CD's Ear Blog

Getting closer
CD's Ear Blog It's slowly getting closer and closer to March! Lately I've just been quite eager for the CI dates to get closer and closer. I keep hitting up the Advanced Bionics website and scoping out their color and accessory options, trying to decide which color and accessories I'd want, that sort of thing. Even pulled out the Advanced Bionics info packet I received from AB quit...
Wed, Feb 01 2012

Got some tentative dates for the CI
CD's Ear Blog Got an email from the surgery/appointments coordinator at the CI Center with the tentative dates for CI surgery.Follow up appointment- 2/24/12 @ 10:45Pre Op- 3/13/12 @ 11:30Pre admissions- 3/13/12 @ 1:00Surgery- 3/14/12 @ 7:30 (Check in would be at 6:00 am)Post Op- 3/29/12 @ 10:45 amActivation- 3/29/12 @ 8:30 am Am seriously hoping I can stick to these dates, b...
Tue, Nov 08 2011

Did I just hear 'principal punch'?
CD's Ear Blog Had a quick hearing test with the CI audiologist today. She was making her trip through Wyoming to meet with clients for mappings and such, and agreed to do a quick hearing test with me. Originally I was to go to Cheyenne tomorrow, but then I found out she was coming HERE the day before. So I went to the special education services building and was directed to the audi...
Wed, Oct 12 2011

Advanced Bionics back on the market in the US
CD's Ear Blog Advanced Bionics Announces FDA Approval For U.S. Market Re-Entry Of The HiRes 90K Cochlear Implant-- Distribution of HiRes 90K Cochlear Implants in the United States Now Under Way --VALENCIA, Calif., September 13, 2011 – Advanced Bionics (AB), the only U.S.-based manufacturer of cochlear implants and a subsidiary of Switzerland-based Sonova, announced today the a...
Tue, Sep 13 2011

Voluntary Recall Notification for Nucleus CI500 cochlear...
CD's Ear Blog Voluntary Recall Notification for Nucleus CI500 cochlear implant range Cochlear Limited is undertaking a voluntary recall of the unimplanted Cochlear Nucleus CI500 cochlear implant range.While less than 1% of CI512 implants have failed since launch in 2009 , Cochlear has identified a recent increase in the number of Nucleus CI512 implant failures. ...
Sun, Sep 11 2011

Cochlear shares plummet on product recall
CD's Ear Blog Cochlear shares plummet on product recallEli GreenblatSeptember 12, 2011 - 10:29AMShares in bionic ear implant company Cochlear fell 17 per cent in early trade after the global leader in hearing technology announced a voluntary recall of its unimplanted CI500 Cochlear range.Shares were down as much as $19.41, or 27 per cent, to $52.77. They were recently 18 per cent l...
Sun, Sep 11 2011

Purple VRS
CD's Ear Blog And I am now an owner of a Purple VRS phone number. Whaaaaat? I didn’t even know you could download the P3 software to any computer with a webcam and use it to make relay calls or video calls (I knew they had their own Purple Netbooks they were offering/selling). Cool! Don’t have a webcam on the desktop, only on the netbook. A deaf friend suggested I download P3...
Tue, May 31 2011

New Advanced Bionics device coming
CD's Ear Blog So Advanced Bionics has a new processor coming out, huh? The Neptune. Someone over in Europe attended a conference and found out a bit about the new device. That person also scanned and uploaded the brochure for the new device as well. Check it out! [link] (XPS) or [link] (PDF).Looks like a pretty neat processor, and you can go swimming with it on! Neat! You don't...
Tue, May 17 2011

Supero is a weird hearing aid
CD's Ear Blog I've not been wearing the Supero hearing aid in my left ear much for the last few months. Mostly, it just sits in the Dry and Store. I thought maybe there was something wrong with it, that it wasn't working properly. But when I tried it out on my right ear over the weekend, no problems! Until, oops my hair brushed against the mic on the Supero, and book bye bye. Oh du...
Fri, May 13 2011

