YEAH YEAH YEAH for yesterday’s HLA -Houston Cochlear Implant Support Group Meeting!
Paula Moore is an excellent teacher and we learned all about how different kind of CI’s work, etc etc.
She taught me how to use the T-switch on my Nucleus 6 remote – YEAH YEAH YEAH! Mary Lynn McDonald, my Audiologist at Houston Ear Research Foundation, had already showed me that feature but I can only ‘take in’ so much at one programming session and it went over my head (pun intended).
Since I got my CI in Jan, I have been holding myself back from attending any functions (unless it’s absolutely necessary) because I was at a loss, with only one hearing aid now, to use with my FM Comtek System – that’s not enough! I need both ears functioning with a hearing aid to have a fighting chance with that arrangement! And until yesterday, I didn’t know how to control my new CI so that it wasn’t hearing everything. So this is a HUGE breakthrough for me. “It takes a village”, as Hillary Clinton would say.
All of us (especially Johnelle) asked really good questions and shared our experiences, and there was a new lady there who Teri sent to the meeting. Because that lady came, I estimated that she’s at least a lightyear ahead of where I was at when I first got my CI.
Paula is having a party soon at The Aquarium downtown to show us some new Nucleus inventions that will allow us to dive in the tanks and swim with the fishes – lol.
I went to yoga class last Sunday and struggled along with hearing the teacher, and hearing myself, too (breath work and mantras/singing). Today I was liberated – woo hoo! I could hear my own breathing (we focus on our breath all through the exercises and relaxation periods) AND the teacher AND my voice ‘tuning in’ and singing the closing song AND the sound of the AC vent was stifled.
Mary Dopico, our angel captioner, didn’t miss a beat – truth is I don’t really know if that’s true because I’m depending on her less and less these days and she very well coulda been typing out recipes for all her favorite desserts for all I know – lol.
Our fearless leader, Lois, has a broken foot, Nancy brought her well-behaved doggie, the new lady brought her sweet daughter and Jose made an announcement about Affordable Care Act Open Enrollment during May and June. Four of us battled it out with the elevator door on the way out and we all went home with a smile on our face. With the outfit she word, Paula demonstrated to me how we can buy decorative covers for our processor to match our outfits – some insurance companies give you 2 of them and some, like Medicaid, do not – but you can purchase them.
Thank you Maurice for initiating these kind of exchanges – knowledge is power! For me, it’s more than that – every next new thing I absorb and apply gives me the opportunity to relax more, as we all know how much energy we have to put out to stay in the hearing world.
Forever gratitude for HLA Houston CI Support Group. Enjoy this day-o.
PS – At the end of the meeting, Paula taught me how to use my neck-loop with my IPhone – I called my husband for a test and we had our first CI talk on the phone – woo hoo!!!
On the way home in the car, I tried using the BT with my hearing aid and the neck loop with the CI. I was able to hear out of each side but the 2 arrangements were buttin up against eachother and making for all this weird feedback – so that’s not really gonna work. I can choose one or the other.
For phone calls in the car, so far, the BT setting in my car works better with my hearing aid than the neck loop with the CI.
PSPS – Yes, the tip of my tongue and the gums on the right side of my mouth, and top of my outer ear are still numb – the nerves are slowly healing and there is improvement!
I, and my friends, are noticing that I can understand a little better and with more ease in conversations. With just the CI on the Donald Duck-iness with just the CI on is the same BUT, I can understand speech better. All clocks are still TICKing to beat the band.
PSPS – Here’s an article that Rush Limbaugh wrote about receiving his second CI – some of us really like the article and I also heard one woman comment that she was concerned that he would scare people about Cochlear Implants; I can see her point.
I personally LOVE this article because he ‘tells it like it is’, and he’s getting the word out there and educating people – and because I can SO RELATE: