THE Anniversary

one year ago today, my cochlear implant was activated...

i remember how overwhelming the whole day was.

i remember how much i hated the sounds i was hearing and how they made me cry.

i remember my husband looking at me with such sadness, wishing nothing but happiness for me.

i remember how supportive my whole family was.

i remember calling my brother on my cell phone and being thrilled that i could hear him... i couldn't understand a word he was saying, but i could HEAR him.

i remember how excited my friends were for me, even though they might not have realized just how deaf i really was without my implant.

i remember being amazed at how noisy the world is.

i am so proud for having come this far and for still having daily CI-moments.

i am SO grateful to everyone (especially Dr. Downey and Judy) for helping me get to where i am today.

hearing is W O N D E R F U L ! ! !

One Special Day, Two Anniversaries

one year ago today, i underwent surgery for my cochlear implant.

three years ago today, i got married.

wow... talk about time flying!

AND

talk about life being goooood.

An Interesting Article on Static

i found this online the other day:

Static from plastic slides can drop deaf children back into silence

sorry this isn't about my implant... i'll post something soon enough.

p.s. HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!!

At the Gym

i was busy working my butt off on the elliptical runner while hooked up to the gadget that plays sound from the television sets (i'm not sure what it's called... sorry). i use the personal audio cable that comes with my CI processor accessories and attach it to the thingamajig on the exercise machines. each gym member can choose whatever channel she wants to listen to (whether it be music or one of the six television sets playing on the wall).

anyway, i had decided to watch the news, so i plugged into the specific television set that was playing the program. as i'm listening, the closed captioning was running along the bottom of the t.v. (for those people who can't hear the broadcast directly and have to read it). the problem? i was getting sooo confused! you see, the captions don't run at exactly the same speed that the newscasters speak, so the words get all jumbled and lag behind. since i could actually hear what was being said, reading the captions THREW ME OFF. it was bizarre.

of course, i'm not really "complaining" about this... i'm actually counting my blessings. my CI works so well, and i can hear the news reports so clearly, that i don't have to read the captions. what's even better is that if i forget my glasses and can't see the t.v. screen, i can just listen to the sound of the television without worrying about what i'm missing. it's AWESOME.

another lovely incident that happened to me while i was at the gym was when i was getting changed in the locker room. someone was making an announcement over the P.A. system and it sounded rather urgent. here i was, all worried and thinking i was missing something, when all of a sudden i caught the last bit of the announcement: '...your lights are on.'

'ohmigosh!' i thought... 'what if it's my car whose lights are on???' and then without even trying to hear the announcement, i hear it again: '...Blue BMW, license plate number blah-blah-blah, your lights are on.'

WHEW! now that definitely wasn't me... heh.

sometimes it's best NOT to lipread

a client of mine -- we'll call her "Rudy" -- has no teeth. she doesn't bother with dentures because that is just a part of her mental illness (she has Paranoid Schizophrenia). the problem? i can't understand her.

you see, i "cheat" a lot (mostly because i'm lazy) and lipread more often than i really need to. well, whenever Rudy talks, i can't help but stare at her mouth to try and figure out what the heck she's saying. Rudy doesn't talk much, but when she does say something, it's usually VERY important. hence the reason why i practically strain my eyes trying to understand her.

last week, i tried something different -- i focused on a different part of Rudy's face (i think it was her eyes) and really LISTENED to her... and i understood what she was saying! imagine that.

each day that goes by, i am reminded of how well my cochlear implant works and how much it helps me -- WHEN I LET IT.

Mother Nature's Sound Effects... and ZAP!

since this is the first Autumn ever that i have my CI, new sound experiences keep popping up all over the place:

• leaves rustling in the wind
• the wind in general whooshing past me
• crackling of dry leaves under my car
• even the doorbell ringing every few minutes on Halloween!

i have also had the "pleasure" of being shocked by static electricity while wearing my CI. to the average person, this may not seem like a big deal... it happens all the time, right?

well... when *I* get zapped by static electricity, i actually go DEAF for a split second. it is the scariest thing! it is also NOT good for my processor because it can get disrupted by exposure to static electricity.

as the British Cochlear Implant Group says in their RECOMMENDED GUIDELINES ON SAFETY FOR COCHLEAR IMPLANT USERS:

Cochlear implant systems have some inbuilt protection from static electricity, but occasionally static electricity has corrupted the map of processors and very rarely caused damage to the internal implant.

it's not like i deliberately rubbed my body against my car seat and then touched the door to get a shock, though... i was not even expecting to go deaf, but when i did -- wow. i know, i have to be careful.

for anyone who is interested in more information about static electricity, Advanced Bionics has a good explanation at the bottom of this page.

happy Fall to everyone!

:-)

A Quick Update and An Apology

i know i've AWOL lately -- for very good reasons, too -- but i will be updating soon with some interesting stories... i promise!

the main reason i am writing right now though is to warn whoever reads this blog that my picture links may suddenly stop working. for the first time since i started using Fotopic as a hosting service, my accounts are being restricted... so much so, that i actually have to cancel/delete some of them. i am quite upset about this because i have many photographs posted through this web site and am NOT about to pay 45 Pounds a year (yes, they're British) for multiple accounts. yeah, i know -- i did a sneaky thing by signing up for more than one, but i didn't think i'd get caught when using so many e-mail addresses... sheesh.

anywhooo, if by some chance a fellow reader clicks on a link and an error message pops up instead of an image, please let me know. i will slowly, but surely re-link my pictures through Photobucket, a MUCH better (and unlimited) site.

thanks for your understanding, y'all!

p.s. also, thank you to whoever posted the "Anonymous" comment and clarified the Fotopic account issue for me.