Sunday, December 16, 2007

Hello

Hello Everyone,
Still alive!
Just wanted to update a little. Not too much new. Have not had a new mapping for a few months now. I do have one January 8th of next year :) Have kept most of my programs the way she set them the last meeting. Noisy situations are still hard. Have to drop the volume in some really loud places. When I go to my son's basketball games in the big High School gym, that also is a hard place to hear. Echo sounds. But the overall picture is very good. Still talking on the phone, but still mostly family members. I did place a pizza order a few weeks ago and that went well. Understanding a lot on the TV, but not enough to follow an entire movie, if I turn the volume up enough I do better, but the the rest of the family no like:) Listening to music a lot now, love my rediscovered CD player, boy did I miss that. One of the best things is how much I don't text anymore, I talk to my kids on the phone now, very seldom do I ever text anymore, saves so much time and my thumbs get rest:)
Funny thing is how I really don't give my hearing much thought anymore, I'm also a lot less frustrated at the end of a day. I actually do get a little down when I don't hear or understand something, I guess I expect myself to be perfect now, make sense?:)
Anyway, after my next mapping I will update again.
Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Billy

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Update

Hey Everyone,
Time for a little update on the ear and me:) Sorry it's been a while.
Today I had my 3 month mapping, the last one I had was about two months ago, so it's been a few. I was down to one program out of the four that I had. Program 2 was the only one that had the volume level that I liked, the others were just to low. So, program 2 moved to 4 and I was given a new program called Whisper, I think a few of you guys have this, as I did real it on a few blogs. Should help me a little when talking to someone on the golf course:).
Everything as far as hearing has been going great. I use the phone a lot now, talked to my best friend from NY a few weeks ago for about an hour. Talk to the wife and my Mom with ease. Still haven't done anything on the phone like making a doctor app. or calling in a pizza order:), but I will soon. At work things have changed a ton, no more "just not getting it", and not to long ago my brother and his family from CT came out and they said I hear a lot better. Also many people at work have said that too. So I guess my hearing has been noticeably better, and yes, I would say it has:)
My audiologist said I am doing extremely well, one of the best she has ever had, she went on to tell me that at 3 months I'm ahead of most of her patients that are at 6-9 months. After hearing all that, I'm not sure what to say, I was more like, WOW, and thanks:) Hearing that made me feel so lucky and I figure I shouldn't complain about the little things in life that annoy me, or at least not as much:), and that I'm just really lucky. Not long ago, I started to prepare myself for being deaf at a later age, at whatever age my hearing would completely go, without being able to lip read or sign, and man, I was thinking, I'm up shits creek when that happens:) So yeah, I'm really lucky and thankful. OK, enough rambling!
Anyway, I took a hearing test, sentences, words, and some beeps:)
My results with CI are:
Beeps and sounds: 25 decibels range, which puts me in the speech banana, and is considered around normal hearing :)
Sentences: 100%, two months ago 90%
Words: 82%, two months ago 66%
So yeah, I'm feeling good today
It's been a really tough month, my Dad passed away on Aug 6th and it's the hardest and most painful thing I have ever gone through, so this is good, and I know he is watching and happy happy for me, if anyone in the world was cheering for me, it was my Dad, my #1 fan. Well I have more, but this one will be so missed:(
Well, that's about it for now, I still read all your blogs, just to darn lazy to write, but I will again.
Take care,
Your friend Billy

