This is the story of how I decided to get a cochlear implant and my hookup. There are 4 pages. On the second page are links to pictures, both of me shortly after surgery, and of the Clarion HiFocus with positioner (the implant I received)as well as a brief explanation of how it works

In the summer of 1999 my hearing started to deteriorate so that even I noticed it. My husband and kids had noticed it long before, but did not comment on it. Coming back from a trip to Missouri, my hearing aid started to go out. When we returned home, I made an appointment with the local audiologist to have my hearing retested and to buy a new aid. My testing showed about a 90db loss in the left ear and below the board in the right ear. He ordered a digital hearing aid for me to try out. That did not help me. I could hear environmental sounds with it, but speech was difficult. He then gave me the most powerful analog aid to try. This worked better, but I still had a lot of trouble understanding people. I had to be able to see their lips, and still could not understand them if there was a lot of background noise. He told me he thought I should look into getting a cochlear implant.

I joined a couple online CI lists to get information. One day I posted a question and the gal who answered me, Lorie, also put me in touch with someone who had a CI here in Minnesota. I contacted Linda, and she invited me to a CI picnic to ask questions and to meet other ci recipients. I was also able to talk to the U of Minnesota CI audiologist at this picnic, and she told me all what I had to do to see if I qualified. We talked about it all the way home and decided if nothing else, I should go through the qualification process. My husband who had been skeptical before, was now all in favor of my getting one.

In November I made the appointment for January 26, 2000. On Christmas eve, my husband died and I almost canceled it. But Sharon, my audiologist, told me not to, that she would keep the date open for me and that if I still felt like canceling later, I could. I kept that date. I qualified, but both Sharon and the surgeon (Dr. Samuel Levine) recommended that I be implanted in my left ear because my right ear had been unstimulated for over 30 years. I had to think about that. I wasn't ready to lose what little hearing I had left. It took me until March to make up my mind. I will never forget that night. I went to "parents" night for the speech team. The students were split up into different rooms. In the quiet room where my son was to speak, I sat so I was directly in front of the speakers and no more than 10 feet away from them. I could not understand most of what they were saying. On the way home, I said to Jon, "I just made up my mind, I'm getting the implant". He replied "great!". I had finally realized, that what hearing I did have was not doing me any good.