Meningitis deaths prompt CDC to recommend vaccine for teens
CD's Ear Blog Meningitis deaths prompt CDC to recommend vaccine for teens
Sun, Jan 30 2011

WY meningitis vaccine bill moves forward
CD's Ear Blog ROOSEVELT HIGH STUDENTS WROTE LEGISLATIONMeningitis vaccine bill moves forwardRoosevelt High School senior Sierra Sterling, 17, testifies in Casper via video hook-up to the state Senate Labor, Health, and Social Services Committee on Wednesday morning. The committee voted unanimously to pass a bill written by Roosevelt students that would require Wyoming children to b...
Sun, Jan 30 2011

Earmolds
CD's Ear Blog The earmold I got back in Feb/March.... welllllll it split wide open right at the hole where the tubing goes into the earmold. Oh great. So I made an appointment to have a new earmold impression made, and wore an old earmold that must've been around 5 years old. It was pretty hard too, but I didn't experience feedbacking from the hearing aid with it. Got the earmold i...
Tue, Dec 21 2010

iCom and telecoil
CD's Ear Blog Got to play with telecoil over the weekend. Works great! And there is far less buzzing/electrical interference with telecoil on while I'm near a computer. I pretty much have to put my ear right next to the computer to even hear the buzzing, so that's a big improvement from the Supero.Tried out the iCom tonight for the first time. It works well for listening to music o...
Mon, Sep 20 2010

Naida/Supero, captions
CD's Ear Blog Had an audiology appointment today at 11:30. Audie fitted the new earmold for my left ear, attached it to my Supero hearing aid, and hey no feedback! Awesome. But it sure feels odd to have a hearing aid in the left ear. It's been so long, it just feels weird. And I can feel the earmold vibrating in my ear too. I had to turn the volume down on the Supero to reduce the...
Thu, Sep 16 2010

Naida IX UP
CD's Ear Blog Got the nice new RED Naida IX. so far not bad. Just very basic right now. Have another appointment for Sept. 16. Audie doesn't think Medicaid will cover icom but she'll call Phonak and find out. Will have to try the hearing aid in different situations and figure out what adjustments need to be made. Also new earmold impression made for the left ear, 3/4 shell (half s...
Tue, Aug 24 2010

MusicLink issues
CD's Ear Blog And already I've got issues with the TecEar NoizFree music link. Great. I think the wiring connection has gotten a bit loose. I have to play with the cord a bit to get the best results for listening to music, but I move in the slightest bit, the connection disappears. Definitely not too happy with this right now. I'll have to speak with my audie on Tuesday and see if...
Tue, Aug 17 2010

Word of Hope Deaf School
CD's Ear Blog I haven't had much luck with my Hearing Aids for Africa project. But that's ok, I tried. And I'm still trying. But I also learned that the African Hope Initiative is trying to raise $40,000 by October. That money will be used to purchase hearing aids and provide education for the deaf kids in Burkina Faso. The African Hope Initiative will be flying out to Burkina in N...
Fri, Aug 13 2010

Today's Appointment
CD's Ear Blog Today I got to meet the new audiologist at the office, since the previous one left to help a relative out for a while. Don't know how long he'll be out, but I was really pleased with the new audie. She's extremely nice, has a husband that wears hearing aids, yeah. She read some of the notes in my file and noticed that I was working on getting a cochlear implant. When ...
Wed, Jul 21 2010

Oticon Sumo: Day 1
CD's Ear Blog Day 1 of the Oticon Sumo DM hearing aid trial. So far, not too bad. Mom thinks I'm doing better with the Sumo, I'm responding more and not asking her to repeat as often as I did with the Supero. Definitely don't care for the telecoil on the Sumo when I'm close to electronics/computers, the buzzing is louder and more noticeable than the Supero's (and even more obnoxiou...
Wed, Jun 23 2010

