Roaring Lamb

Keiko's here

The most interesting thing I've found out about Keiko, is that he's afraid of heights.  This is seen when he bounds up concrete stairs, but balks at the platform stairs which is nothing more than a bunch of slabs suspended in the air on top of one beam.  He's come up a half-flight with lots of "doggie treat" encouragment, but balks at the second flight.  He's afraid, but I also wonder his soreness keeps him from jumping since he got neutered.

He really is very pretty, just my style in black and white.  He looks to be a non-barker and that is worth its weight in gold.  For another setting a occasional barker would be okay, but where I'm living, it is pretty important that he's quiet. 

I've already had to explain to one of the residents in my building that he's an assistance dog.  I also mentioned that if enough owners get together at the Nov. 4 th meeting, the rules against pets could be changed.  It was a relief to see that they already accept hearing dogs and I might be the only dog owner in this 70+ unit condomimum.

He's be a lot of work since there's no yard to just turn him loose in.  He'll always be on a leash and I'll have to pick up his droppings.  But these retractable leashes are wonderful.  Never had one before, but it certainly does the trick.  He's going to be in the crate at night, and I'm hoping he's quiet then too, so he can stay in the bedroom with us.

I got a call from my audiologist, Ken Pugh, and my next mapping will be on Sept 15.  I say it is about time!  I need a phone map really bad.  I certainly loved having my cell phone with me today since I needed directions to the vetrinarian's place.  It really is hard to find.  Turned around at least a half-dozen times.  But there's no markers along the road, you have to know exactly where to get off the highway before you can even find the mailboxes.  I expected a sign I could see from the highway, and that's one of the quirks of living in Kona, signs are limited in size and location.

I'm excited about my dog even though he's kooky about open-air stairs.

Keiko's coming

One thing I've been hoping for a long time is to train a signal dog, or a service dog that will alert me to fire alarms.  I may add other things, but my hearing is so much better that I hear the phone ringing and would probably hear someone knocking on the door, except when I'm listening to music through my head phones.  It is at night where I don't have anything hooked up to a lamp to wake me up if a fire occured. 

I've been watching the classifieds and stopping by the Humane Society dog pound, hoping for just the right dog to come along.  Even with years of experience with animals, it is hard to determine a dog's behavior at a kennel, but two things became clear, he didn't whine (hey I can hear those now) and didn't bark all the time.  Kiko is the name they gave him, but its going to be changed to Keiko, the name of the whale in the movie "Free Willy."  Well I'm freeing Keiko!

He's a Jack Russell mixture, and my main fear is housebreaking an older dog.  That's where crate training comes in, and hopefully he will see his kennel as a refuge rather than punishment.  I'm awaiting his arrival from the vet tomorrow, where he's gone for his neutering operation.

So why get a dog now?  It is for many reasons other than just the hope he'll alert me to certain noises at night. There's companionship, there's the potiential of relating with more people as I'm out exercising him, and hey I'll get some exercise too.

I've just found out that the condo association does have exceptions for signal dogs in their rules, so there's no need to educate them about the laws about service dogs. I'll have to pick up the poop until the day I can afford a bigger place...

I'm excited and know there's a ton of work ahead of me.  There's a trainer in Hawi, an hour north of me that knows how to train hearing dogs.  I'll have to get in touch with her and see what can be worked out.

My hope is to journal the joys and frustrations of training a rescue dog.  He's a confirmed outdoor dog, so I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but his personality makes me think there's hope. 

Check in for more posts...

Hearing tech talk

Listening to a car mechanic speaking double-time and in "car lingo" language overwhelmed me today.  In these circumstances it is easy to lose confidence in this new hearing ability.  Getting upset tends to make my hearing even worse.  But talking with a different mechanic made me realize that "hearing folks" have troubles understanding certain people also.  It is one of those times it is important to focus on the moments when communication (without lip-reading) is possible with my cochlear implant.

After thinking about my struggle with the car mechanic, it dawned on me that perhaps the volume was too low...and it was.  It wouldn't have completely cleared up the difficulty in understanding the fast-speaking car mechanic spouting different lingo than normal conversation, but it would have helped matters a bit.  Being uptight or nervous really interferes with my comprehension...hard to remember that too.  Am I disappointed in those moments...some...but it is not a setback, just a clue to how complex hearing can be.  I'm still not too different from someone trying to learn English, the words crowd the brain (I must have a small one! just kidding), and it can't keep up with the newness of it all.

Now the best thing to do?  Never take my hearing for granted...

Cell phones

By the seventh month it seems totally normal to hear.  It gets harder to remember that these sounds are created by a cochlear implant.  Hearing aids never allowed me to enjoy life like I do now.  The memories are fading of how bad my hearing was before, in spite of the fact there is dead silence when the CI's are taken off for the night or for swimming. 

My phone skills took a leap into the stratosphere during my time away from the CapTel phone I used at work in Hawaii. During my time with family and friends in Oregon, I've discovered that using a regular phone does work for me most of the time.  I've conducted business such as making appointments, contacting my real estate agent, talking with friends over a landline phones with minor difficulty.  Some voices are still not good for me...mainly high pitches.  There are bad hearing moments, but most of the time I get what the other person is talking about. Now that I'm using a cell phone all the hearing folks think I'm just one of them!

I've not had a new mapping (computer programming of my device) since May and am way overdue.  I'm only using one program, and plan to get the other two program settings ready for phone use and for music use.  Currently my usable map allows me to hear all the sounds around me, and a phone map would cut external noises so that the speaker's voice is easier to understand. 

So cool to have a phone in my pocket, and not feel stranded at the airport or any other place wondering where the TTY phones are and if they actually work.  If I'm at the store and think of something another person needs, I can pull out my cell phone and call them...hey I went from stone age to ultratech!

I'm so grateful to hear.  Thank you Jesus for making this possible.