Four years.

 Four years ago today I posted this on Facebook:

Big day today. I'll be at the University of Minnesota medical center pretty much all day, starting with an appointment with the CI audiologist, followed by a CT scan of my head, and then an appointment with the ENT surgeon.

And that's when my journey began.  That first day in 2018 I was excited for the possibilities but didn't really know what to expect.  And I was afraid for quite a while because my surgeon told me there was a 50/50 chance that I would lose my residual natural hearing as a result of the surgery.

Which, as it turns out, was true.  I did, I don't hear anything without my processors anymore.  But with them - with them, the world has opened up.

I remember hearing my cat purr.  I remember hearing cicadas outside the plant at work and having to ask a co-worker what that sound was.  "Cicadas, you know, it's that time of year" said Joe.  Well, I had no way to know.  Bird song.  The sound of swishing water in the dishwasher.  The cheerful recording of Schubert's Die Forelle played by the washing machine when a load finishes up in the other room.

It took years for music to sound truly good, but now it's amazing.  Actually, it took quite a while for voices in the higher register to sound good, because it had been so long since I heard the higher frequencies.  But now, they do.

The squeak of cold, dry snow under my shoe.  The wind buffeting the house (we live on the edge of the prairie, and boy howdy, does it get windy here).  Raindrops hitting the window.  

So much of life that I'd missed for so long, and it's back.  Hello.  It's good to hear you. 

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