Still enjoying the journey...

Its been a while since I have updated my blog and I have a very good reason for NOT doing so....I AM TOO BUSY! I am so enjoying my life right now and find myself going here and going there and taking my time listening to all I can. When I went for my testing at MUSC (another big shot out to Meredith my audiologist) I didnt score all the great when put in an environment with others talking. She told me and I quote" Karen, you need to throw yourself out there, get out among everyone and everything" Unquote. Well that is EXACTLY what I am doing now. Before my cochlear implant, I was starting to withdraw away from people because I could not understand them, couldnt read them and was tired of the funny or strange looks when I gave off the wall comments. So, I am doing what Meredith suggested and Im "throwing" myself out there. I am going to concerts, musicals, the fair, dinners out in crowded restaurants and really trying to do it all. For the month of October, I worked daily at our Pumpkin Patch at our church. Everyday I went in at 9:30 and stayed all day give or take a shift or two of running errands and such. I had such a fun time at the patch that I didnt want to leave! The mornings were filled with young children who were coming to visit for story time and purchase a small pumpkin. We read stories, sang songs and did a few finger plays. Do you know how long its been since I have done that?!?!? I cant remember the last time I was able to hear a childs voice and actually converse with small children in a group setting! I surrounded myself with people I have never met and tried to converse. Just throwing myself out there and having a blast! How wonderful my days are filled with new sounds! I went to a fundraiser where we sat around a round table. I was able to talk across the table and I could tell you everything that everyone was saying! That was a first for me. It was all I could do to not tear up! We sat towards the back of the room and when the keynote speaker started her speech, lo and behold, I heard everything. Now that I could never do! NEVAH, EVAH! I now hear prayers with my eyes closed, speakers...you name it, I hear it! Life is good... Now, went back for my last checkup and I have improved! When I am listening to a speaker 1/1, Im in the high 90%! And in conversational settings I am slowly showing signs of improvement. I am pleased as I hope Meredith is also. Another thing that I am doing is going back and singing at the nursing home like I used to do. I still dont sing and I still dont like music but a friend of mine encouraged me to go back and sing. I decided that I would try and sing and no one complained. When I sang to the children at the patch, I knew they wouldnt complain so I went for it, but the nursing home? I did and I will continue to go. I decided like young children, they dont care....So, for me life goes on. If I dont update my blog for a bit, you know I am just too busy enjoying the life of hearing and that I am busy throwing myself out there. Hope your life is going well and let me "hear" from you!

And the band played on....

Well I have to tell you...I went to a band concert. Me! I was a bit leary of going but I decided to put on my big girl panties and give it a whirl! And boy I am so glad that I did! I went with friends of ours (add a big shout out now to Patty and Dave for being such gracious hosts on our visit) Patty played the flute and an electronic bass (not the guitar but the big fiddle :)) in the concert and it was fabulous! I heard Sousa marches and an Irish Jig that just made me well...jiggy! I heard a banjo, guitar, tin whistle, harp! I tried to focus in to hearing an accordian but couldnt quite make it out its sound. The piccolos and flutes were more enjoyable to listen to this go round then when I wore my hearing aides. Now overall music is still really not pleasurable for me but its getting there. I will continue to have patience but at times I ask myself, WWWHHHEEENNN! I am so ready. Im watching American Idol this season as an aquaintance of ours is singing, Elise Testone and last night Wallace a cousin of my BFF played on AI! How exciting is that! I did enjoy watching them and at times I heard Wallace play his electric bass (the guitar kind, not the fiddle like Patty). If you watch AI please vote for Elise. If you dont watch AI, please do, you are missing out on some great talent. I go back for another testing at MUSC and this time we will start testing on music. I for one am looking soooo forward to that! I will keep you posted on my journey but for right now Ill sign out so I wont bore you with anymore details. Hope all is well with you and Ill check back in with you soon as I have new things to report ~Karen

"But you're doing so well..."

