it's been a good week in lake wobegon
This week - just the last couple of days, actually - I've experienced some changes to the way I hear with my newer CI. It's following the same pattern the first one did, and I think it's taking about the same amount of time, but because it felt a bit like starting over, it's FELT as though it's been a slower process.
And that makes the step-changes I've had this week that much sweeter.
I went to a party on Saturday. I can't even remember when I went to a party and was able to talk to pretty much everyone. I went from group to group and I could hear their discussions, and take part. I didn't really think about it much while it was happening, but when I got home and started digesting all the wine, I realized, "Hey, that was actually fun, and I didn't have to work to hear!" And then I was amazed in retrospect, assisted, I think, by the wine. But this was one of the things I've been waiting for, and it was incredibly gratifying. All that aural rehab? Completely worth it.
Other little things as well, like a hallway conversation with a co-worker. We were walking in opposite directions, so it was quick and over with, but that's not a thing I could do before.
Me: Hey, Troy, did you know that the door latch isn't working?
Troy: Yeah, the one on the north end?
Me: Yup, good, you already know about it. Thanks!
(Note: he manages the maintenance team, so yes, the door is fixed now.) But what was cool to me was that this was all in passing and neither of us broke stride. Again, I can't think when I was last able to do that. Twenty years at least.
This morning in the car, then, I turned on my music and took the right-side magnet off my head, which is how I use the music to rehab the left side only. And another milestone - one I remember from the right side, and was waiting on for the left. The newer CI is sounding really good now, with just a minor bit of tinniness in the upper frequencies. From the sequence of events that I remember from the first one, this means that soon the higher frequencies will be entirely integrated and I'll start achieving real clarity. But what happens when I get to a certain point in getting the full range of frequencies integrated is that the sounds are suddenly fuller, more expansive, if that makes sense.
Up till now, the music, when I listen with the left CI only, has been thin, if that makes sense. It's as though there's something blocking my hearing. That's not true, of course, but until all the frequencies are heard in concert, so to speak, it just doesn't do the music (or the voices, for that matter, and I did notice this in a meeting yesterday as well - I was able to hear really well in that meeting too, and the fact that I'm mentioning this parenthetically is indication of just what a good week this has been!) - anyway, it doesn't do the voices or the music justice. But this morning I turned on the sound system in the car - and it's decent, it's Harman Kardon, but today?
Today it sounded like a live performance at Orchestra Hall.
And that makes the step-changes I've had this week that much sweeter.
I went to a party on Saturday. I can't even remember when I went to a party and was able to talk to pretty much everyone. I went from group to group and I could hear their discussions, and take part. I didn't really think about it much while it was happening, but when I got home and started digesting all the wine, I realized, "Hey, that was actually fun, and I didn't have to work to hear!" And then I was amazed in retrospect, assisted, I think, by the wine. But this was one of the things I've been waiting for, and it was incredibly gratifying. All that aural rehab? Completely worth it.
Other little things as well, like a hallway conversation with a co-worker. We were walking in opposite directions, so it was quick and over with, but that's not a thing I could do before.
Me: Hey, Troy, did you know that the door latch isn't working?
Troy: Yeah, the one on the north end?
Me: Yup, good, you already know about it. Thanks!
(Note: he manages the maintenance team, so yes, the door is fixed now.) But what was cool to me was that this was all in passing and neither of us broke stride. Again, I can't think when I was last able to do that. Twenty years at least.
This morning in the car, then, I turned on my music and took the right-side magnet off my head, which is how I use the music to rehab the left side only. And another milestone - one I remember from the right side, and was waiting on for the left. The newer CI is sounding really good now, with just a minor bit of tinniness in the upper frequencies. From the sequence of events that I remember from the first one, this means that soon the higher frequencies will be entirely integrated and I'll start achieving real clarity. But what happens when I get to a certain point in getting the full range of frequencies integrated is that the sounds are suddenly fuller, more expansive, if that makes sense.
Up till now, the music, when I listen with the left CI only, has been thin, if that makes sense. It's as though there's something blocking my hearing. That's not true, of course, but until all the frequencies are heard in concert, so to speak, it just doesn't do the music (or the voices, for that matter, and I did notice this in a meeting yesterday as well - I was able to hear really well in that meeting too, and the fact that I'm mentioning this parenthetically is indication of just what a good week this has been!) - anyway, it doesn't do the voices or the music justice. But this morning I turned on the sound system in the car - and it's decent, it's Harman Kardon, but today?
Today it sounded like a live performance at Orchestra Hall.
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