I'm going to let you walk in my life for a day, because there is no other way that I
can think of to show you what my CI is like. So here is a day from my life, here is
yesterday November 10, 1998. A very typical day...LOL.
My lamp alarm wakes me up at 6. Hey I'm still deaf, I don't sleep with my processor on
<g>. I grab a shower and answer a little mail while my hair dries. Then I get
dressed. My processor is in a small leather pouch like a pager and fits INSIDE my jeans
pocket. There are many ways to wear it, like on your belt with a clip, but I prefer to
just tuck mine in my pocket. The cord runs up under my shirt and I pop the mic on my head.
Its magnet holds it to the implant inside my head.
Ouch. Not a good connection and I get a little electric zap. My program isn't right
because at my last mapping my mic was in the process of dying. Need to get Mike to fix
that, but till then I pull it off and pop it back on. Ahh sound. :)
I hear the puter fan running, the soft whir my alarm clock makes. The drip of the
water in the faucet in the kitchen (need to get the landlord to fix that). The cat walks
in the room meowing for breakfast. I hear my footsteps into the kitchen. The creak of the
cabinet door. The rustle of the catfood sack. The sound of the catfood falling into the
bowl.
I knock on the boys bedroom door and tell them its time to get up. I hear them answer
me okay. I start running water for some dishes. Get side tracked by the dog needing to go
out. I hear the rattle of his leash chain as I put it on him. Oops the sound of the water
running in the sink reminds me to turn it off and I smile remembering how many times in
the past I've forgotten to turn it off. I hear the sound of the front door as I open and
close it.
As we walk I hear the wind, and the birds and the creaking of the trees as they sway in
a strong Okla. breeze. I am fascinated with the wonderful crunch crunch sound of the
leaves and I cant resist playing in them. I hear the sound of a car and step off the road
onto the grass. I hear the sound of children's voices, but I cant see them, they must be
playing in the woods.
Back in the apt I hear no sounds from the boys room and I know that they aren't up yet.
I knock again and fuss a bit more forcefully. Then listen till I hear them up and about. I
answer a little more email while I wait for them to get ready. I love the tinkling sound
my keyboard makes as I type.
My fiancée lives in Illinois (at least till January <g>) but I have some waves
on my puter of his voice. One is a good morning wav. and I love to play it in the morning
and hear his voice telling me good morning and I love you and such.
Chris my oldest calls from the livingroom that he can't find his book and I call back
that I remember seeing it on the kitchen counter. A few minutes laterJosh comes to tell me
they are ready. I hear the loud creak of the car door. I start the engine, and smile cause
I used to sometimes start it twice not realizing it was on. Chris is talking to me beside
me in front and I don't have to take my eyes off the road to talk to him because I *hear*
what he says. Josh says something from the back seat and I have to ask him to repeat it
but I get it the second time and answer.
I drop them off at school and stop at the doughnut shop for breakfast...bad habit of
mine...LOL. I no longer avoid looking at the people in the line around me because I dread
when strangers make polite conversation. The lady in front of me half turns around and
asks if I'm Chris' mom. We chat about our sons a bit while we wait. I hear the radio
playing, people talking, the clank of pans in back being washed, the thump and ding of the
cash register, the sound of cars outside, the noise when the door opens and closes.
I no longer dread ordering because I can't see her lips behind the counter. I am always
amazed at hearing how much my order is. I no longer have a purse full of ones and fives
like I used to when I was always handing cashiers a bigger bill than the amount because I
knew I would never hear how much...LOL.
Back at the shop I hear the key in the door as I unlock it. The roar of the heater as I
turn it up. The click of the lights. My modem dialing (cause of course I turn my puter on
first thing <g>) I've got a rush order this morning, and as I work I notice sounds
for you guys :) cause I've started taking all the sounds for granted.
As I work I hear. The sound the mat knife makes as I cut. The scrape of the pencil. The
squish splash of the glass cleaner. The squeak of the rag as I wipe. I hear the click
click of the glazier gun as I do an assembly. I hear the roar of the saw as I cut. The
click as my pencil hits the floor. LOL...Now I know where it is. Before I'd have to hunt
for it. I can work in back now, and KNOW that I will hear the front door open when a
customer comes in. Before I could only cut frames before and after work. My work day got 2
hours shorter after my implant.
Ding. The sound of the bell on the door lets me know that my first customer is here.
Its one of my oldest customers. He's known me for 4 years. He's got a full beard and
mustache and has usually had to write for me in the past. The first thing he says is,
"Wow! You got your hair cut!" LOL...My hair was very long, now its very short,
but I actually like it better short now.
I tell him about the CI and he's fascinated. He's also fascinated by the fact that I
can so obviously hear him. He's got a thousand questions. We talk for over an hour and he
has to repeat about 3 sentences for me in that entire time. No bluffing, I hear everything
he says and its SO nice to really be able to chat with someone that I've always liked, but
never really been able to talk to. I notice that.. I hear him when my back is turned
pulling frame samples off.. when I'm looking down writing his order.. when his head is
turned and he's talking to Bear (my dog).
He comments that my speech is much better and that my face is *more alive* than before,
that my eyes are different. I say I think that part is my hair cut because my eyes are
about the only part of me this implant hasn't changed, but he doesn't agree...LOL.
Besides his order he needs a certificate changed out, so I'm in back and he's in
front...and we are still talking. I'm standing about 20 feet from him right next to the
heater whirring, and I'm hearing all that he says to me. Though I've really started to
take *hearing* for granted. This really surprises me. I've always had to stand next to
people to hear them. Had to have those lips to read.
More customers come in, and they talk to me from the back of the store by the door. I
do have to walk closer to hear what they say but before I would ever have even known they
were speaking since I couldn't see their faces. I answer some questions, talk to Ralph a
little more, answer another question from them, and realize that wow, I'm talking to 4
people at once here and my head doesn't feel like a ping pong ball! Everyone leaves and I
go back to work.
The phone rings. Ack! I seem to have a phobia of the phone. I look at the Caller ID, no
one I know. No way, I cant make myself answer it...LOL. I wait till they leave a message
on the answering machine. I listen to their message, it takes me about 3 replays to get
what they are saying, and I'm sure I look funny with my implant stuck right next to the
recorder, but I eventually get what was said. I look at the phone and consider calling
them back but I just cant do it. I dump to DOS on my puter and call them back through
relay. Someday I'll be braver, another day..eventually.
The day passes quickly, its my busy season. I have a constant string of customers. Some
are a little harder to hear, but most are easy. None of them are impossible, no one has to
write to me anymore :) Accents are tough for me still. I notice that I am
much much less tired after a day at work. I no longer have the struggle to read lips.
Words are just there before me, pop pop pop, no more trying to figure out what was said.
One customer that stands out is a man that has a lot of problems with his teeth. He's
obviously embarrassed by them and having a hard time facing me. He's putting his hand over
his mouth a lot and I am hearing his words rather garbled. I suspect that his speech is
garbled because of his teeth. I very gently say that I'm deaf and I need him to look at me
and not cover his mouth and he apologizes about how his teeth look. I say it doesn't
bother me at all.. and we talk for about 45 minutes. In that time I get virtually all that
he says to me without struggling. I know that in the past this encounter would have been a
disaster. I would have had to ask him to write, and he would have felt upset because his
teeth/speech made it impossible to talk to me. But thanks to my CI, I made a new
friend/customer.
A hard of hearing friend comes in. She's always been very hard for me to talk to. Very
soft spoken and I notice this time that she has quite a deaf accent, I never noticed that
before...LOL. I tell her about my implant and she's so excited that it's hilarious...LOL.
She says she can tell how much easier it is for me to hear her. And we laugh at all the
times in the past we have talked to each other and then realized we weren't even talking
about the same thing <g> She's totally deaf in one ear, and slowly losing the
hearing in her other one. She talks a lot about the relief of knowing that when all of her
hearing is gone, there is something to turn to.
A customer with three kids comes in. In the past this was a nightmare for me. Little
voices talking to me and to mom. She's turning her head a lot. But today it doesn't
matter. I can answer those little voices when they ask from across the room if they can
have a sucker, and then where is my trash can. And at the same time hear what mom is
saying to me about her order. The feeling of not struggling is soo nice.
Soon the boys are home from school and the shop is full of noise. Lots of voices at
once, kids voices, the dog running and playing with them. The thump of backpacks and their
feet on the floor. The phone rings and Chris takes a mail order, asking me questions about
it and I'm hearing and answering despite all the background noise.
After I close and take them home, I start the mommy stuff. In the laundry I hear the
swish of water in the machines, the rumble of the dryers is very loud. The thump of my
basket on the floor. The clink of the coins in the slots. The rustle of the clothes when I
load them.
Back at the apt I fix supper. I can hear the clank of the pan as I put it on the stove.
The sizzle of the hamburgers. I turn the water down before it boils over cause I can hear
by its gurgle that its boiling. We sit down to eat and I LOVE that now I can hear about
their day, even when they talk at once, even when they talk with food in their mouths,
even though the TV is on in the living room. No repeats, no deaf nods, if I'd got nothing
else from my implant it would have been worth it all just for this. Just to have a normal
dinnertime conversation with my sons.
Bang..the force of the silence is almost like a physical blow. My CI battery is dead. I
excuse myself to go change it. That dead battery once a day always reminds me what a
blessing this thing is in my life. The silence is SO loud! Pop click and the batteries
changed and I have my beloved sound back again.
After supper I head for the peace and quiet of my room and my puter. I put a Clint
Black CD into the CD-ROM of my puter and plug my processor into the head phone jack.
LOL...The boys love my patch cord cause they hate country and western music. I relax and
unwind listening to my music. I love being able to hear it all. The instruments (though I
still can't pick out what all of them are) the lyrics, I love hearing what is being sung,
even if its a new song. The melody. Music has always had such an effect on my mood. I love
having it back.
The boys come in to tell me good night.. and I figure I'd better head that way too. I
hear the clunk as I turn the deadbolt, the click of the light switch, the sound the covers
make as I turn them down. I pop off my implant and turn off the light. Just another day.
I've had my implant for 5 months now, they tell me it gets better. I cant even imagine
better than this. :)
