MandyMarie
Acrobat
It's the Envoy Esteem middle ear implant! I was born with a sensorineural hearing loss, which means some of the thousands of hair cells inside the cochlea are damaged and cannot process sound as they should. The Esteem (fully implantable) is being tested in clinical studies, and as a patient of the study, I will be implanted with this device on June 18th. Yep..then I will be an official metal head!!
Seriously though, I am very excited. This will change my life, and possibly the lives of my children years from now, as they are also hard of hearing. I will no longer have to lip-read or use closed captions, and I will no longer have to feel alienated from conversations when it's too noisy or too dark to see. I will be able to listen to U2's music with a clarity I cannot now comprehend, and hear the many things in the music that some of you discuss, that's impossible for me to hear. I can go to college without the stress of not knowing if I can keep up with my classes. I can go to the movies and understand more than 5% of the dialogue. And there's so much more!
The downside is I will be completely deaf for two months while the implanted ear heals. And I have three kids. Oh well, small price to pay... I will have a remote to change programs, though unfortunately for my sneaky husband, it has to be placed on my head to change settings. Even more unfortunate for him, I can turn the device off when I wanna tune him out.
I'm keeping a detailed journal for anyone who would like to know more, complete with extra pictures. Feel free to stop by!
http://alreadygone78.livejournal.com/