If she says that phrase one more time, Im gonna smack her! I went for another appointment with my stand up audiologist Meredith. I swannee, she should have been a teacher cause she is just full to the brim with sunshine and positive reinforcement. Each time I get in the booth for testing, I have to listen to and repeat these words, sentences, words with noise in the background, sentences with noise in the background and I do awful! Well no thats not true. I score in the 90th percentile (98% to be honest, thank you very much :)) with just words and no noise...As words turn into sentences and with more noise added, that percentage goes WAY down. Now Meredith says, "but you are doing so well, golly Im so proud, its only been 3 months!" and on and on and on.... Now, it is so hard not to get bummed out when I fail these tests. But for me, I have decided that when I am at home, it works for me so haarummph with letting this testing (failing) get to me. Overall I am very pleased with things EXCEPT my music and phone. Now, as for the phone, when the kids call I find myself playing around doing different things, pushing different buttons, driving them crazy I know. Maybe thats why they are not calling me as much. Anyway, I will continue to play. Sometimes its ok and sometimes its a hold on let me try this kinda day. As for music, I am reminded of the quote, its elementary dear Watson coming from Sherlock. I have decided with my music to go all the way back to the beginning with my piano books. In my elementary books, all the music is within one octave. I take that octave and play different notes over and over again training myself that is an A...this is what an A sounds like and I play that A over and over again. I have now graduated to London Bridge which requires using 2 hands where I try to sing the melody. For someone like me, starting back at the beginning is working. Might not work for you but for me, thats where I am starting and one day Ill get there. I got lots and lots of years to catch up (since Im still so young and all) and got plenty of time in my golden years. It will come. I am new to the hearing world, thus needing to start at the beginning. Can I do this? You bet I can! I am determined.<insert slammed fist on desk here> I am going to another concert this weekend where some of the music (if not all as IM not sure yet) will be Irish. Im looking forward to getting my "jig" on. I will report back to you on how I perform. As always, thanks for dropping by and see you next week!....Karen

Palm Sunday and more...

Well today is April 1st. and also Palm Sunday. Let me tell you right now...what a day it has been! I walked into our church sanctuary and I saw a harp, timpani drums, an oboe and I already knew a flute was going to be playing because my friend was the one playing the flute. She did not say one thing to me about all these other instruments. Well, I had no idea what was in store for me today. When I wore hearing aids, the flute sounded horrible. Did not like a flute at all. Well here we are ready to start and Im debating taking my ear off.  I had made up my mind already that this was going to be a DISASTER. Well it was not! Ya'll wouldnt believe it. Each instrument had like a solo in which I could hear them. I heard the cello! I heard the harp! I heard the oboe! I heard the flute! Now each instrument only played alone for a split second but that was all I needed. I was beautiful. I went up to my friend after the service and she said,"well....could you hear it?" I just started to bawl like a baby. She was holding me, then her hubby got in the act and there we were, a lil threesome right down front of the church just a cryin tears of joy. Oh how wonderful today turned out to be. And to think I almost missed it by taking my ears off! Now to be honest, Im still having trouble with music overall. Still learning how to listen and hear a full choir. But today was nice. I didnt come home and hit the bed and crawl under the covers. Today was another great day. Now moving along, some of you asked how my last appointment went at MUSC. It went great. I am hearing just fine when its one and one and small group. She said I need to and I quote "throw myself out there" unquote and get to where the action is as I need to work on having lots of background noise to practice. Well thats all I needed to hear. I went to a noisy restaurant and I thought I did ok... Back to my visit. I have had problems with my head being really sensitive. Come to find out my magnet was too strong and they gave me a different one and I had immediate relief. Simple fix. It continues to amaze me. I have decided to stop with my blog as everything is starting to come together and I am having trouble finding things to write about.....APRIL FOOLS! Each day is a new day where I hear different things. Hubby came home tonight with MORE birdseed for our feeders as I am loving all these birds in our yard. They sing to me from sun up to sun down...speaking of sundown, the sun is down and its my bedtime. As always, thanks for stopping by and have a blessed Easter....Karen

Me and My CI...entering the world of the hearing..: Hang on and enjoy the ride....

