It Just Doesn’t Seem Real

I’m about 2 months after surgery and about 6 weeks after activation.  Voices and sounds started out sounding helium filled then sounded part “normal” and part robotic at the same time.  I’m so excited to share that nearly all sounds, especially voices, now sound “normal and how I remember them and know them to sound!

Between the different programs I have to help me hear in different situations, and the additional volume I can use when needed, I haven’t found too many situations where I haven’t felt comfortable in being able to hear and participate in the conversation.  What a feeling of confidence!

Something that I realized last week is that by habit, I don’t normally think about answering calls that come in or making calls.  My ability to understand conversations on the phone was so low that I usually had someone else with me to pick up the things I couldn’t understand – which sometimes was most of the conversation.  Now just the opposite it true.  I hear and understand most of conversations.  I’m very functional using the phone and I have to remind myself of that – constantly!  Yes I can!

I am hearing new noises every day.  Noises that I haven’t heard in so long that I don’t readily recognize them.  For example, in our bathroom at work there is apparently an exhaust fan that is always on. I had no idea.  Last week I could hear a storm siren going off outside from my office.  Today I heard the rain while I was sitting at my desk.  It’s these small things that make me pause and think about the gift I’ve been given!