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
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
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 :)
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!
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
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
Monday, June 4, 2007
Here's What's New
Helllllllooooooo!
Well, it's almost a week now, not much has changed as far as the Mickey Mouse sounds in all the voices. I met a man at the hospital that has had the implant for about a month and he said his mouse voices almost all went away after 2-3 weeks. Even if they didn't, it's still better then what I heard before, zip.....
Today I talked to my Mother- in-law on the phone, understood very much, was able to carry a conversation, we talked about 5min. Can't describe how I felt after that, but in total shock would sum it up, shocked that I could actually understand on the phone. I talked to my wife in the morning for a minuet or so, and understood some of the things she was saying, that was on my cell phone. When I talked to my Mother- in-law, that was on the home phone, understood better on that. I think the reason was the home phone is a little louder and bigger, fits around my speakers better. Talked to my son yesterday and understood a bit of that too. It is one of my practice exercises that I have to do this week, talking on the phone, in a short amount of time. All I can say is, it's been a miracle as far as the phone. If I had to pick one thing that I missed the most, due to my hearing, it would be losing the phone. I have lost contact with many friends and some family members by not being able to us the phone. It's been many years since I last used the phone, and actually heard and understood someone. But I am taking baby steps with it. Can't get over excited:)
Today was also my first day back at work, I deal with many people at work, and today was the easiest day I have had in years. Lot's of work and practice remains in this area, but it went very well. At work there are many background noises which make it difficult to understand, but I did good.
Last night we had rain, first time since I have been turned on. I was able to hear the rain on the leaves, and the wind blowing. A little muffled, but I heard it anyway. I sat out on my chair and just listened. I find myself doing that a lot, just sitting or standing somewhere and listening to what I can hear. Sometimes I feel like a kid with a new toy :)
I have also be practicing with the CD player and playing music, very hard to understand the words. My Audio told my to go to lyrics.com and print out the songs words, which I have done, and read the words while listening to the song. I have done that and it seems like the words come out a little more clear and I can follow the song quite well.
I'm hearing things everyday, new and old, but by no means is my hearing cured, it will never be the same, but this is not bad. Even though many things don't sound right, or simple things that get in the way like the wind, I find myself happy again, (hard to drive with the window open and listen to the music) lol.
I do a lot better in quiet conditions and I probably always will. But, this has been worth it already, and it's less then a week.
I could go on and on, but that's about it for now.
Thanks for all the nice comments.
I'm always here checking my blog and yours :)
Take care everyone,
Billy
Well, it's almost a week now, not much has changed as far as the Mickey Mouse sounds in all the voices. I met a man at the hospital that has had the implant for about a month and he said his mouse voices almost all went away after 2-3 weeks. Even if they didn't, it's still better then what I heard before, zip.....
Today I talked to my Mother- in-law on the phone, understood very much, was able to carry a conversation, we talked about 5min. Can't describe how I felt after that, but in total shock would sum it up, shocked that I could actually understand on the phone. I talked to my wife in the morning for a minuet or so, and understood some of the things she was saying, that was on my cell phone. When I talked to my Mother- in-law, that was on the home phone, understood better on that. I think the reason was the home phone is a little louder and bigger, fits around my speakers better. Talked to my son yesterday and understood a bit of that too. It is one of my practice exercises that I have to do this week, talking on the phone, in a short amount of time. All I can say is, it's been a miracle as far as the phone. If I had to pick one thing that I missed the most, due to my hearing, it would be losing the phone. I have lost contact with many friends and some family members by not being able to us the phone. It's been many years since I last used the phone, and actually heard and understood someone. But I am taking baby steps with it. Can't get over excited:)
Today was also my first day back at work, I deal with many people at work, and today was the easiest day I have had in years. Lot's of work and practice remains in this area, but it went very well. At work there are many background noises which make it difficult to understand, but I did good.
Last night we had rain, first time since I have been turned on. I was able to hear the rain on the leaves, and the wind blowing. A little muffled, but I heard it anyway. I sat out on my chair and just listened. I find myself doing that a lot, just sitting or standing somewhere and listening to what I can hear. Sometimes I feel like a kid with a new toy :)
I have also be practicing with the CD player and playing music, very hard to understand the words. My Audio told my to go to lyrics.com and print out the songs words, which I have done, and read the words while listening to the song. I have done that and it seems like the words come out a little more clear and I can follow the song quite well.
I'm hearing things everyday, new and old, but by no means is my hearing cured, it will never be the same, but this is not bad. Even though many things don't sound right, or simple things that get in the way like the wind, I find myself happy again, (hard to drive with the window open and listen to the music) lol.
I do a lot better in quiet conditions and I probably always will. But, this has been worth it already, and it's less then a week.
I could go on and on, but that's about it for now.
Thanks for all the nice comments.
I'm always here checking my blog and yours :)
Take care everyone,
Billy
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