Ok, how ridiculously used to living with my CI am I?  I almost jumped in the pool with it on!!!  I recently joined Bally's in order to swim, one of my favorite activities and one I decided I just can't wait for June to do again.  (By the way, other hearing related stories connected to the gym will come - the music pumping in the locker room, anyone ( Read more... )

I have not written in this blog for nine months; after 3+ years of life with the CI, the multitude of daily discoveries has ceased.  But that does not mean there are NO discoveries, and it certainly does not mean that I ever take my miracle for granted ( Read more... )

Anyone who knows me is aware of my past life of black nail polish, purple Doc Martens and going to see every "alternative" band I possibly could, any time I possibly could.  And all of those who knew me before I lost my hearing at 17 remember I was an insanely obsessive fan of The Cure.  In the Spring of 1990, when I was a seventh grader, my ( Read more... )

On Tuesday, July 24th, I went to the movies and saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix... again.  (I am not going into my obsessive behaviors in this blog, don't worry!)  I had seen it the first time on opening weekend with the rear window captioning system.  To use this system,  I place a small screen in front of me (on an adjustable arm ( Read more... )

Recently several deaf and cochlear implant issues have popped up on TV.  (Well, kind of recently, as I let things sit in my DVR for a bit and then finally get around to watching them... then take even longer to write about them here!)  Cochlear implants were major plot points on episodes of both Law and Order: Criminal Intent and Scrubs.   Then ( Read more... )

In the year and a half since I got the implant, it never really occurred to me to look at music videos. Since we got digital cable, Jeff has started watching channel 250, The Tube. I have watched it a little when he has it on. They play a lot of videos of songs that I remember - I've seen Peter Gabriel, Tom Petty, The Eurythmics. (Apparently ( Read more... )

I am over the rainbow, over the moon, in love with my baby sister. Yesterday, I (and all my immediate family, plus some extended family) attended my sister Bonnie's senior recital at her college. Since she is a Music major, she was required to do a solo recital - it was 10 songs, and three not in English. It was very exciting for her, and for me ( Read more... )

One of my teacher's aides, Janette, grew up in Puerto Rico and she has started to teach me Spanish. I have always been interested in other languages. I took four years of French in high school - three when I had hearing and the fourth when I was deaf. By the way, I graduated high school with the highest grade in French, thank you very much, but ( Read more... )

As I suspected, the journey to bilateral life will not be smooth. A second implant is a non-covered procedure per my insurance. The husband and I are gathering information in order to start the appeal process. One of his co-workers does medical billing and quite nicely volunteered to help us with some codes and so forth. It could be months ( Read more... )

Well, if you were wondering if the Nucleus Freedom truly is water resistant, I have just conducted a "test." 10 minutes ago, I dropped my entire processor and headpiece straight into the toilet. Yes, that was an astounding OOPS. I grabbed it right out again and wiped it off on a towel. Terrified, I pushed the power button and the display was ( Read more... )