Six days after switch-on. First day back into routine. And I'm still alive to write a blog post. I have felt so supported, both practically, and through answers to all those prayers that so many of you are praying for me - thank you.
I'm now on programme three, out of the four I need to progress through by Friday. A bit louder, a bit more eye frazzling at times, but not too much. A few more sounds being detected, like the tap running, microwave beeping, and toilet paper tearing (!). The school run is a largely silent trip for me, as I'm not yet noticing traffic noise or voices at a distance, though I did find the playground a source of some noise. This afternoon school run was pretty incredible though. I was expecting to shuffle in, hide in the corner of the playground and just nod distantly at my Mum-friends (you know, in the way that says "hello-nice-to-see-you-but-I-don't-want-to-talk-to-anyone-today"), and shuffle home again. Or something like that. Instead, I talked to more Mums than I usually do(!) - partly because some of the lovely ladies were coming to find me and ask how I was doing. But partly because I just found myself walking next to someone on the way in, and we just started chatting. I didn't get everything she said (she has quite a strong accent, and I didn't feel up to trying to explain my current situation with the CI in 30 seconds flat!) but I got most of it, and that was good enough today. One day, hopefully in the not too distant future, I'll understand more. :)
I'm thankful for a friend bringing her son to play with C this morning, as I was ready to sleep again by 10am! I'm amazed at how well I'm coping (this is the main area where prayers are definitely being answered) but it's just relentless. My eyes are constantly scanning my environment to see what sounds I've missed, trying to figure out what the last beep-clunk might have been caused by, checking the boys' faces to see if they're OK, followed by regular moments of intense concentration as they speak to me and I do my level best to understand. Plus my brain is figuring out these new sound signals coming via the CI. No wonder it's tiring! C is learning fast about my lack of hearing at present - he's getting better all the time at getting my attention before speaking, and speaking clearly when I'm ready.
I've finally started doing my second SLT homework. It's called paragraph tracking, and involves someone reading a chunk of text while I follow along, my finger tracking the words they read, without lipreading. I've been told to start with fairly simple sentences. So I realised the easiest way to do it is while Stuart's reading the boys' bedtime story. So tonight I sat next to Stuart and followed along while he read "Hairy Maclary's Showbusiness" :) I did get a little lost once or twice, but I think we got to the end at the same time! I'm not hearing words - I wouldn't get a single bit of what Stuart was saying (without lipreading) if I didn't have the text in front of me - all I've got to go on is the rhythm and pattern of the tones that my brain registers as his voice: whether it's a short word or a long word, and the speed/rhythm of the syllables in the long words, all these are clues. I think I might also be starting to hear some variation in tones (higher or lower) but I'm still uncertain as to whether it's really my ears, or just my imagination! The audiologist did say that as I work my way up the programmes and gain more volume, that I'd start to get a bit more quality/detail in the sound. So that might be starting to happen. I'm kind of looking forward to going up to programme four on Wednesday now, to see what new sounds I might hear then!
I'm now on programme three, out of the four I need to progress through by Friday. A bit louder, a bit more eye frazzling at times, but not too much. A few more sounds being detected, like the tap running, microwave beeping, and toilet paper tearing (!). The school run is a largely silent trip for me, as I'm not yet noticing traffic noise or voices at a distance, though I did find the playground a source of some noise. This afternoon school run was pretty incredible though. I was expecting to shuffle in, hide in the corner of the playground and just nod distantly at my Mum-friends (you know, in the way that says "hello-nice-to-see-you-but-I-don't-want-to-talk-to-anyone-today"), and shuffle home again. Or something like that. Instead, I talked to more Mums than I usually do(!) - partly because some of the lovely ladies were coming to find me and ask how I was doing. But partly because I just found myself walking next to someone on the way in, and we just started chatting. I didn't get everything she said (she has quite a strong accent, and I didn't feel up to trying to explain my current situation with the CI in 30 seconds flat!) but I got most of it, and that was good enough today. One day, hopefully in the not too distant future, I'll understand more. :)
I'm thankful for a friend bringing her son to play with C this morning, as I was ready to sleep again by 10am! I'm amazed at how well I'm coping (this is the main area where prayers are definitely being answered) but it's just relentless. My eyes are constantly scanning my environment to see what sounds I've missed, trying to figure out what the last beep-clunk might have been caused by, checking the boys' faces to see if they're OK, followed by regular moments of intense concentration as they speak to me and I do my level best to understand. Plus my brain is figuring out these new sound signals coming via the CI. No wonder it's tiring! C is learning fast about my lack of hearing at present - he's getting better all the time at getting my attention before speaking, and speaking clearly when I'm ready.
I've finally started doing my second SLT homework. It's called paragraph tracking, and involves someone reading a chunk of text while I follow along, my finger tracking the words they read, without lipreading. I've been told to start with fairly simple sentences. So I realised the easiest way to do it is while Stuart's reading the boys' bedtime story. So tonight I sat next to Stuart and followed along while he read "Hairy Maclary's Showbusiness" :) I did get a little lost once or twice, but I think we got to the end at the same time! I'm not hearing words - I wouldn't get a single bit of what Stuart was saying (without lipreading) if I didn't have the text in front of me - all I've got to go on is the rhythm and pattern of the tones that my brain registers as his voice: whether it's a short word or a long word, and the speed/rhythm of the syllables in the long words, all these are clues. I think I might also be starting to hear some variation in tones (higher or lower) but I'm still uncertain as to whether it's really my ears, or just my imagination! The audiologist did say that as I work my way up the programmes and gain more volume, that I'd start to get a bit more quality/detail in the sound. So that might be starting to happen. I'm kind of looking forward to going up to programme four on Wednesday now, to see what new sounds I might hear then!
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