New Year's Reflections

As I mentioned in an earlier posting, over the Christmas holidays, I had some quality conversations with my nieces and nephews. 

I understood my six year old nephew when he instructed me to microwave his chocolate drink for exactly "one minute and twenty-four seconds" to make him hot chocolate. I did so, and told him to let me know if his drink was too hot. He said okay. 

I understood my ten year old nephew when he complained of a headache; his dad gave him ibuprofen. I told my nephew that it would take time for the medicine to work, as he continued to complain of a headache. His mother ended up taking him to the doctor that evening when he did not improve. My nephew was appropriately treated and felt better the next morning.

These were conversations I would have otherwise missed with my BTE hearing aids. 

 My nieces were a bit more talkative as I engaged them in conversation. My eight year old niece was surprisingly knowledgeable of the problems of the world and had a lot to say. Her mother affectionately describes her as a chatterbox. My fraternal twin twelve year old nieces also talked with me. One is a budding veterinarian in training - their mother is a veterinarian. one twelve year old niece frequently accompanies her mother to work on evenings and Saturdays.  My other twelve year old niece wants to be a lawyer and has aspirations of being on the U.S. Supreme Court one day.  We talked about what lawyers do. I explained that I work with attorneys in my job, and further explained to my niece that my supervisor is an attorney.

I also talked with my brother in law about his work, and we commiserated a bit on the state of the economy. I asked my younger sister, who is a veterinarian in private practice, how that was going. We talked of the economy and how we each knew people who had either suffered a loss in income and or jobs. My own salary is now frozen for two years. I am grateful to be gainfully employed.

I continue to adjust to the cochlear implant and the sound processor. Slowly and surely, words and sound are more connected. Music is still challenging as far as singing and the clarity of music. I can pick out instrumentation with no problem. 

I have my one-month appointment on Tuesday with my CI Audiologist for another mapping session. We will see how that goes. As the New Year begins, I continue to be grateful for the cochlear implant and the gift of hearing it brings to me each day.