CIborg bloggen til en ung voksen CI-bruker

I have completely put CI 2 (and CI-blogging) aside during December 2009 and January 2010 in order to focus on finishing my Master’s thesis. The last week before hand-in was tough and I was relieved when I finally, after 2 years, handed in my thesis February 1st 2010. After that I suddenly had all this free time and decided to update my CI blog.

Around December 2009 I got impatient waiting for a letter from a CI hospital and decided to investigate. At that time I had been waiting four months for an answer to my CI 2 application. I decided to first ask my hearing doctor to check whether he had sent the application at all, just in case. I then found out that they had received a rejection from Rikshospitalet only a month after sending in the application – the hospital just didn’t send me a copy. This means that my CI 2 application was, already in September 2009, rejected without me knowing it.

I was not at all surprised by the rejection, but was still disappointed. Especially because I have had waiting for several months without receiving any information. I asked my hearing doctor to send me a copy of the rejection, so I could have a statement, black on white, saying an ear going gradually deaf is not a good enough reason to get CI.

Subsequently I’ve learned that the hospitals are now going through all CI 2 applicants who fulfill certain criteria (as described in this post ). This means that applicants with Meningitis, severe tinnitus or visual problems are now receiving CI 2. The rest of us, who “only have hearing issues”, have to wait. Rikshospitalet finished my rejection stating that I am currently on a wish list, without any more information about how long I must expect to wait. Some months, or years even?

After several recent social arrangements, with many people at a time, I have begun to realise how poor my hearing is with only one CI. Even though everyone is behaving nicely and one by one are speaking, I have a hard time understanding everything that is being said. I now feel completely dependent on wearing my hearing aid in my other ear, but it isn’t good enough. In these days when I’m starting to look for a job, I don’t feel I can independently handle a job situation without any help.