Dilemma
CD's Ear Blog After calling EqualityCare to discuss coverage for hearing aids, basically if I wanted to get a new hearing aid nowadays to replace my old one, I should have just requested the Otion Sumo hearing aid instead of Phonak sending back a replacement. So now I'm trying to get in contact with the audiology office again, and see if we can work something out. It wasn't a repai...
Thu, May 27 2010

It's back!
CD's Ear Blog I have my Supero hearing aid back! Yahoo! Well, actually, it's a whole new Supero hearing aid. Apparently Phonak couldn't repair my actual hearing aid, so they just replaced it instead. Hum. Wow. Anyway, I'm very glad to have the Supero back. And just in time for my sister's birthday too! Today ought to be a good day!
Thu, May 27 2010

Phonak vs. Oticon
CD's Ear Blog I've worn Phonak hearing aids since I became deaf at age 2, and have always been happy enough with their products (until I tried out the Naida for 3 months a couple years back, which I didn't much care for). Now I'm just wondering how the Oticon products compare to Phonak. I currently am wearing Phonak's Supero 413AZ, and have been looking at the specs of Oticon's Sum...
Thu, May 20 2010

telecoil is busted
CD's Ear Blog The telecoil on my Supero hearing aid has gone kooky. How that happened, I have absolutely no clue at all whatsoever. One night, I was listening to music on the computer with the Hatis Epic silhouette earhook, everything working great. The next day at work when I try to listen to music on my iPod, I couldn't hear anything! If I maxed out the volume on the iPod, then ...
Sun, May 02 2010

Oh no!
CD's Ear Blog I was getting ready to leave the house to go to work when my hearing aid beeped at me. Oh great! Took out the old battery, and the battery cover broke. Crap! I wasn't too happy about that. I put a new battery in, and the cover is still somewhat useable. But I know it'll break off completely soon enough. Drove to the audiologist real quick, to see if the assistant cold...
Tue, Apr 13 2010

So frustrating
CD's Ear Blog A few weeks back, I sent an inquiry to the Wyoming EqualityCare office about their criteria for cochlear implant coverage. Today I've gotten a response. Since I sent in the inquiry, they've removed the "no communicating" bit from their criteria. Great!But... I have to have scored 40% or worse in order for Medicaid to cover the implant for me. I've scored somewhere a b...
Fri, Mar 19 2010

Oh wow. The news of the meningitis outbreak in Oologah,...
CD's Ear Blog Oh wow. The news of the meningitis outbreak in Oologah, Oklahoma has gotten to me. So far in the past week, 7 kids have contracted meningoccocal meningitis, and 2 of those kids have died. I am hoping that the other 5 victims get over this and get better as quickly as possible, with no lasting after-effects, and that no one else contracts the illness. Just thinking abo...
Tue, Mar 16 2010

Medicaid's Criteria
CD's Ear Blog Advanced Bionic's insurance reimbursement just caught this contradiction with Medicaid's cochlear implant for adults coverage criteria.The first criteria states: "patient must have post lingual deafness" so patient need to have developed speech before becoming deaf.But then later on, it states "patient must have no means of communicating." Contradicting, isn't it?Hop...
Mon, Mar 08 2010

new earmold, finally!
CD's Ear Blog FINALLY! Yesterday my new earmold arrived at my audiologist's office. But I didn't pick it up yesterday, since I was too kooky in the head. Today, before going to work (running late oops), I did go get it. Unitron made the earmold this time. Didn't even realize Unitron made molds too. Huh. Anyway, it's a half-shell mold, clear non-allergenic. Also got my Supero heari...
Wed, Feb 17 2010

Difficulties
CD's Ear Blog So, I guess Wyoming EqualityCare is being difficult with the appeal case. The person at Advanced Bionics working on my appeal case is resubmitting everything. She's requesting for copies of my medical records and another letter from Rocky Mountain Ear Center so she can send that in. I've already resent the copy of the denial letter so she could use it as well. So frus...
Mon, Feb 01 2010

