It’s been a while since my last post.  That was initially because of how much was going on and the need I had to regroup after everything.  Then it was because I really couldn’t think of much to say.  Nothing much was happening in the hearing department and I was surprised to find that I didn’t really have much else to share that I thought anyone would be interested in.  I’ve thought several times during this interval how interesting it is that when we are going through a trial or “crisis” our minds are so focused on what’s really important and we are thinking those deep “profound” kind of thoughts more often than we do when life is running along smoothly. That’s another reason why trials are a blessing.  

As far as my health goes, I am feeling well.  I continue to work on healthy eating and exercising and it’s going great.  I was so pleased to weigh in after our cruise and find out that I had lost 2.6 lbs between two days before the wedding and the day I weighed in right after the cruise!  My plan definitely worked!  As of this week, I have officially lost 30 lbs. since the beginning of June and am now back to the weight I was when I started the steroids last year.  That is a mental milestone for me! I still have a long ways to go, but I feel much better!  I have found that I love to swim and there is also a machine at the gym that I enjoy and doesn’t hurt my feet.  It’s like a recumbent bike, only the pedals are more like the foot pedals on an elliptical machine and there are moving “poles” for the arms like an elliptical machine also.  I alternate between the machine and swimming most days to work out.  I also have found that for the first time ever I do not dread working out most days.  I actually enjoy it!  It feels good to move my body and know I am doing something good for my health.  I have heard of that before, but honestly never experienced it for myself.  I think that even under the guidance of a trainer a few years ago I was still working at too hard of a level for where I was.  Right now I am working out for 30 minutes 4-5 times a week.  I usually stay in a fat burn zone (per my doctor’s recommendation) and occasionally bump that up to a cardio zone.  It just doesn’t feel that hard, but at this point it is clearly effective for me.  That may change as I lose weight and get more fit, but for now I’m not going to mess with a successful formula 🙂  I absolutely love my phone app “myfitnesspal.”  I record everything and have really found that there are lots and lots of foods that I enjoy and that will fill me up and still stay within my calorie range.  I have only had 3 or 4 days since I started that I was still hungry after my calorie limit was reached.  I’m learning what types of calories work best for me and how to spread them out throughout my day so that I stay fueled and have good energy.   I have been very pleasantly surprised at how many restaurants have “skinny” menus and great options that won’t break the calorie bank.  I am also finding that I can occasionally have meals where I’m not counting the calories and that as long as it doesn’t happen too often, it doesn’t hurt my weight loss goals.  I am purposely trying to keep my weight loss at around 2 lbs. per week.   I don’t want to lose too rapidly, I just want to keep a slow, steady, doable pace going.  

I have reached a point with my hearing situation where I am going to have to make a decision soon regarding having cochlear implant surgery or going with a hearing aid and lip reading for a while longer.  It is a difficult decision to make.  On the one hand, I am doing pretty well with a hearing aid and lip reading.  I have adjusted to this level of hearing loss and am functioning pretty well.  I have the technology in place that I need to make up for the things I am unable to hear and in quiet environments I am following most of what is said.  The lip reading part of that equation is crucial.  If a person is speaking to me and turns their head even a little, if the lighting is bad and their face is in shadow, if they speak with their hands a lot and their hand passes in front of their face or their mouth is obstructed in any way I cannot understand what is being said.  I am having to turn my hearing aid down to lower volume settings now than I did before.  I don’t know why.   It could be a technical issue.  It could be that the hole in my eardrum is affecting volume to some extent.  It could be that I am getting that much better at lip reading.   It could be that people around me are speaking louder to me.  Maybe there has been slight improvement, although that really is the least likely possibility.  I had basically decided that natural hearing is always going to be better than artificial, and if I am functioning well now, then I should wait on the surgery.  I spoke with an audiologist yesterday and he said that his opinion is that I would do much better with cochlear implants.  There are no guarantees, but most people who have poor results with them are people who have been deaf for years.  At this time, I am still fairly young (yep, 50 is still considered fairly young!) and would probably tolerate the surgery better and adapt more readily to the many adjustments involved in CIs than someone who is older would.  If they were successful for me, I would have more time to reap the benefits.  The downside is that it’s expensive and there is quite a lot to go through between the surgery and a year or two of mapping and adjusting before you are generally at maximum benefit.  It’s possible that I would do great but it’s also possible that I would end up the same as now or even worse.  Ultimately, the decision is mine (and Chet’s) and I have to live with the consequences either way.  I’ll probably speak with the insurance company soon to nail down the actual cost as much as possible.  Then I will likely post a list of pros and cons and things I have thought of to consider and solicit your advice, help, and prayers as I try to look at everything I need to to  make the best decision possible.  I can choose to have the surgery at any point, but feel the need to decide soon because I have been using a “loaner” hearing aid during this interim where I had to postpone surgery because of the blood clots.  I should know after my follow up on Oct. 28 whether my clots are gone and whether I will continue a drug to prevent more clots for the long term or not.  Then I either need to get the surgery going, or buy a new hearing aid if I choose to go that route.  

As always, once I sit down to blog I seem to find a lot to say.  Thanks for checking in and for your input and prayers!  It is always encouraging to me.  I’m very thankful to be doing well whatever path I end up going down with this!