Answers to good questions

Hi this is Kay again with a lengthy blog.   

Several people have emailed me with questions and I thought I would post here for everyone to see.

Here are some questions and my answers.

" Before you had the procedure, what did they tell you about how much improvement you would have? " 

I was told that I should expect a 10db improvement in hearing in the implanted ear verses the hearing aid.  if you look on http://www.envoymedical.com/benefits-provided-by-esteemr this will give you an idea of what to expect.  They are not saying that 100% have better hearing.  I was told that I would not be able to go without some hearing device in my non implanted ear due to the severity of my hearing loss.  I did talk to one patient that was able to go without a hearing aid in her non implanted ear.

"Do you plan to have them done in both ears?"   

Probably I will not have the other ear implanted.  But I would be interested in knowing how much improvement it would have given me in my better ear.  One person that I emailed me that he went to an Esteem seminar and the person giving the seminar had both ears implanted.  She could hear questions from way back in the room.  What I would have liked to know is what her hearing loss is.  I am sure the level of hearing loss determines the level of success of the Esteem.

"Did they tell you that with time your hearing with the Esteem will improve?"   

I have been told that over the next few months my hearing would improve due to the healing process.  I was implanted in April and did notice an improvement over the months.  Now it is Sept and for the past couple of weeks I have noticed a drop in my hearing.  What's with that?  I am due to have an adjustment done in a couple of weeks, so I am hoping that will bring me back to where I was or better.

"Do you have to wait on your brain to adjust to sounds or your ear to tolerate the increased noise for you to adjust them louder?"   

I did not have to wait to adjust to sounds.  What I did need to adjust to was the sounds coming from my mouth such as chewing and swallowing.  At first that interfered with hearing people, but now I think I am able to ignore those sounds.

"How many adjustments does it usually take to be at your best?"   

I don't know how many adjustments it takes to be at the best the Esteem can do or how you tell that the Esteem is at the best it can do.  If you are not achieving "normal" hearing with the Esteem, then it would be hard to tell when to quit adjusting.  Also if your nerve hearing continues to deteriorate then you would need more adjustments for the Esteem.  At first I thought naively that all that was needed was one adjustment and then it was perfect.  WRONG!

I mentioned that my family said that they thought I was hearing better after the Esteem.  By that they meant that they thought I was hearing better after the Esteem than with my hearing aid in that ear.  It's hard for me to judge my hearing because I still miss out on lots so I think I am not hearing well at all.

"did you personally meet anyone who had just super results with the Esteem? "   

I have been in contact with several people who have had the Esteem implant.  Some were from the Envoy web site and they were the ones who had super results.  I have been in contact with a couple of people outside the Envoy web site and one had disappointing results and the other had complications in healing process.  Remember this is like any medical surgery process, there are no 100% guarantees, just percentages of success.  I have had other surgeries (rotator cuff repair) that did not bring me back to normal and a surgery (femur fracture repair, broken back ) that did bring me back to normal or near normal.

"Do you know if there are any predictive factors of how much your hearing will improve with it?" 

 This is a very good question.  I tried to find that out before my surgery and didn't ever think I got a good answer.  I did not meet the doctor until the day before surgery, which I think might have been a mistake.  I would refer you to http://www.envoymedical.com/benefits-provided-by-esteemr to see if this answers you questions.  And try to talk to others who have had the implant to see what they think about the results.

Over all I am glad that I had the implant, just had hoped for better results.  We debated on whether to implant the worst ear or the best ear.  I am sure that if we had implanted the better ear I would have had better outcome.  On the other had if there was a complication, I would have compromised my better ear.

Thanks for reading my lengthy blog.