I Am Not Alone...

i found this on a web site called "PostSecret" and just had to share it with my readers:

this is EXACTLY how i felt before i got my cochlear implant -- the image speaks for itself.

the ironic thing is that even though i hear so well today, i sometimes still feel like that poor little monkey. the reason? people think i hear everything now and don't bother speaking up, clarifying or repeating things for me. BUT i am not afraid to tell them this... and i encourage everyone else to do the same. no matter how well you hear (or not), NEVER BE AFRAID to let people know if you didn't catch something. you miss out on a lot in life if you don't fight for yourself!

Slurp, Slurp, Slurp

a couple of weeks ago, my father was away on a ski trip in Austria. my mother was home alone taking care of their three cats.

one day, i came over to her house for a visit. just to be helpful, i decided to feed the kitties. each feline gets her own food dish lest they fight over which one eats how much.
as they were eating, i heard:


"slurp-slurp!"


"sllluuurrrppp!"


"slurp-sluuurp-ssslurp!"

EACH INDIVIDUAL CAT was making her own distinctive slurping sound... and i could actually hear the difference!

i was so amused i started giggling. the cats heard me and looked up with a 'you're weird' expression... and then continued eating.

figures.

too bad animals can't appreciate a CI moment!

>^..^<

HEEELP!

to my dear blog-readers,

this past Sunday night, a terrible tragedy occurred: my hard drive died on me, which means that i lost all of my e-mails, pictures, documents, etc. from the last year-and-a-half.

ugh.

my darling husband was kind enough to buy me a new computer the next day, but i've had to start from SCRATCH. sooo... i have a HUGE favor to ask all of you:

whoever e-mailed me in the last couple of months, can you please re-send your messages to me again? i really want to respond to everybody, but haven't had the time to do so. if you forward your original e-mails to me, I PROMISE TO RESPOND ASAP... for real this time.

thank you so much!

:o)

p.s. Happy Valentine's Day, y'all!

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.