Today is officially my 4th day as a cochlear implant user. I am pretty comfortable now with the daily routine of charging batteries and putting them on and taking them off, placing the processor and headpiece in the drying box overnight, and placing the magnet correctly on my head. I still have to work a bit at getting the unit properly resting on my ear – the sensations are still not completely normal after surgery and it makes it a little harder to tell. I have to actually feel it with my hands and check to make sure it is resting properly on my ear that way. Not a big deal but it will be nice when the nerves are completely recovered. It is all fairly comfortable for the majority of the day. Late in the afternoon, I start feeling some irritation or discomfort. Nothing too bad, but enough to make me want to readjust and think about how glad I will be when the surgical site is not longer easily irritated. I have been able to wear my reading glasses again, which is great. I’m sure if I wore them for a long time they would irritate the site, too, but for an hour or so I am fine.

I used Program 2 the entire day. I will be going with that one. The distortion was less noticeable today, so I am hoping it will sound pretty normal to me soon. I plan to go to the library tomorrow to check out some children’s books on CD as suggested. I am ready to start working on some of my word comprehension. I realize that I am understanding quite a bit, but I do hope for quite a bit of improvement with some consistent effort on my part. I actually was a little surprised when I realized that this is only the 4th day I’ve been a CI user. It feels like it has been longer than that. Tomorrow I have a ladies’ tea to attend and that will be an interesting test to see how well I can do in a group setting. I am realistic (and optimistic) so I know it might be difficult, but so much has been better than expected that I feel kind of like “who knows?” I won’t be disappointed if it is hard. I know that I will learn how to handle those situations with my equipment and that as my word comprehension comes up it will improve.

Still thanking God for this amazing blessing and a great experience so far!