Hearing-what's that?!

OK, to answer that question right now will be difficult for me. What am I hearing? A lot of jumble up noise.

I went to be activated yesterday, sounds like I am becoming robotic (well that what is sounds like too). I was excited to have Dr. Kelsall take out my stitches but whew he used rubbing alcohol to make sure my insiscion was clean youch! That burned. I have a new found understanding of when I take stitches out of my dogs or greyhounds from being spayed. It can/does hurt at times since the skin can grow over the stitches. I will be more patient and understadning when the fur kid jumps to the side when I pull one or cut one to pull. It always works that way, you have to experience it first before you can understand it. Now I get it! So he proceeded to take them out then used the rubbing alcohol again! Now that one burned, mind you he didn't dab it on there, he rubbed it on there. I am a still a little sore so the pressure took me by surprise as well. After he was done, he said it all looked great, come back in three months to recheck. He made a comment about the bruising on my face, he stated, "that has never happened before, you need to use a hot pad and it will help the bruising go away." Great, I would have to be the one to get the bruise on my face from the facial nerve monitor. It sounds better when I say its been Troy knocking me around. Now, if you now Troy that would NEVER happen.

So then I waited for the next appt. to see Allison, my audiologist, that would be turning me on. I was excited, nervous, anxious, happy, scared, ok let's face it, I was going through all my emotions at one time! She talked with me about how it was going to go. First, she needed to check to see if all 22 electrodes were working, sometimes not all of them work. So, we were praying for all 22 green lights! By the way, who is we? Lisa, Troy, and I were all my appt. Did all 22 green lights show up? YEA, all 22 were working. Then, she wanted me to turn off my hearing aid, it has only been turned on 1 more time since then. I had to listen to the beeps and count how many I heard from 2-5 beeps. The cool thing about this is that I was hearing beeps in frequencies that I have never heard before!!! I was able to get through that piece with flying colors, I think I missed about 3-4. Only a teacher would be worried about that, oh right I am one! Next, Allison told me to turn on my hearing aid so that I could listen to the next set of directions, hasn't been turned on since. She wanted to see how well I could respond to my name, a word, three words with different syllables, and then sentences. Now, let me tell you, I knew which words she was going to say except when she did sentences which was common phrases. She covered up her face so that I couldn't read her lips, and whalla we began. I got through my name, the first word, syllables, and got two of the three sentences right (I was really taking my chances on those though). It was pretty exciting! I did come to several conclusions, womens voices were easier for me to get a grip on, Troy's voice really sucked (but its getting better), it was delayed by milliseconds from lip reading to hearing, this world is very noisy with all these high frequencies, and does it sound robotic, yes it does for now. Allison says before I left, that I am doing better than some people do at their two week visit. So, that helps but she said I will be happy, frustrated, and othet things until we get the mapping to where it needs to be.

So, my assignment for the next two weeks, I need to stay in program 1 for 3 days, then switch to program 2 for 3 days, then switch to program 3 for 3 days, then be in program 4 with my volume at 9 (the highest) by the time I go back. I think I'm on Prednisone! Never mind aobut that, we don't want to go there! So, she sends me home with this HUGE box of stuff that I get to go through on my own time and practice hearing. So, it sounds different being on dry vs wet roads. Going through water on the road is really loud. I hear the differences between my children, some of them sound like they are on helium but thats ok. My mom sounded wonderful but a little high! I can tell which dog is barking by the frequency (some of the time). I had to change my ringtone for text messages but I can hear it when it is behind me and I am not waiting for a text. Watchig TV is a challenge without the closed captioning, as well as, regional wrestling tournament for Dyllan (who took 2nd for those who want to know, on to State next weekend). now, I am in my office, fairly quiet except for my fingers clicking while I type--I sure hope I learn to drown that out with email, blogs, and face book. However, I want you to know that I have not had my hearing aid on since I turned it off yesterday at 2:00pm. Do you have any idea how weird it is not to push in my ear mold? I don't have one now and I keep poking my ear with my fingernail. Hopefully soon I will get out of that habit but 39 years is a long time to have a habit. It was even a good one and I have to quit!! What's up with that?!

I think that this is long enough for now, you are probably thinking get finished already!! So, I will touch back with you all later. Allison did say I should journal to help myself remember all the sounds that I am starting to hear. So, I will just journal on here. Take care and love you all.