time flies like an arrow
and fruit flies like a banana, but that's neither here nor there. The thing is, one year ago, at exactly this time, I was in the operating room having my second CI implanted.
Seems like a good time to reflect, even though I've been posting reflections about this process for a year and a half. But it's still amazing, and probably hard for people who hear normally to comprehend, just how much this technology can bring to the life of someone like me with a profound hearing loss.
Two years ago I could sit in meetings at work and confidently assume that I'd miss at least half of what was said. Now I hardly ever miss anything, and when I talk to others, some of them are missing the same things I do. Same at home, my husband continues to be taken aback when I can hear him shouting at sporting events on TV, in the other room, with the door closed. Or hear the cats meow for me to open the door. And of course, once I do, to open it again so they can leave. And once I do, to open it yet again so they can come back in.
It's not perfect. Not all music sounds good yet, though it's getting better all the time. Some voices even sound a little odd yet. Mine does, but from what I'm told one of the last things that you get used to is hearing your own voice completely externally - I hear myself through the microphones of my CIs just like I do everyone else.
Life is, for most of us, a mixed bag, we have wonderful experiences and relationships and things happen to us, some good, some bad. I'd never have chosen my hearing loss - it's been the major source of frustration and difficulty in my life (which goes to show how fortunate I've been in most ways). But getting the CIs has been an incredible experience, and it gave me my life back. I can't even imagine the technology involved, I know it's not just amplification like hearing aids do - it's what helps when amplification no longer works. But the programming and the technology that's in my head and behind my ear is something that I'm truly grateful for.
My company has a sort of motto, and I wore it on a jacket just the other day. 3M: Science, applied to life. Med-El could use the same motto. Science and technology: it's made me functional again.
Seems like a good time to reflect, even though I've been posting reflections about this process for a year and a half. But it's still amazing, and probably hard for people who hear normally to comprehend, just how much this technology can bring to the life of someone like me with a profound hearing loss.
Two years ago I could sit in meetings at work and confidently assume that I'd miss at least half of what was said. Now I hardly ever miss anything, and when I talk to others, some of them are missing the same things I do. Same at home, my husband continues to be taken aback when I can hear him shouting at sporting events on TV, in the other room, with the door closed. Or hear the cats meow for me to open the door. And of course, once I do, to open it again so they can leave. And once I do, to open it yet again so they can come back in.
It's not perfect. Not all music sounds good yet, though it's getting better all the time. Some voices even sound a little odd yet. Mine does, but from what I'm told one of the last things that you get used to is hearing your own voice completely externally - I hear myself through the microphones of my CIs just like I do everyone else.
Life is, for most of us, a mixed bag, we have wonderful experiences and relationships and things happen to us, some good, some bad. I'd never have chosen my hearing loss - it's been the major source of frustration and difficulty in my life (which goes to show how fortunate I've been in most ways). But getting the CIs has been an incredible experience, and it gave me my life back. I can't even imagine the technology involved, I know it's not just amplification like hearing aids do - it's what helps when amplification no longer works. But the programming and the technology that's in my head and behind my ear is something that I'm truly grateful for.
My company has a sort of motto, and I wore it on a jacket just the other day. 3M: Science, applied to life. Med-El could use the same motto. Science and technology: it's made me functional again.
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