More of the same.

As Day 3 of The World of Electronic Hearing winds down, my head is reeling from the continued onslaught of whistlybeepystuff. I’ve had a few tiny, almost imperceptible breakthroughs of hearing Something Real, and I’ve already moved into a significantly louder program than I started with on Wednesday. Mostly, though, it’s still All R2 All The Time.

Today was my first day back in the office since Activation Day. I spent a lot of time explaining to my colleagues why it sucks right now, but hopefully will suck less soon, and will eventually not suck. The rest of my day has been spent on the computer, listening to the now-familiar mouse and keyboard beeping, as well as an incessant whistling that is probably the air-conditioning and will hopefully recede into the background SOON.

I’m also hearing some things that astound me. For example, if I rub my hand up and down my bare arm, I hear a corresponding whistle. If I slide my hand over my desk, I hear a similar, but differently pitched whistle. Yet if I staple something, I can’t really hear any particular sound that corresponds to the stapler closing and reopening. I’m not sure why I’m getting so many of these tiny sounds that I’ve never even realized existed before, but not more obvious, known sounds. It may be because I expect the known sounds to sound familiar, so I’m not recognizing them yet.

Yesterday, the audiologist gave me a stack of listening exercises, which Steve and I are supposed to work through for about a half-hour a night. These are supposed to help me start sorting out and identifying what I’m hearing with the implant. I was too exhausted and overwhelmed to give them a try last night, but hopefully tonight we’ll run through one or two. I expect to be rather relaxed, because we’ll be coming from a cocktail party I’m co-hosting after work, but possibly also very tired of listening. I’m awaiting with quite a bit of trepidation this first venture into large-gathering-small-space hearing with the CI.

Comments

[fish]

exciting!!! very exciting!!!

[rebecca]

exciting?????? more like scary. but hang in there, mad - thanks for writing about this in such detail. you know we're all rooting for you. it's really interesting to learn about this. many hugs your way - i'm glad you have such an awesome support system, which will get you through this time and then celebrate ecstatically when it's at a good point. xo