05 05 06 P3 or not P3? That is the question...
This past week, I was able to work my way up through the programs. When I was in the living room with Doran last Saturday, I heard Samara crying in the kitchen at the other end of the house. That in itself isn't necessarily unusual. The fact that I knew she wasn't just making noise but crying was something Aaron says I wouldn't have known before.
We went out for dinner with friends that night, and the topic of my CI came up. I don't know if it was the flowing wine we had with dinner, but I decided to stick something to my head (besides the CI magnet, that is) for the first time. Unfortunately, nothing I tried - a key, silverware - worked. I can't imagine what the other diners must have thought...
I'm committed to doing the CI rehab, but this wasn't a good week for it. We all got sidelined with colds and Aaron had to work really long hours most of the week. By Tuesday night, I was at P3, the highest level. I'm still trying to figure out when my battery dies so I can preemptively change the battery, as sometimes it takes me a while to realize that it's gone. If the CI falls off and I put it back on quickly, there's no noticeable difference. When I put it on in the morning, however, I get the biggest jolt because I haven't worn it since I went to bed the night before. I turn the volume down and brace myself for the electrical onslaught. It's this part I hate the most.
At my mapping appointment yesterday (apparently they're generally 2.5 hours in length), we moved the P3 setting down to P1, thus making it the lowest/safe setting. We created new programs for P2 and P3. The new P3 has the perception of being louder, but it's a different strategy. P2's electrodes are sequential, whereas P3 is done in pairs. Some people prefer the latter as they feel the quality is better. At this point, they're too similar for me to be able to tell. We did some closed-set exercises and a couple of hearing tests to compare the two programs, and the results were similar as well.
After all of that, I asked Sharon to turn P1 up as it felt too soft. But in the process of doing that, I started getting pain in my implanted ear. She theorized it was due to one of the frequency bands. She turned on the first one - nothing. When she turned on the second one - ouch, there it was! We started turning down the frequencies, but after a few minutes, Sharon said we were actually regressing. She opted to not make any further changes and stick with the original programs. We don't want to push too much, especially when I'm not ready.
My next appointment is in two weeks. Until then, I can revel in the fact that even though my nose is stopped up, at least one of my ears isn't affected!
I’m so glad to hear you’re at the point where you can enjoy a glass of wine and joke around about some of this!
Suzy - 06 05 06 - 00:46
You sound like you are making progress! and starting to have a bit of enjoyment in your life. Keep going – you are amazing!
Love – Lis
[reposted]
Lis - 08 02 07 - 10:49
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