Sunday, June 13, 2010

Not a particularly good day....

We're having CI Issues.  Not too major, and hopefully they'll be resolved soon, but it's still stressful and a hassle.  The short version is that it looks like there's a problem with his headpiece (or "coil", for you Cochlear users out there), although the diagnosis is not conclusive.  The good folks at Advanced Bionics are going to call again in the morning to see if there is any news on the symptoms, and then probably just send us a new headpiece by overnight mail.

One consequence is that the poor guy had to spend the morning without his CI.  He does very well with just the hearing aid, and it was amazing and encouraging to see much he could hear and understand.  But it was clearly disorienting for him, and he kept fussing, "I want my headpiece!  I want my headpiece now!"  After said headpiece spent a few hours in the Dry&Store, we tried it again to see if that fixed the problem, but alas, it did not.  However, Ben reported that everything sounded fine to him, and so we went ahead and let him wear it for the rest of the day.  It wasn't clear how well he was actually hearing with it, and in any event the indicator light was still flashing red all day, so there's something wrong.  I'll share the ending of this story once I know it myself.

5 comments:

PinkLAM said...

Darn, that's always frustrating! I hope they get everything figured out ASAP. Did they not give you backups of all the equipment?

Melanie said...

You don't have a backup?!?! Hope it's resolved soon. :)

Julia said...

Nope, no back-up. That's the one downside to going with the AB PSP bodyworn configuration. We do have a second back-up processor (BTE) with all the parts for that, but the warranty period for that doesn't start until it's opened up and programmed (or 3 years after purchase, whichever comes first), so we're putting that off as long as possible. And in any case, I think the headpiece isn't interchangeable with his current one for the body-worn.

We *love* the body-worn, and we like being able to extend our warranty period considerably, but the downside is that we risk periods like this without a back-up. I just got off the phone with AB and they're sending a new headpiece overnight; should get here tomorrow. If that doesn't fix it, then we're looking at a processor problem.

Elsie Hickey Wilson said...

Hope the CI headset stuff gets sorted out. I know it must be frustrating for all of you!
Hugs,
MOM

rouchi6 said...

Gosh that problem , i hope is solved soon.I can imagine his and your frustration since he depends on listening.