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Pony league champs


My sons team as they would say, "won the whole thing" they had one heck of a season. They started off like, this is going to be a long season, to winning the championship. My son is the catcher in the middle, chest protector on. He also made the All-Star team. They played teams from other towns, cities and they basically got blown away in that. Some great teams, but they tried.
Now a little info on the CI, I have not had a mapping in a while, was supposed to have one last Monday, but they decided to cancel that one, said I was doing ok and didn't need to change anything, but if I did feel I needed more volume or anything they would schedule me another one. My next map will be Sept. 11. So I will have a way to go before I see them again. I am running on one program right now, I do have four, but I only use one of them, works really well, #2, the others just don't have enough volume. I am starting to make out some of what is being said when I watch TV, I think with some more volume I might do better. Voices, even on my CD'S are getting better all the time. When my son plays the piano that sounds awful, not sure why. My other son play the guitar and that sounds a lot better. Can hear rain, wind, the leaves rustling in the trees. Let's see, what else, this is just a little update on what I'm hearing better and what changes I feel have happend:)
Like Yana said, I also do better if people are closer to me when talking to me, that I think would improve with more volume.
Overall I feel like I'm doing great, I kind of don't think about my hearing as much anymore. In the past at work if people talked to me, it took many, huh and what was that before I finally understood and many times I never did get what they were saying, now maybe one huh or what:) a lot better!
Anyway, that's about it here.
Hope everyone is doing good, and as we head into another weekend soon, have a good weekend.
Billy

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Mocips, Wa.




On vacatin this week. Spending a few days in Moclips, Wa. Small town along the Washington coast. Will post some pics when I figure it out:)

Billy

Friday, June 29, 2007

Hearing Test w/CI

I had my first hearing test with my CI at my one month mapping.
I scored a 90% on hint sentences (example: "The orange is sweet") , 66% on words, and 81% on phonemes (sounds).
So, at one month she said I did really good.
Considering I was at 24% with my one good ear, and with hearing aids, yes I did good :)

Sunday, June 24, 2007

One Month Mapping

Hello Jerry!
My one month checkup is coming up on Tuesday, hard to believe it's only been a month. For some reason it feels longer. I guess I've gotten accustomed to my new ear and it feels like we've been together longer :)
As far as change, it seems to be a little slower. The sound quality has gotten better, just a little of the Mickey Mouse sound is left, I still hear it on the radio and some of the music I play. Last week I went to my Nephews high school graduation and for the first time in who knows when, I could understand speech from a speaker on a microphone:) Understood a lot! But,,,I also went to my son's 8th grade graduation and understood very little, my son's was held in a gym compared to my Nephews which was held in a huge stadium like building, I'm thinking maybe better equipment or that the gym was more echo like.
The tinnitus that I was talking about in my last post is gone, haven't had that sound for over a week now, keeping my fingers crossed.
Talking at home has become easy, very good at understanding my wife and older son, my little guy is a litter harder at times, I guess it's because he has a higher pitched voice.
So that is about it as far as news, sometimes I feel to busy to take notice of all the new sounds that I hear. Sometimes I don't think I hear that much, but when I really listen and take time out to listen, I'm amazed at what I hear now, just hearing the wind and the leaves in the trees is incredible. The rain on the leaves, talking on the phone, someone mumbling something as they walk off, I me going, "I heard that" :)
Anyway, I hope you all had a good weekend, school is finally out here, time to plan the camping trips and all the other activity stuff.
Take care,
Billy

PS---I think Yana get's turned on this week! Wish her luck!

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Tinnitus anyone?

Hey All,
Went for my one week mapping on Thursday, added a new program channel and some volume changes on the other ones, a few different settings here and there. Nothing much different.
One thing of change for me has been a huge amount of tinnitus. It started about four days ago, in the middle of the day, a loud sound started in my head, like a fish tank motor running, that best describes it for me, or a plane in the sky, humming from the engine sound, from what I remember as far as sound similar to this one. The sound also starts off low and gets louder, lasts for about and hour, then goes away. Anyway, I thought something was wrong with my processor, but when I took it off, I could still here the sound, then I thought something was wrong inside my head. I emailed the hospital and they said it's probably tinnitus. It made my own voice very loud to myself and all the other voices loud, too loud. Made it harder for me to understand things, made things sound muffled. I get them everyday, 3-4 times. Very annoying! They said it might last for months, but should go away. Has anyone had this? Just wondering, and how long.
But everything else is about the same, going good. Been talking on the phone more and more, not understanding everything, but lot's :)
That's about it for now.
Hope everyone is having a good weekend, rainy here in Seattle.
Take care,
Billy