I've had my hearing aid from age of 15 months till 13 years old. At the age of 13, my mom randomly told me that I will have a Cochlear Implant. I didn't know what it was, so my mother sat down with me and told me that it's a surgical procedure that I have to go through. And I thought, oh my gosh a surgery? I felt like I had no choice but to get it. Cochlear Implant is a surgically implanted device to help me hear better.
Illustration of what a Cochlear Implant looks like |
My Cochlear Implant on my right ear This picture was at my high school pageant |
It was the hardest decision that I had to go through because there was some pros and cons of having a Cochlear Implant. Of course the pros are that it helps you hear better and get to know how the real world sound like. The cons about having one is that there is risk of complication during the surgery which they say that pretty much right before any type of surgery. So I decided to take a step and said yes, I want to have one. After a month of my surgery, that's when everything changed. I started hearing things that I have never heard before. I heard birds calling, people talking, a lot of background noise. It was hard to tell what every noise is but all I know is that I'm happy to hear even though I promise myself that I will never leave from my deaf world as well. As couple months pass by, my hearing started to be more clear and it was unbelievable, I loved it. I started coming out of my shell and started to meet more people and realized that I actually started having some confidence in myself. And I knew, God is always there for me and you no matter what. I am proud to tell people about my disability and how much my life have changed when I received a Cochlear Implant. But I will never forget the day that my mother found out I was deaf at the age of 15 months old. Everything did change.... for the better and worse...