I can hear! No I can't! Wait, maybe I can.

My computer hit the floor a few weeks ago and we have been without since. I am waiting for it to be repaired. In the meantime life has been busy and I missed posting several good things. Now I need to post a compilation.

Clarity

I have reached the point where I can direct-connect my cochlear implant to my cell phone and listen to mp3 audio bible chapters and understand them. I can listen for 20 minutes and miss only a sentence or two here or there.

I had reached the point where I could talk on the phone for a sentence or two with my hearing aid in my deafened ear. I spoke to my sister-in-law in portuguese for a moment.

Bimodal Hearing

For the first time in my life, I found my self looking left to find a sound I heard. I never knew what it was like to hear direction, but my head instinctively turned one way or the other.

The sound qualities of my cochlear implant hearing , which is still in training, and my natural hearing, which is still in recovery, are different. They occasionaly worked together to help me understand more.

Nearly Declared not Deaf but Hard of Hearing

I had decided that in May I would start calling myself hard of hearing again, instead of deaf. But, on Saturday, I was playing soccer and in a tumble hit my head on another player´s knee. I hit right behind my right ear. Two days later, on the last day of April, I woke up with no sound in my right ear. I lost my hearing again.

Cochlear Implant Only

I am relying only on my cochlear implant now. I hear well enough to understand the person with whom I am speaking directly. I can identify some songs. I can hear environment noises. Most sound is very soft, but squeaks and bumps are very loud.

My next mapping is in 2 weeks.  I am taking medicine again to stimulate the return of my hearing in my right ear.