6 month mark

Six months!  I happened to put on my hearing aid today, since kayaking seemed a bit too risky for my CI.  But even a regular sized boat freaks me out, the idea of an accidental dunking is a bit too much. The sound...well you couldn't call it a sound. I sang, turned the hearing aid on and off...there certainly wasn't much difference.  It made me so happy to know how effective my CI was.

I'm listening to  Mozart, and it is mellower than the other classic music I've heard so far, like Vivaldi's Four Seasons.  After such a long time ignoring music, there's certainly a whole world of sound yet to be discovered.  My friend gave me a music box.  It isn't what you would expect, for inside is a cricket and it was LOUD!  Heh.  It wasn't a real cricket, but I should hear some pretty soon, just need to get out in the country at night...especially when getting back to Oregon for a visit.

I'm getting speech recognition, not dependable, but I'm patient, because it really exceeds my expectations already.  Folks are not going to be able to "talk behind my back" much anymore...perhaps for good in another six months. 

My facial twitching got reduced to a acceptable level at my last mapping.  I could still use volume, but there's enough at my current settings...and it doesn't make it look like I'm winking all the time!

I need my six-month check-up, but I've not been aggressive with getting my appointments and I'll be off-island for a month anyway.  As a matter of fact I don't even know what my score is from my first testing.  Life has been too full to worry about details like that.  But even at the 3 month mark, it impressed me how many words I did get right.

Thank you LORD, I love this hearing!  Thanks to gifted people, this all came about.  I'm not bilateral, and am not yet pushing for one...why not let the technology develop a bit more anyhow.  It took 2 years from my initial discovery of the CI's potential to my activation day.  Those were extremely frustrating days of waiting and waiting.  Now the first six months have rolled along, and all is well.