African Hope Initiative
CD's Ear Blog I just recently learned about the African Hope Initiative from a good friend of mine. She herself has been involved, and even went to Africa just this past November to visit the deaf school there. Now, I want to get involved and help out however I can. My mission for the time being, gather up used hearing aids so I can send them to my friend, and she'll make sure the ...
Sun, Jan 31 2010

fun with hearing aids
CD's Ear Blog Today, before getting to work, I decided I'd play around with the different hearing aids I had with the Hatis Epic stilouette. With the Claro hearing aid, the volume is far too quiet. I even maxed out the volume on the iPod and had to resort to turning up the volume on the hearing aid as well, and it was still too quiet. Then I gave the loaner Unitron a try, and whoa ...
Thu, Jan 21 2010

Meningitis Angels, hearing aids
CD's Ear Blog Last Thursday, I flew to Houston, TX for a Meningitis Angels conference. Overall, it was an interesting experience. I've read of what meningitis can do to people, of the damage meningitis causes. But I've only met very few individuals locally that were deafened as a result of meningitis, that's it. But meeting people who lost limbs, suffered from traumatic brain inju...
Thu, Jan 21 2010

Oy!
CD's Ear Blog Turns out Medicaid didn't get the stuff Advanced Bionics insurance reimbursement sent to them, so AB is having to resend the stuff. They're sending it via Fed-Ex and someone at Medicaid will have to actually sign to receive it. Oy!Internet relay called the local audie's office and made an appoinment for next Wednesday to get a new earmold made. And I asked if they kne...
Mon, Jan 11 2010

Earmolds, BAH!
CD's Ear Blog I am so anti-earmolds right now. My ear's all irritated and slightly sore, which has been happening far too frequently. I'm sick of it! No matter what I do, my ear only stays better for a day or 2 before it starts getting irritated again. Grumble grumble grumble! I did email the local audie about it, mentioning I want to get a new mold made. Haven't gotten a response ...
Fri, Jan 08 2010

EqualityCare inquiry
CD's Ear Blog I sent an inquiry to the Wyoming EqualityCare about their coverage for cochlear implants last Friday... Today I got a response from them.Dear Client,This correspondence is in response to your recent Ask EqualityCare submission. Wyoming EqualityCare records indicate that the prior authorization for cochlear implants was denied as the client is able to communicate throu...
Tue, Nov 17 2009

Medicaid's reasoning...
CD's Ear Blog Just got a reply back from Rocky Mountain Ear Center on why Medicaid/Wyoming EqualityCare denied the cochlear implant."Equality care is stating that DOES NOT MEET CRITERIA: PATIENT ABLE TO COMMUNICATE THRU SPEECH."Um... how messed up is that? So I have good speech and I communicate orally, that doesn't mean I shouldn't get an implant. If only they could actually SEE h...
Thu, Nov 12 2009

Denied...
CD's Ear Blog Medicaid has denied the cochlear implant request. Rocky Mountain Cochlear Implant Center will send the information on to OMS Insurance Support, and OMS will appeal, and hopefully work their magic. I might even get in contact with the Let Them Hear Foundation and see if they can be of any support as well.Edit: LTHF is currently not accepting any appeal requests, so I'l...
Mon, Nov 09 2009

now I'm a bit torn...
CD's Ear Blog With the news of the new Cochlear Nucleus 5 device now out on the market, I read up on the info for the new device... and now I'm a bit torn as to which implant I would choose for myself. For the last few years I've been thinking Advanced Bionic's Harmony, for sure! I like the design of their BTE processor, and of the speech processing strategies they offer. But now ...
Thu, Sep 10 2009

Uuummm?
CD's Ear Blog Um... My hearing aid's acting all weird. I'll turn it on or try to change settings and it'll beep, then silence.... then eventually sound will come around. But that's unusual for my hearing aid. Makes me wonder exactly what's going on with it. Is there something going on with the on/off and programs switch/button? Or is it just something internal? Hm. Just not sure if...
Thu, Aug 27 2009

