Insurance

Documentation for upgrading the speech processor has finally come out. The documentation is fantastic, it lists all the health funds and the contacts.

My current fund will only upgrade after a lot of fuss. In fact, they didn't get back to me when I contacted them about it.

Medibank Private, on the other hand, are fantastic. I replied and got all the answers I wanted, including they will upgrade with no fuss, as long as the audiologist is happy to put in the claim paperwork on the clients behalf!

So, so easy!

So I swapped funds, the great thing being that there are no waiting periods if your cover from the previous fund is the same as the cover in the new fund!

Thank you, Australian Health System!

T switch

I visited the audiologist who made the t-switch an actual program, rather than pressing 2 buttons at once.

It's been fantastic ever since, it's much faster to change over and can hear on the phone so much better!!!

Wearing out

The button I press to get my "telephone" program on my CI is wearing out. It's so hard to swap over and that is a real pain when the phone is ringing and you want to answer it right away :(

In other news, the rebate code for the new processors have come out so hopefully I will be able to get somewhere when asking health insurance companies if they cover upgrades :)

Clean it out!

Lately I've been getting Stu (my partner) to repeat himself a lot. This morning I finally twigged that this has been happening more frequently

Me: Is my hearing getting worse?
Stu: (exasperated) YES!!

Ooops. So today when the batteries died (at work) I grabbed a screen cleaner wipe, opened up everything I could...then saw how filthy it was in the microphone area. So cleaned that up and put it back on and VOILA!!! OMG, the difference is amazing, I can hear all the little things again!!

I emailed Stu and told him it was dirt covering the microphone and he was very happy, LOL

So should clean that more often :P This explains why I've been turning up the volume just to hear normal convos, lol

Screen wipes are awesome :)

Insurance

I've started thinking about upgrades to my CI, which cost craploads of money so thought better check if my health fund covers it.

Apparently they don't.

I try to talk to a company that I've heard DOES cover upgrades. They have no freaking idea what I'm talking about.

I send out billions of emails to different companies to see if they'll cover a new upgrade, then they reply needing medicare numbers.

Medicare tells me there are thousands of numbers and just fob me off.

I try my audiologist and my ENT for *any* sort of information.

In the meantime I find out there is actually a new processor out !!!

I've spoken to Cochlear numerous times now, they don't have a rebate code for the new processor yet (too new?) but they gave me the old rebate code. They tell me they've dealt with MY insurance company who do cover upgrades, as does the one who originally had no freaking idea what i'm talking about.

I can't believe how freaking difficult it is to get cover for an upgrade. It's like a hearing aid for gods sake, you get covered for upgrading those!!!

*cries*

Swimming pools

Cochlear Ltd advertise the CI's as being splashproof. They even have a picture of a child in a pool wearing their CI. I can tell everyone that this is not true coz after a bit of splashing in the pool yesterday, it completely buggered up!!! Wouldn't have been so bad if I was just at mum's but we were socialising with friends so I was even more stressed out about it!! I managed to get sound out of it, but there was definately something wrong!

It dried out overnight and it's all working fine again, but I thought it was ironic that my non-splashproof hearing aid fared better than my splashproof CI.

Movies without subtitles

I am still really useless at watching movies without subtitles.

My boyfriend is all excited because he has all these downloaded movies that we can watch (via the laptop) on our new TV. None of these movies have subtitles and I watched a couple last night and although I can follow the storyline, I pretty much miss everything they say.

Watching movies without understanding them is very boring.

Cords

I just read over my last post about fraying cords. I believe they have made them better and my new cord hasn't needed to be replaced for over a year!

I've also read (skimmed, really) "Rebuilt : how becoming part computer made me more human" by Michael Chorst and I've wondered if anyone would publish a book if I wrote about my experience ;)

Dating a deaf person

This is fabulous... someone deaf has joined the dating game again after years of marriage to a hearing person. The story is quite interesting because when hearing males find out she's deaf, they run a mile and I'm always afraid that will happen to me. But she's written some great tips which I'll copy and paste here.

Here is the original link with the story

How to Date Deaf People: (written by Dawn)

*If you meet a deaf person and you want to talk, let the person know by waving “Hi” or write a note to give to her or him.

*When you want to say something; Have a pen and paper to communicate with them so he or she can understand.

*If you invite a deaf person out out on a date, please face your date, to make it easier to read lips, and use the pen and paper when you don’t understand. Also, listen to what he or she has to say.

*If you have cell phone with you, don’t answer it unless you warn your date first [Dr. Romance says this is true of any date, not just a deaf person.] Understand that a deaf person probably can’t tell what you’re saying when you’re talking into a cell phone, so it’s polite to let your date know why you’re answering the phone and what the call is about (for example, it’s work calling, or someone who is ill. Non-essential calls can wait.)

*If you take this date to a party, introduce your date and let them know that she or he is deaf. Sometimes, people knew some sign language — you never know.

*If the other person is talking and your date doesn’t understand, help him or her stay in the conversation by briefly explaining the gist of the conversation.

*It’s helpful and kind to ask your date how to say some words in sign language. Your date will be impressed that you are willing to learn to communicate with them in their own language.

*Phone calls are easy — text messaging always works. Even when you’re on a date, texting something on your phone and handing it to your date will work if you don’t think you’re understood.

*If you’re going to the movies, ask in advance if there are closed captions for the hearing impaired.

*Remember your date can’t read your lips in a darkened theater. This is a good place to use texting — you can just hand your date your phone.

*If you want to be able to talk, it’s better to take your date out to mini golf, a nice small cafe or the park.

*Understand that American Sign is a different language, with different grammar, so don’t be offended if your date is sometimes hard to understand. As with any different language, it takes a little patience. You’ll get used to it after a while.

*I encourage you to learn sign language. Classes are fun, and you’ll impress your friends.

*Your date will be happy to answer questions if you ask.

Fraying cord

So my audiologist mails me a warranty card explaining that the frayed cord is only covered for one year. This warranty card is different to the one they gave me originally, which does not mention anything about cords and just tells me it's covered for 3 years.

RUBBBISSSH.

So I email cochlear with a scanned copy of MY warranty and they still tell me it's not covered for 3 years like it says!! ARRRGHH.
Now at dinner on Monday with the family, both Dad and Garth said I should demand replacements if my warranty says 3 years.

I chickened out a bit, it's easier for them to refuse me on email so I asked Dad (he said I demanded) that he ring and prove this point. Dad didn't even get to the warranty bit, the girl on the phone said it was a common problem and would send me out TWO replacements! WHOO!! $500 of free stuff!
Apparently they've worked out what makes the cord fray and are doing something about it.

So that covers me until my 3 year warranty runs out *sigh*