Time Sure Flies!!

Sorry I've been gone so long! I didn't think it has been almost two months??? Whoa.

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Update:

I cannot believe it’s been over a month since I last made a blog post. I guess it happens.

Angel just celebrated her 9th birthday. She got an alarm clock that she’s always wanted (as an added bonus for this mom, it’s child-friendly to boot). She also got a summery dress, too. She’s just growing too fast. Sigh. Where did my baby go??

On the CI (cochlear implant) front, I had my 6-month mapping and in some areas I am stable and in others there is a marked improvement. I don’t see too much difference myself hearing-wise since the 3-month mapping, though.

I had a CI moment!!! A couple of weeks ago, I took the dogs outside on a bright, sunny morning. I heard birds, most likely robins, chirping their morning songs (or should I say,…dramatic pause…their morning gossip??) I’ve heard the birds chirp before with my hearing aids (HAs), but they all sounded the same to me, except for maybe the doves. If I wanted to, I’m sure I could distinguish each bird’s sound if I learned which one belonged to which bird. I never realized that the blue jays had such a low chirping sound. I’m sure I’ll be able to learn to recognize that. :Cool, huh??

I still have “deaf moments”. After all, the CI doesn’t make me a hearing person. I’m still deaf and coupled with the RP, I don’t have the sharp visual cues most d/Deaf people use and in a way, it makes me “deafer”. I don’t know how I can explain that. If I had normal vision, I’d catch more hand movements by someone trying to get my attention or something like that. Without being able to see that hand waving at me, I’m not “hearing” it. Does that make sense?

I also have more words to list that I mispronounce:

Decadent (I keep saying “de-CAY-dent” because I think of the word “decay” as in bad or bad for me-like a decadent cheesecake. It’s yummy, but bad for my waistline. LOL).

Chihuahua- “she-wah-wah”??

Sliver-somehow I end up saying “slither”. Ugh.

Years ago, I could not even pronounce the word “beat”. I kept saying “bth” as in, “I bth you.” I don’t know why. It’s how I picked it up.

Having two dogs in the house is a lot of work. Right now, Onyx is a shedding machine with the on-again-off again spring weather we are ‘enjoying” here. I’m sweeping the floors every other day and get a lot of black Onyx hair. And having Topaz (a.k.a. Dust Storm) tear through the house and make the dog hair/dust fly!! I admit I have “why do we have two dogs??” moments. We just got through a puppy stage with Onyx and now we have another puppy. It’s almost like having a toddler and baby in the house, only they are potty-trained. Am I crazy?? (Wait, don’t answer that.) But Hubby is happy to have his hunting dog (Topaz) and I cannot complain about something that’s important to him. I tell him why do we have dogs? Because they are entertaining (and, should I add, stress relievers who give unconditional love??)

I cannot believe it’s April already. We are moving into the year 2009 pretty quickly, aren’t we?? I was just telling the girls that in another two months, school’s out for the summer. (If I keep going at this rate, I’m going to be old….acck. LOL.) We had a few days of nice weather in the 60s followed by a drop to the 40s. Now there’s just snowed last week after a good warm spell and now we are back to comfortable temperatures again. Welcome to Wisconsin and its fickle, typical weather.

I am also participating in the first-ever Wisconsin VisionWalk in Milwaukee. How exciting to try to be a part of this fundraiser for Foundation Fighting Blindness!! We are so close to a breakthrough to finding a cure for degenerative diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP), Usher Syndrome, and Macular Degeneration. I just have to believe that!! I’d be happy, too, if they-researchers, scientists, and doctors- could find something to just halt the progression of RP if they can’t reverse it.

If any of you want more information on that, please email me with the link to my email I have provided on the sidebar.

I know I am not blogging as regularly as I used to, but I’ll try to just post a line here and there.

Squeezed In

I finally got a new Mircolink receiver for the cochlear implant (CI). I mentioned to the vocational rehab counselor that I would need to have a new receiver because the old one with the HA (hearing aid) would not be made to fit the CI. Every receiver is made for a certain HA or CI. This receiver will be used for my wireless Phonak Zoomlink (pictured below). This is my FM system.

