Cochlear Baha 3 Implant

 My dad's doctor told him he was a candidate for the Cochlear Implant back in 2011 and a couple of weeks before Christmas the process started to get the "bionic" ear.  The first step was to have the surgery to place a small titanium implant into the bone behind the ear.  It takes three months for this to fuse with living bone.  The picture above is from his last visit when he got the "processor".  He chose white to match his hair.  They come in several color choices.

The picture below is a couple of months after the surgery.  I could not take a picture right after the surgery, because it was pretty messy looking and took a while to get to this point of looking good.  He had some problems with swelling that required several office visits.  The black cover you see in the picture below is a small snap that covers the silver snap underneath.  The black cover snap was temporary for during the three month healing process.

It can not get wet, so since today was a rainy day, he turned his ball cap sideways before going outside so the bill of his cap would cover the unit.  He was looking a little gangster today !  He can snap the unit off and on whenever he wants.  He said since in the past he takes his hearing aid off when going to sleep, that he will probably unsnap the unit before going to bed too.  When I was taking the pictures he was surprised to hear the camera making noises each time I snapped a picture.  He did not know the camera did that.  He also is hearing the turn signal in his van.  He did not know his blinker made a noise.  Life will be very interesting for him for the next few months while he takes in all the things he has been missing!  He says right now everything is very loud and he is having to train himself to block out the background noises.