Here I am just a few days after my last blog post... it seems each day I'm finding that I need to pick my jaw up off the floor. I can't stop saying "WOW!" to myself. After the mapping update last Thursday and spending a few days with it, there's no question in my mind that I'm already far beyond where I was with the hearing aid, at least in the latter years of using the hearing aid. I've done things I haven't been able to do for years...
Church was always a bit of a challenging situation. Those of you who are HOH, especially if you wear hearing aids, know what I mean. I always felt a little like I was doing something naughty by keeping my eyes open during the prayers (so I could "hear" what was going on and know when to say "amen.") This past Sunday, I was able to close my eyes and hear every word. I knew when to join in the Lord's Prayer because I heard the pastor lead into it, not because I heard the rest of the congregation start talking. I could hear the hymn's musical tune, not just the rhythm. I could hear the harmonies as the choir ensemble sung. There was even a moment that would have made my heart race a bit in the past - the pastor called on me with a few questions. Even he noticed, and mentioned to the congregation, that I wasn't looking at him when he started asking me, and I still heard and was able to respond. No worrying about looking silly because I didn't understand what he was saying. I think it was also the first time in at least 10 or 15 years where I was able to actually understand each and every word of the sermon; it was especially WOW because the pastor wasn't using his normal head-worn microphone and had the big pulpit mic in front of his lips (meaning no lipreading) most of the time.
After church, I went home, and we had some guests from out-of-town for lunch and dinner. It was a little more challenging than church, with multiple conversations going on, toddlers running around yelling and laughing, etc, but still - I was able to sit and have a discussion with our friends even with all of the noise going on. When I went to bed that night, I had the TV on for a bit to watch the news - I no longer wanted the volume to be down to zero and rely on the captions - I actually WANTED to hear the TV. Unlike the first week or two after activating the Cochlear Implant, I no longer found myself reaching for the CI remote to turn down the volume, but instead I find myself excited about increasing the volume, as Dr. G advised me, and moving on to "louder" programs.
This morning, I had a regular conference call meeting with colleagues "across the pond." I have been doing these calls with the captioned phone, but today, I felt confident to give it a try with my mobile phone and the bluetooth phone clip. Normally, these Monday calls are a challenge. There are guys on the phone with wildly differing accents, from South African, to Scottish, to British English. WOW - I was ABLE TO HEAR EVERY SINGLE WORD. Yes, I had, once or twice over the call, to ask someone to repeat himself, but I wasn't waiting for the captioner to catch up or trying to guess what someone said.
I can't wait for the next programming update this Thursday. "They" say that the CI experience continues to improve for a couple of years after activation. All I can say is, "WOW, WOW, WOW," if things keep getting better for two years, I can only imagine where I will be in 2017 - I'll be able to hear someone whispering across town at this rate. I'm especially thankful because I know that everyone has a different experience with his or her CI. At activation a few weeks ago, I felt that I was nowhere near the rockstar that you often see on the YouTube activation videos; today - ROCK ON ,WORLD!