I can hardly believe it has been a month since I have posted!  I expected things to be so much different than how they turned out.  My CI journey has been much different than the typical CI recipient and for that I give God the credit!  There is nothing that I did that made things go so well – how quickly my brain adjusted was completely out of my control.  It had to be a God thing! I have been trying to do my part, too.   I have been wearing my CI every day as I was told to do, and have been doing the homework – these things help, but ultimately I have not needed nearly as much practice and therapy as would be expected.  I am so grateful!  

I sometimes find that there isn’t much for me to say in this blog.  I am functioning very well and life seems to be moving along in a more “normal” way for me.  It feels like most of the “news” is pretty mundane at this point.  That is a good thing, but not all that interesting to read about, I would imagine.  It has made me think about the fact that it seems like we are more focused on the things that really matter when we are dealing with a trial in our lives.  It is so easy to be “busy” and going about our daily “normal” lives and not really thinking about those deeper more important things at all.  I guess that is why it is so important to spend some time in God’s word and meditating on it every day.  It helps strengthen us for when those trials do come our way and helps us have the right perspective then, but it also helps us focus daily on what really matters and helps us renew our efforts every day to try to serve others and bring glory to the Father by how we live our lives.  I am truly thankful for my hearing loss journey.  I have learned so very much and have had my eyes opened to things that I never was aware of before.  I feel very grateful and really excited that God has given me the ability to hearing once again.  I know that He didn’t have to do that, and I would have been fine if that had happened, but it thrills me that God did this special thing for me.  It is a gift, and a blessing that I don’t take forgranted.  

I had my second therapy session today and did quite well.  We worked with conversations with the radio on for background noise and no lip-reading and I understood most of it.  I had to have a couple of things repeated but that was about it.  I have been using the regular telephone for the last couple of weeks (that was my homework assignment last session) and it is going great.  I have had several conversations ranging from 30 minutes to 2 hours and could understand about 95%-98% of all of it!  This is a huge deal for me!  There were a few calls that I had more difficulty with – I really don’t know why.  I am wondering if the connection may not have been as good, or maybe the other person was using a cell phone , maybe it was the person’s tone…I don’t know.  I am happy with the progress though!  I need to test out my cell phone next.  That is a little more tricky for me, only because we don’t have good cell reception in our home and I am usually busy when I am out and about.  I use wifi calling at home for most texting but even with that the calls on the cell are still a little sketchy. Right now our internet is down, so that doesn’t even matter.  I have been able to Skype my daughter at school, so that has been wonderful!

I feel like right now I am at a point where I am doing well enough that it is easy for people to forget that I do still have hearing problems.  I find that when I am focused on the speaker, I understand almost everything said.  I think I still have to concentrate more than I realize, because I am not able to multi-task the way someone with normal hearing can.  An example would be a typical Sunday morning bible class.  If I am up front and paying attention, I am hearing well enough to follow everything.  If the teacher prays, I can close my eyes and still understand everything (unless it is someone who is particularly quiet or mumbles!).  If I decide to get some chapstick or something out of my purse, I can usually still follow while I do that, but if it is difficult to find in my purse and I have to put a little more attention toward that, I will lose what is being said.  Not a biggie, but I am trying to explain what I mean by typical multi-tasking.  Another example – I was driving with two passengers recently.  I thought that since my right ear is the one with the implant and as the driver that put my “good” ear toward both passengers that I would be able to understand everything.  Not so.  I was driving at night in an area I am not that familiar with, and the amount of attention needed to drive safely and be watching for speed zones and stops in this unfamiliar territory made it difficult to follow a lot of the conversation.  The people with me didn’t realize that, I’m sure.  There were times I explained I needed to focus and times I heard most of the conversation but there were gaps as I was checking traffic or whatever.  

I have been so excited that I am able to sing in church and to hear much more of the songs in our assembly!  I truly didn’t know if I would ever be able to  do that again.  I find it interesting that acappella music sounds much closer to normal for me than any instrumental music I have heard.  I love that!  Maybe it is because I am most familiar with it.  I am finding that voices that I have known for years sound pretty close to normal for me now, but I hear more distortion in strangers voices or on the radio or tv.  Whatever it is, I am so happy to be able to participate and I don’t even have to lip read anymore to know which song or where we are in the song!  

I spoke with my audiologist last week about the hearing aid distortion I experienced before.  I was hoping she would tell me that I don’t have to wear it.  No such luck.  She said that I am doing so well now that if I want to start wearing it occasionally I can (but don’t have to), but I see her again in March and at that time she will want me to wear it all the time along with the CI.  This is the first “yucky” homework I have had, but I will do it.  They are the experts and know what’s best.  My next appointment after that will be in June.  We will do testing on both ears at that time to see if my left ear still qualifies for a CI.  I also have an appointment that day with the surgeon to discuss the results.  If i qualify for another implant, we will discuss surgery #2 and hopefully I will be able to get that going.  Right now I want that second CI pretty badly, but again I know that I have to trust God and ask for His wisdom in this and that what is best for me is what will take place.

That is pretty much what has been happening in my hearing journey!  Thank you for taking the time to read my posts and for your continued prayers and encouragement!