UPDATE AND ONLY 4 DAYS LATER

Hello All, I went to see Allison on Monday. It was a good visit, I don't have to back now for 3 months unless something happens. So, giving you fair warning if I don't write much in the next couple of months. Please understand that I go back to work on August 10th, WAIT I am still working, uugghh! This darn summer school but it will help to pay for the cruise that we are all going on in March on Spring Break Yea something to look forward too. Anyways, back to my visit with Allison, went well. All of my electrodes are still working so I don' t think I will have any malfunctions there whew!!! I had to do another hearing test with sentences and words. Well I got 100% on the sentences and 60% (15/25 words) on the words. BUT I was getting the words with only 1 letter wrong like lug for mug, noose for neice, doll for dull, etc. its harder without any context to help me figure it out. I do know that Allison said it should get better by the next visit as I keep working on listening.
On a side note, there is a new processor coming out in the next couple of months so I may be a candidate for getting the new processor which is smaller than the one I have now. So I will find out if I can be part of the trial run which would be cool. I think that I will get pink again. I like my pink processor ALOT!!! But then again that's me! Talk to you all soon. If you would like to get a hold of me sooner, email or call me. Bye Great Grandma and Glen ; )

Hello Hello Hello

I did not wait so long to come to y'all this time. Yea for me to remember! Anyways, went to see Dr. Kelsall on Thursday of last week just for a check up on the surgery inscision and stuff. All is well, he asked if I would do it again and I said of course. It has been challenging but great. Its all work for me which is fine by me, keeps me on my toes. He did tell me somehting that would be really cool, if I decdie to the other ear. This week he was doing the 5th surgery on a new implant/ hearing aid hybrid. So, the hearing aid part would get all the low tones and the implant part would get all the high tones. That would be so cool!!!! So that could be the next thing for me in a year or so, we will see how things are going. For me to have high tones in both ears may drive me crazy but it would be worth it, don't you think??? Well I go see Allison the third week of July so I will have more information and how things are going then. I will let you know that I definately could tell that I have not been listening to the radio for the last 4 months, went to the Bucky Covington and Blake Shelton concert and had a hard time understanding what they were singing. didn't have a hard time hearing, it was sooooo loud, OMG. Oh well, we will see how it goes when we go to Def Leppard in August. Talk to you later folks.

OOOPS so much time as passed!

OOOPS, sorry about the time passing right on by folks. I have been doing Summer school services for my special ed. kids, getting Ty to dog shows, going boating with the family, working on the outside of the house, and are there any other excuses as to why I have not been on here. I went for a programming session on May 27th and it went really well.
Allison did some testing with me in the booth and I heard all of the sentences and missed only three words in the whole session. This is wonderful news, so I have the ability to hear now I just need to gain the capability to hear. I need to work on listening to people without having to look at their faces. That is going to be my challenge for the rest of my life especially since it is a 39 year habit. Not a bad habit but a hard one to break. I do have my hearing aid in full time now also and that has been helping with more natural sounds while my implant helps with making everything really clear. So I think I have the best of both worlds right now. I go back in middle of July to see how things are improving, so we will go from there. Talk to you later folks.

Man is it May 18th already!!

Sorry folks, don't mean to forget about you. But all these meetings are driving me insane. I am also addicted to Farm Town and that takes all my time, just kidding??!! Anyways on to the important stuff, hearing is going well. I am doing better and better, pushing and pushing but its still too slow. I start speech with one of my speech friends tomorrow so we will see how that goes. Hopefully she can outwit me and make me work, after work!! I am hearing all the things I think I want to hear, environmental sounds are definitely easier for me, its the speech piece that keeps throwing me for a loop. Lisa, put it across to me in a way that I understood but it comes back to that patience thing and I don't have that trait real well. She theorizes that I hear more than I let myself believe!! Meaning is my brain tells me that I need the visual, not like I haven't used it for 39 years or something, so trying to tell my brain that it is ok for me to understand without the LIPS!!! Well, she doesn't think so and wants me to see the LIPS in order to understand all things. So, I am trying to work out a way to work on that but i am not sure what all to do. So, if you have a suggestion, let me know. I go see Allison on the 29th so that will give me more information as well. Still not using my hearing aid though. Well, talk with you all sooner or later.

