As of 11/14/2011:  I am bilateral (both ears) with Nucleus 5 implants. My first implant was in June 2010, and the 2nd in June 2011.  To say that I am very, very satisfied and happy with my results is an understatement.  It has been a positive "life changer" nothing short of a miracle.  As you can read below and in my blogs,  my journey was from depression and feeling of hopelessness to joy and happiness.  I had gone through about 15 years of declining hearing with gradual withdrawal from family, friends, and social situations.  Every hearing moment is now a true blessing.  Below is my first post to my profile.  It is no longer "scary, and going too fast".  Now it is just "Exciting".

First Post 5/15/2010:

Exciting, a little scary, and going pretty fast.  I am 67 years old.  Got my first hearing aids about 9 years ago which worked pretty good for a couple years.  Now have 2 BTE's that are basically useless.  My daughter, bless her, took me to a specialist just 2 days ago on May 13th.  I knew my hearing had gotten a lot worse, but was kind of in shock when on the "word recognition" test I got absolutely ZERO in both ears.  I had not been optimistic about the visit because I had read somewhere that the implants only gave a "sensation of sound", and that you really couldn't understand a conversation.  My daughter works with a doctor that is also a personal friend of the family, and they had mentioned the implants to me a few times over the last year, but I just shrugged it off as something that probably wouldn't help.  Needless to say that in the last 2 days I have been reading many very encouraging stories, but have all kinds of questions running thru my mind.  I am already scheduled for final testing on June 18th, and if all goes well, according to my darling daughter, we will schedule the surgery that day, so you can see why it is all moving a little fast for me.  All  my family, and everyone at work is excited because they have been "putting up with my deafness", but I almost want to say, "hey, wait a minute, it's me they are cutting on, and do you know how much those things cost?".  My deafness has been very depressing, but like many I suppose, I just thought I had to live with it, so it is taking some adjustment to believe there really is some hope.  As for my hearing aid experience I pretty much always tell people that it is a rip off except for those with mild hearing loss.  Just 3 weeks ago my HA audiooligist was trying to sell me new BTE's when it is obvious that hearing aids are not helping me at all.  Hopefully I will get some feed back from some of you.  Thanks for being there.  Also looking for feed back on the comparisons between the Advanced Bionics and the Nucleus.  Right now I am leaning towared the Nucleus.

Rex Whaley 

Blog entries:  The Blog entries below are chronological starting with the oldest at the bottom and working up to the most recent at the top.