tune in tuesday the 3rd

Unless anything earth shattering should happen between now and Tuesday, I don't think I will be posting until then. Tuesday the third is really the most wild of days. It is the third anniversary to the day that I lost my hearing, but it is also the day I get the first taste of my "bionic ear." I have two appointments that day...First with the surgeon, Dr. Weber and second with Joyce. Joyce is the audiologist who will do all of my mapping. Mapping is the term used for programming the processor to my needs. The processor is worn over my ear and looks somewhat like a hearing aid. It gathers the information and sends it to the computer chip implanted under my skin... from there it travels down to the electrodes that are wrapped around my cochlea and stimulates my auditory nerve. Essentially, I will be hearing through my brain, because a cochlear implant bipasses the ear. I no longer have any hearing in the implanted ear. The processor I chose is ironically (or maybe not) called the Harmony... get it music?! On Tuesday they will give me a minimal amount of stimulation. My friends who have implants tell me that at first things sound very strange... mechanical, mickey mouse, donald duck are words they use to describe their hook-up experiences. But the brain is pretty amazing and eventually my brain should interpret that as normal. I expect to be very nervous going into that appointment and frustrated after it. I realize this will be a lot of work and am counting on my friends and family to give me the love and support I will need. So... Tuesday evening, I will do my best to describe it all to you. I am gladly taking visitors, so stop by!!!!