Wyoming Equalitycare
CD's Ear Blog So I did some browsing around last night. I explored the Wyoming EqualityCare website so I could get a good idea of what I can use my card for in terms of medical/health care. Good for 1 preventive/cleaning dental visit, few cavity treatments, any tooth extractions, in patient and out patient hospital visits, some eye care stuff, up to 20 therapy sessions will be cove...
Sun, Aug 23 2009

Oooo!
CD's Ear Blog Email of the day: I have interpreters lined up for the community classes I'm taking at the college. Excellent! One will interpret the dog obedience classes, starting on Tuesday. She's interpreted for me before from 9th grade up, even for some college courses and such. She's an awesome person and I really like her. I'll have a different interpreter for the photography ...
Sat, Aug 22 2009

Crazyness
CD's Ear Blog I emailed the person who is in charge of lining up interpreters and any other assistance one might need when taking classes at the college, informing him I was registering for a couple of community classes and would like to have an interpreter. His response? "You should contact (insert 2 names)!" Um, say what? So then I emailed another interpreter and told her of what...
Tue, Aug 18 2009

Word mix-ups
CD's Ear Blog You know what? Once again, I have gotten 'chicken' and 'tickets' mixed up once again! I was sitting in my step-dad's office with my sister the other day. She was on her computer and had ordered some tickets for a David Cook concert, and said she was just ordering tickets when I asked what she was doing. Of course, I got the confused look on my face again. "Chickens?" ...
Tue, Aug 04 2009

stuff
CD's Ear Blog Still waiting on SSI. My friend and former interpreter for so many years at school, she also received paperwork to fill out on my behalf from SSI (as did my grandmother, and perhaps some other people as well). She told me she read on the paperwork that once the office got her paperwork back, that they would expediate the process. Hopefully, this means something! We ne...
Thu, Jul 02 2009

SSI, Airport, etc
CD's Ear Blog Last Thursday, my aunt and I flew out to Mississippi. Flying out, I had no problem. On Monday as we were going through security check at the Gulfport airport, I had my hearing aid hanging in front of my ear instead of resting behind my ear. Some of the security personnel noticed this and pointed it out to me, wondering if it was a bluetooth device. "No, it's my hearin...
Fri, Jun 12 2009

WSD Archive Website
CD's Ear Blog All right! I managed to find a version of CuteSite Builder to use to make the Wyoming School for the Deaf Archives website. I started the website oh 2 or so years ago, and for a while I did actually focus on it and work on it. But since then, I've seriously have gotten sidetracked, it's not even funny! But now, I'm getting back on track. Afterall, I did pay for the we...
Mon, Jun 01 2009

SSI
CD's Ear Blog Had my appointment today to apply for SSI. I showed up, and sat while waiting for my name to be called. Of course, I never did hear my name being called, another woman thatw as also waiting asked me if I was Meghan, then told me I had been called. Oh! Made my way over to the desk and sat down. From there, the SSA person proceeded to ask various questions and getting i...
Fri, May 22 2009

Sidekick LX 2009
CD's Ear Blog I got my brand new Sidekick LX 2009 from T-Mobile yesterday. I was at work when I got the email from UPS stating they had delivered my package. After receiving that email, I was motivated to get my work done as quickly as possible so I could run home and play with my new "toy". I was so excited when I opened up the packaging, really truly excited. I have never upgrade...
Wed, May 13 2009

SSI stuff
CD's Ear Blog I'm still amazed that there's no ossification at all in my cochleas. Still. I just can't get over the fact!Anyway, I basically ramsacked the computer room downstairs looking for the SSI stuff that I had gotten in the mail a couple months back. I did fill out the disability report stuff at the Social Security website in February and sent it in, and they sent back a not...
Wed, May 06 2009

More stuff
CD's Ear Blog Leave it to me to forget stuff, ha. :)I'd still rather have the left ear done though, just so there's sund coming into that ear. If it takes a while to make sense of anything, so be it, I'll work at it.Now, just need to figure out insurance and such. He's surprised I'm not on any medical assistance program of any sort from Wyoming already with the ...
Tue, May 05 2009