Things are coming along really smoothly with both of us. Raymond has pretty well settled into his hearing routine. He is hearing very well, and only requires periodical visits to the audiologist in Halifax, as his CI processor adjustments are pretty updated and pretty steady too. He is hearing soft and normal sounds, they are not as loud as they are for me now. He is now able to turn up the TV and radio which is painful for me, ugh.
Myself, I am still finding things pretty loud, but things are gradually getting softer, surely but slowly. Takes time, I guess. Lately, I seem to have the tendency to take the CI off as soon as I come home from work to take a “break” from the white noise and staff chatting away in the background. I always forget to put the CI back on in the evenings. I must get myself back on track in wearing the CI consistently. When Raymond’s CI is off, he talks loud; it goes from low to booming high for me. He thinks I am silly, but it’s the truth.
A lot of people have been great with us, and respecting our wishes to talk a bit lower than they usually do. Only a couple of people won’t, saying, “Too bad, get used to it.” Sighhhhhhhhh…. I wish they could actually hear what we are hearing and if it was the other way around, they would be asking us to whisper! When I am around them, I have no choice but turn down my CI volume control just a tad bit. They say "it is the way it is", "you have to get used to it", etc.... people don't realize that they had since childhood to get used to all these sounds and adjust to them. We are adults and have not heard very well majority of our lives and then we are given the gift of hearing things, so it is like cranking up the volume, pow!!! We do have a hard time in the first few months...we need time to get adjusted to it at our own time/pace. People need to have that picture in their minds on how things would be for us for the first time as adults after a quiet few years... it can be hard at times. Some people adjust to it very quickly, others just take a bit longer.
A funny thing happened the other night over at my parents. We all were watching the program, “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?” and while the contestant was thinking of the answer, I could hear a ticking in the background so I asked my sister if they were on a timer as I wasn’t aware of this. She said no. Listened again and it came to my realization that it was the clock on the wall, ticking-tocking. Phew, it’s a tad loud. How can hearing people tune these things out?
This part was written by Kimberly Carter, the CEO of the Nova Scotia Hearing and Speech Foundation:
"Raymond was visiting his friend's cottage in Caissie Cape, NB. As you can imagine in the first several months after a cochlear implant, recipients are hearing “new” sounds all the time. Raymond talks about getting off his motorcycle at the cottage and hearing this sound in the background. He didn’t know what it was but immediately knew he loved it. In the rush of greeting his friend and getting settled, Raymond forgot to ask for help in identifying the sound. But as the evening wore on, he knew he had to find out what was tugging at not only his ears but his heart. Raymond walked outside and noticed the waves breaking on the beach and as realization dawned he felt the peace and power of nature that comes with the sound of the ocean’s waves."
I have not heard the ocean's waves yet, and look forward to experiencing this next summer!
Another thing that fools me quite often, is when Raymond’s battery is depleted, he leaves the CI on his head. Many times I have called his name or talking to him, he never replies, making me think…”Oh it is not working as it should!” or sometimes I would say, “hmph – selective hearing”. Hee tee. Just recently, Raymond was looking for his CI processor and headpiece all over the house. He must have passed me a few times, going from room to room looking for them. I asked him what he was looking for and he said, “My implant” and I laughed!!!! It was still on his head!!!!! Of all places he was looking for it, it was on his head the whole time. Too funny!!! This proves we don’t feel it on our heads at all.
Winter has arrived, and I am hearing new sounds. The warming up of the truck motor, the crackling of the ice/hard snow under our feet, and the blowing snow when it is stormy, etc. Wow!
We have two new dogs in our household. First is a 11 month old Boston Terrier (Noel) we adopted on November 15, 2008 and second one is a crossbreed of a Boston Terrier/Miniature Schnauzer (still un-named) – 6 ½ weeks old, got it yesterday, December 20th. What’s cool is hearing the clicking of Noel’s toe nails on the uniclic laminates flooring, drinking from his water bowl, and licking us on our hands/arms. Man, they can be loud when drinking their water, I couldn’t believe it! I have never heard these with our previous dog, Lucky. As well, up to now, I have never heard Noel bark yet so it appears he is a non-barker, which I am not complaining about. :)
Our neighbor has a miniature schnauzer and she comes to our house frequently to socialize and play with Noel. Her name is Sophie and she can “bark”, and it’s ever loud! So she is my first “hearing a real bark for the first time”, so she has the honor of having that title.
Our new “un-named” puppy… whew, is a different whole story. A puppy is like a baby, crying, whining and yipping… poor soul was taken from his parents and 7 brothers, so it’s quite the adjustment for him without them. Such cute sounds tho’ but pitiful at times. He is content lying on the floor between my feet or lying on my chest or curled up in my arms. So cuddly and adorable! I will try to remember to post a couple of pictures for you dog lovers to see. He is so tiny, that I stepped on his foot twice already, ouch! And I almost tripped over him once and nearly lost my balance. We have dark wood on our sunroom and our living room floors, so it is hard to see him when he is on the floor in those dark shadows. Maybe we should have gotten a white dog, ha! It’ll be fine once he is grown to his full size, which will be in a few months.
Noel and the puppy are playful, and they jump around, run around, etc… it is soooo cute and fun to hear the sounds too. Sophie is the more sophisticated and mature lady dog, standing by watching them thinking they are idiots. She is 4 years old, so I can understand. Too cute!!
Raymond and I will have a little feature story on the following website anytime soon:http://www.hearingandspeech.ca/
Once it is on there, I will copy and paste the story and put it on the blog later.
Our next appointment with the audiologist is on January 16th, 2009.
Myself, I have an appointment to see Dr. Morris on the same day, for my 6 month post-op check up.
Until the next time….
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