that sounds. I was speechless because her voice sounded weird, it was like a robot or micky mouse talking. I was so please that I heard no beeping while she was talking. I even heard some background sounds clear like paper russling and ellen typing on the keyboard.

Ellen and I went into another room to do some test. We had to do this test which I've done through my implant assessement with a grumpy old man on tv. I had to try guess what he said. It was very hard. I hardly got any right. I could hear him ok but couldn't really understood what been said as he had no facial experession and of course I couldn't lipread him. So i've alot of homework to do.

Also we did this enviourment test to try and identify some envouriment sounds, such as serien from police cars, telephone ringing etc. That test was ok, I didn't do to good but it was slgihty better than the assessement result. Sometimes next month I should have a result, so fingers cross that would work.

Since i've seen my audiogist. I manage to ask them for a smaller t-mic hook becuase the bigger ones kept making my implant fall off. Finally that problem has been sorted and hopefully i shouldn't have anymore.

so what a day, eh. I'm feeling alot more confident that this implant joureney could get better for me. After my first mapping i've already notice the different and I really can't wait for my 2nd mapping which is next monday.

Cant't belive how much homework the hearing therispt have given me. So, here i am practising with theses children audio tape that you can listen and follow at the same time. Really interesting stories though, it kept me motivated to work hard with my listening skill.

so that is it for me, so tired after a long day and i'm happy with the outcome of today appointment and really can't wait for next week. woohooo! bring it on!