Two CI’s and a Woman on the Road

What a great hearing weekend I had in warm, sunny Michigan! With a couple of Hearing Loss Association meetings on the schedule, I was facing a good six hours in the car. Pre-CI, I found driving longer distances by myself extremely, excruciatingly boring. If you’re hard of hearing or deaf, you’ve been there. Once I received my first CI, my outlook on long drives improved a great deal because I could hear music again. In those early days, I stuck to tried and true CD’s of my old favorites from my hearing days. Since getting my second CI last July (2008), I have branched out to listen (and singing along!) to the music on the radio.

Returning from the Saturday meeting, I was driving along when my phone rang. I had put it on the LOUD ringer so I MIGHT hear it over the radio. No reading glasses on so I couldn’t see who was calling. A second’s hesitation… Will I be able to hear well enough to even know who it is? My mom is in the hospital… Better pick up. So I silenced the radio, grabbed the phone and answered. It was my brother calling to see if I had been to visit my mom yet. We carried on a conversation while I was driving along. (Michigan currently has no laws against this.) I had no trouble hearing him with the cell phone and the T-Mic on my Harmony! Awesome (or maybe not), now I have the same potential hearing people do - crashes due to cell phone distractions. I promise not to make a habit of cell phoning and driving!

Sunday was another meeting in another city, another hour and a half drive in another direction. I had the radio tuned to oldies and was enjoying the music very much. I felt like I was hearing more and more of the lyrics of each song.

All of a sudden I heard:

You are so beautiful to me
you are so beautiful to me
can’t you see
you’re everything I hoped for
you’re everything I need
you are so beautiful to me
Such joy and happiness you bring…

I found myself holding my hand out in front of me and imagining my Harmony in my palm as I sang this song to it. Sounds pretty corny! It WAS pretty early in the morning. I WAS slightly sleep/caffeine deprived. I DID need some entertainment. Mostly I was just feeling VERY appreciative of what I’d been hearing. It really does sum up how I feel about this sweet little device that lets me hear again! Just to reassure you, there was no traffic at all – think Timbuktu on Sunday morning. Everyone sane was sleeping or drinking their coffee with the Sunday news or maybe getting ready for church. This was way before the church traffic would start up.

All weekend, the lyrics just kept jumping out at me. Songs I had forgotten all about, like waves of memories washing over me. Crimson N Clover, Rock On, Goodbye Yellow Brick Rd… Oh, I just love it!

Then a song I had been trying to figure out for the longest time came on. I only heard the music and only noticed the song when I was alone so I couldn’t ask anyone what the song was. I tried once to hum it to my husband, but obviously my humming is somewhat lacking and he couldn’t help. The music would be so familiar to me but my brain was just not making any connections and my 'ears' couldn’t catch any of the lyrics.

Suddenly I heard:

Why can’t you see
what you’re doing to me
when you don’t believe a word I say?

My brain perked up and I started listening harder, turned the volume up a little, then I heard, “ …with Suspicious minds” . My eyes got big. I kept listening. Yes! Realization washed over me. This was the elusive song that had been toying with my 'ears' and brain for months when I heard it played on the radio. It’s mine now. Another one bites the dust…

Then the stop at McDonald’s for a coffee before the meeting. I pulled up to the ordering booth and heard ‘Would you like a double fudge brownie?’ I thought, ‘At this time in the morning? Are you crazy?’ but I very politely said ‘No thank you’ and went on with my order. I felt so empowered. I heard the question plain as day! This morning I did a repeat of this exact conversation while taking my husband in for his eye surgery. He said ‘That was a machine’. I asked 'What?' somewhat puzzled. He said: You just told the recording “No thank you”. We had a good laugh!

Some Hearing Moments

In Passing...

Monday I was out running errands and needed to FedEx a package. I went to a store near some other stops on my errand route. My first thought was "Odd, the parking lot looks bare." The store is kind of tucked around the corner though so I couldn't see it. As I started walking to the side walk that led around to the store, a couple of ladies passed me going the other way. One of them said something and it took a minute, but then I realized she said 'It's closed'. I stopped in my tracks. I heard that! I was excited that I heard her comment and also unsettled to learn the FedEx location had closed as it was located in an area that I would have thought would be a good spot. Signs of the times? I sure hope not!

On purpose...

I've been making more phone calls lately. On Friday, I came home and made three calls right in a row using my Harmony ear. I used our corded phone for one. It doesn't have much volume boost on it so it felt just barely loud enough. The other two I made on my cell phone which seems to have more volume boost. I find slightly humorous that when I am trying to listen with the phone using my Harmony’s T-mic on the right side, if I take my headpiece off on the left, it helps me focus on the sounds coming in the other side better. It reminds me of how people will plug one ear when trying to talk with the phone on the other side. Although people usually do that when it’s noisy and for me there was only the hum of my computer. I’m not sure why I find this amusing. Maybe because it’s one of those tiny actions that most people don’t think about when they do it and after looking on for years and years with a certain amount of envy about talking on the phone, now I can mimic the action. And maybe it has to do with the realization that it doesn’t take much to distract me from listening. Focusing on tiny voices on the phone is still relatively new for me after all. Whatever the reason, it made me smile.

Bits And Pieces (not)...

There was more I wanted to write, but it's gone. Just flew right out of my mind. I'm sitting here trying to think what it was but after 10 minutes of nothing happening, I'm going to wind this up. Till next time!

Movies and 2008 Wrap Up Part 2

This will be setting a record of a sorts. Two blog entries so close together!

We saw two movies over the holidays. First was "Australia" on New Years Eve. It was long! Started at 9:15 and let out at 12:04 so we missed the ball dropping. At least we were awake which is more than I can say for other years! The accents were a challenge, but it was still easy enough to follow along with what was happening. I'd love to see this one again with captions. The little boy was adorable!

Last Saturday, we went to see Seven Pounds. I'm not going to spoil the show for anyone. I didn't have any trouble hearing what was said. Only a few spots that were tricky. The movie is a bit puzzling because not much is explained until the very end. A bit disturbing and sad story, but worth seeing. Will Smith is great in his part. We puzzled over the name all the way home and then looked it up on the Internet so we'd know for sure what it meant. See the movie first so you don't know the end, it will be better that way.

I'm still surprised when hearing words (not just sounds) and phrases of words that would not have been heard before going bilateral. Sometimes I don't even realize that the captions are not on. My hubby will point it out and say he misses them even though he has normal hearing. Or I'll hear a phrase and think, "I heard that..." Take note that the captions are off and then "Yes, no captions on so I must have!" By then I've missed the rest of what was being said because I was too busy being amazed at what I was hearing! I am so used to captions on TV that when they are on and are in sync with the actual speech, then it's like I can hear it even when I can't. Radio and podcasts are the best way to know what I'm actually hearing since there isn't any visual input at all.

The media is constantly blasting us with what a horrible year 2008 is. If my bottom line was the only thing that makes me happy, that might be true. Fortunately, there were many blessings in to be grateful for in 2008! My second CI and much improved bilateral hearing is right at the top of my list. Two ears are definitely better than one!! Even if they are not equal in hearing skills (my right ear with the Harmony does better than my left ear with the C1), everything sounds richer and fuller with both of my implants on. I don't go without either one very often. I hope you can find blessings from events in your life and that 2009 brings even more!