Me and My CI...entering the world of the hearing..: Hang on and enjoy the ride....: January 3rd arrives, I am sick to my stomach, anxious, nervous, excited all wrapped into one. I arrive to see my audiologist Meredith ( inse...

I will remain calm...

Well I am trying to find a friend of mine whose son is in the hospital. I know he is in ICU but how do I get to see a family member when they are not sitting in the ICU waiting room? OK...go up to ICU only to find a note on the desk saying they were gone and to be back directly. I see a phone, pick it up (as you remember I do not talk on the phone yet only to family members) Well I thought, here it goes, I pick it up and lo and behold I cant hear a thing...I told the person answering the phone what I needed as I just had a lil something to drop off....no one came to the door so I hung up and left. Went back downstairs to the info desk and guess what? No one there...a sign said be back momentarily but there right in front of me was another phone! I waited a moment, no one returned so I picked up the phone provided and , nope, still cant hear lol  So, I thought to myself, you can do this, whats your next move. I went to the admissions office where this sweet young gal asked if she could help me. I laughed and said "honey, you sure can. Got a minute?" Big shout out to Tiffany for coming to my rescue. I explained to her my dilemma of being deaf and a new implant wearer and not able to use the phone. She looked at me, spoke clearly and slowly and gave me all the information I needed written down! Bless her heart. So sweet. Anyway...Made it up to the Childrens ICU only to find a BUZZER! No phone but a buzzer which said children sleeping ring once lol I do hope I rang it only once as a person waved me back.....make a long story short, I didnt get to see who I wanted to see but I did meet the mom I have heard so much about and chatted away. I swear, I love meeting new people. Day has been a good one. I do have a question...my ear hurts. Not my ear but my implant? Anyone know whats up with that? I go to MUSC on Thurs so I will ask  Its so weird! But then again....look who we are dealing with. As always, thanks for stopping by and hi to all the new friends I have met this week around town and are new followers....Later!

Where do I begin?

Its been over a week since I have updated, gosh, more than a week and so much has happened. Here I am entering my 3rd month with my CI and still I am discovering new things. As I said earlier, my CI and I are now one. Its the 1st thing I put on in the morning and last thing I take off when I go to bed. My selective hearing is starting to kick in. The vacuum cleaner no longer bothers me and the ice maker isnt as noticeable so things are improving. I went to my 1st auction flying solo. Hubby had a meeting so I went by my ownself :). Its amazing how easy it is to just flick that number up and down! It defiantly is all in the wrist action. Well, I came home with what my hubby calls a wooden box. But I call it an old vintage antique bin lol I love it and feel like I got a great buy. A steal even have you. Anyway...loved the auction and I can see myself going again in the future. No number in hand...just to hear and get caught up in the action. I went to the dentist. You might say no biggie. I say HUGE deal. They speak behind masks! I was able to converse (well converse as much as one can with garbola in your mouth) with everyone and dearly loved every minute. I can not tell you how much it means to me to talk to people now! I told the dentist that my jaw has been achy. Im sitting here thinking...could it be because I am runnin my mouth too much? Hummmm. What do you think? The birds are really out in their glory and I am enjoy hearing different pitches now. Not so much monotone but still sounds a bit mechanical. I know they are birds that I hear and its grand. Had no idea what I have been missing out on! I have been eating out (a lot) with friends. I am loving this! We have a group that goes out monthly and I went a couple times but just ended up sitting in my own world not taking part in any of the conversations. Now it seems like I am taking over in the conversations and I dont mean too! HONEST! I do not want to be one of those that people say, oh my she does talk so much! Its just so hard not to! I have been quiet for so long! So for those of you that are reading this, I apologize for monopolizing (is that the right word) all the conversations. Im just so excited and find it hard to contain myself. I just love my life! But I will try to rein it in a bit so I wont lose those friends I do have. Im sure Im not reporting everything that has happened but dining out with friends is a big deal for me along with going to the dentist and attending my auction. Went to an annual oyster roast and heard in the dark around the fire pit. Was cool...again, I apologize for talking too much lol. Thats all for now. Have a great day and as always, thanks for stopping by! Karen