At the last appointment I had (the 3-month mapping) the audi said that the receiver still had to be cleared through the system. In other words, paperwork was slow and some compliance guidelines had to be followed.

She emailed me lastweek and said that the receiver was ready and that I could wait till the 6-month mapping (in February) or I could come in earlier. I said that I wouldn’t mind waiting for the February appointment.

Then she emailed back. DVR had budget cuts and rules about purchasing devices and having them (the devices, such as HAs, FM systems, and any other item that would help a DVR client in the workplace or at home) be sent to the client. In my case, I had to come in and have the receiver be fitted to my CI by the end of the year. I might miss my chance of having the receiver or wait until I am approved for one all over again. So, I was given a list of appointment times that were open for the month of December.

I was able to select the time and day of the appointment without any problem, hence the title for this blog post, Squeezed In.

Since I had a problem with the music program when using the personal audio cable (for use with MP3 players, CD players, etc), I thought I would get that looked at, too.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I had no problem with the TV/HIFI cable. I was getting sound through the cable. It had a built-in volume switch on the cable. I was able to get sound at volume 3. It had volume control switch numbered from 1-5. I wondered if I had a bad cable for the MP3 player and had that replaced. Still nothing. The audi thought maybe the volume wasn’t loud enough on the music program. She adjusted it significantly and I still wasn’t getting any sound. Then she pressed the button on my CI to the “EA” (external assessory). Whaddaya know? That worked. Hubby was playing around with the volume on the MP3 player which was still connected to my CI. Whoa!! It was loud!! I jerked up in surprise. LOL. Good. Now it works.

Then the FM receiver. I saw that it can only be connected to the disposable battery cage. I can only use disposable batteries with the FM. I cannot use the rechargeables. Funny thing: That was my biggest deciding factor to getting the Cochlear Freedom vs. Advanced Bionics or MedEl. (I am not knocking AB or MedEl; I know there are very many happy AB and MedEl customers.) Why is that “funny”? Because once I came home with the CI after activation and once I had the rechargeable batteries recharged, I didn’t use the disposable batteries again. I liked using the rechargeables. But the dischargeable batteries will come in handy as a back-up (for short trips and stuff so I wouldn’t have to bring along the recharger).

Anyway, once the receiver was set, the audi wanted to test it. She told me to turn off my HA in the other ear. She was going to step into the hallway and ask me two questions.

I heard her very clearly. “What color is the shirt you are wearing?” and “What did you eat for breakfast?”

When she walked in, I was already digging through my jacket and zipper-front sweatshirt to see what color my shirt was (LOL, I forgot what I was wearing!!) and told her it was white and that I had two pieces of toast.

She was impressed and glad that the FM system was working so well for me. Heck, even I was surprised. LOL. It was a lot better than with just one working ear with the hearing aid. I guess it was the degree of hearing loss I had, too. Instead of working with just half an ear, I am working with one and a half ears.

I still think of myself as deaf, though. I don't think I'll ever really have "normal" hearing. It's as close to "normal" as I can get. I'm happy with that.

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CI moments? Hmmm.

When I was in the bathroom, I could hear Onyx whining through the closed door.

When Hubby comes in the house, I could hear the jingle of his keys as he plops them on the kitchen counter when I am in the living room, my back to the kitchen.

Someone brought up shopping carts. Last weekend, I had a sort of a marathon Christmas shopping spree. I was at Wal-Mart and I had a noisy cart. It felt like something was broken and I kept looking at the wheels. It was disturbing and not at all pleasant-sounding.

Last night, Angel needed to memorize her memory work. (For the last few weeks, it consisted of all the recitations and songs that she will say and sing with her group for the Christmas service.) She panicked when she saw how big the paragraph she had to memorize. She whined that she "can't do it" and I told her to just work on one sentence at a time (just like she had to do with all her other memory work.) We got through the whole paragraph in 15 minutes. By that time, even I memorized it so that I could correct her if she missed a phrase or something. Then I told her to sleep on it and this morning I recited the paragraph to myself and thought that she shouldn't have any problems, either. She recited it with a beaming smile because she remembered it. :)

And, how was YOUR week?

HUGS