Program 3, didn't I already do program 3 ?!?

Well Well Well, Program 3, didn't I already do program 3. Oh I did but it was different than this one. Man is it oud but yet good. If that makes any sense. Fans of all kinds are driving me nuts, projector fans, AC fans, house fans, they are just noisy. Oh, by the way Lisa, if the clock in the office ends up missing, don' t ask me where it is ok? Tick tick tick tick, uugghh!!! I am beginnin to notice that I don't hear highs as well as before, now are the lows over powering the highs? I can't seem to get it right. I hear them but not as clear, I can't seem to make up my mind on which I want I guess, I think I want both but will that overpower ME!!! All I know is that I need my family and freinds to start talking without facin gme so that I can force myself to listen, yea here comes auditory training--uuughh!!! But I know that I need it to keep progressing forwards. I can pick out songs on the radio now so that is good, like Hotel California by Eagles and Forever and Ever, Amen by Randy Travis. I will be going back down for the full battery of testing, sentences, beeps, and whatever else Allison will torture me with. This will be the big day as to see how well I have improved with my implant compared to hearing aids. I am still not wearing my hearing aid either. I am kindof afraid to put it back in, will it change all the work that I have done? In other words will my brain prefer that over my implant? Will it help my hearing be even better have both sides working, I could localize better thats for sure. My hearing aid seems to be an issue for me so I wonder do I need counseling ; ). Whatever!!! And to think 3 months ago, my hearing aids were my LIFE!! I went everywhere with them whether my ears hurt or not because of the molds. So, that has been a definite change for me. Althogh putting my hearing aid would help with the phone since that is the ear I listen with. Well, I will keep pondering my questions and see if I come up with any answers, if I do I will come back and let you know.

Another program, another program

Hi, I went to see Allison on Mon. and yet got two more new programs. However, these programs are really loud and I don't have to go back for a month!! Anyways, remember when I asked, "Can the highs overpower the lows?" Well in my case they were. Go figure, the power woman all her life still needs to have the power!! Allison did the reflex testing to see where my ceiling levels could be without blowing my head apart and set the implant accordingly. Let me tell you, she added more lows back in and it is starting to sound more normal than before. Not sure if that make sense. She says when I get on program three, it will be even better so we will see in another week and half. She still wants me to wait on the hearing aid so I am still without it. So that is good and bad when I need to hear on the phone though. She wants me to wait before trying to use the phone- so did she say that to get me to use the phone or really wait? I am going to have to think about that. As time continues, I will say that I am feeling very sure That I made the right decision to get my implant, pink and all. Well, I need to go take care of a sick husband and go to bed. Talk to you soon.

Last Program this go round

Hey All, I really have forgotten you but man work and kids are taking all my time. I have not been on the computer enough to make a difference except to screw things up. I know tenough to get me in trouble but not enough to get out! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!

Anyways, last program before I go back next Mon. I have lots of high frequencies, therefore my speech is clearing up again. In which I am not slurring my words as bad as I was, thank you Dawn for helping me be aware of that cuz I would never know. Also, I feel that my /s/, /sh/, and /ch/ are becoming more clear. The only question that I have is: can high frequencies override low frequencies? What I mean is that I feel that I am not hearing as well but yet I am--I know confusing that's me?? I asked Lisa but she hasn't answered me yet so I wonder if she got her texts, she has Verizon you know??!! Sometimes she doesn't get anything and I send it again. Maybe she will read this and be able to answer my question.

I am getting better at being able to carry on a conversation without having to directly look at them slowly but its happening. I watched a DVD program that a person made about Special Olympics with CJ, and I was able to pick out some of the songs but not all of them, I think they were rap and I know none of that!! So, that was cool since there were no singers to lip read just a slide show of pictures of all the kids. It was cool to watch.

BUT I just feel that I am missing something and not sure what it is. You know its like that recipe that you thought you knew but its missing something when you taste it? It's good but not how it should be, that is where I am at. I still go through the phase where my brain kinda goes into low mode to get ready to reboot, another words I don't hear jack crap, then all of sudden I am hearing everything again. Its really wierd how that happens and I think whew where am I and when did I come back???

So thats where I am at, I will let you know more later before I go in on Monday if it gets better. Good night y'all.