Went back to Hopkins for turn-on #2 today, and Ryan the audiologist added two more programs--which I don't know how to use yet cuz I'm still learning how to work the switches! Meanwhile, Cathy met me for lunch at Union Station after I got back, and the background noise was overwhelming. One of the new programs is for situations just like that, but I couldn't figure out how to switch to it. The MANUAL was at home, not in the big box of accessories and other necessary items Ryan asked me to bring along today! Cripes! They never told me there'd be a manual!
We did leave Union Station for a quieter spot, and sure enough, recognizable sounds started turning up again. I actually heard Cathy's laugh--a great sound. We've known each other for about 10 years and in all that time i've never heard her actual laugh, even though she's a cheerful soul and laughs a lot.
After I got home from lunch, I took a loooong nap. (No, I didn't have any wine...just a glass of rosemary lemonade, which was just fabulous.) But when I woke up, oh, no! The damn thing did not work at all!!! Couldn't even get the magnet to stick to the implant under my scalp. I was just about to go get the big box of CI stuff to change the magnet when it dawned on me (helloooo, m.e.....) that i had it on the wrong ear! Er...ahem!
When I got out of the taxi this aft after lunch, the birds were singing loudly in our neighborhood. What a lovely sound!
Turn-on #3 is five days from now, Monday, when Ryan'll add some "features" (described in the MANUAL!) and see how the CI is working. I hope I'll have figured out how to listen to music. The taxi driver this aft in DC was playing music on the radio, but I heard it with my OTHER ear...the little deaf cousin who lives across the vacant lot. Who knew?
Boy, perceptions are going to be all over the place for a while, aren't they?
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited to read about what sounds you've managed to pick out of the air as the days progress.
i changed to the third program today, and it's MUCH BETTER...i can identify individual sounds, and the background noises (my breathing...) have gone into the background!
ReplyDeletexo, ma
thanks, sal....i'm actually conversing in speech with people at work today. VERY RELAXING!!!
ReplyDeletexo, ma