Three months after activation - what progress I have made

Today is a holiday for me. I was glad for a three day weekend. I indulged myself and watched "The View" earlier this morning. The show featured a new "tween" group called The Big Rush. This group sang their hit song. " I wanna be your B B B Boyfriend."  The kids were cute.  The music had a percussive beat, and the song was cute. While the group of tweens or teenagers who sang this song are probably old enough to be my sons, I have a young enough soul that I could enjoy the music, and did.

Musically "hearing" with a cochlear implant, three months after activation, I am likely to enjoy hearing a electric guitar solo, a piano recital, a drum solo, any kind of music that doesn't have lyrics.  While voices sound more human, it still sounds to me like people are talking or singing with a scratchy voice. I am waiting for the day when I can hear and understand "a clear voice."

I am still not at the point where I can hear and talk on a landline phone, a cell phone, a cordless phone without the aid of captions.  I can hear snatches of lyrics when listening to CD's, commercial jingles on television, the radio.

I still cannot fully understand speech without the aid of lipreading.  Last week I had a check up with a medical specialist. We hadn't seen each other in 24 months, and I told him that I now had a cochlear implant for my left ear. I showed him my sound processor, and he was impressed.  He asked, "Is it better than hearing with a hearing aid"? and I said , Oh, yes.  Perhaps when we see each other in another 24 months, I will have had the right ear implanted as well.  I would like that.

If I am absolutely still in my kitchen, sitting and listening, I think I can hear birds.  I am not absolutely sure, but it is a high, twittering, almost tinkling sound.  I think the next time I think I hear twittering, I will look outside and see if a bird is perched on a branch on my crape myrtle tree.

Does wind make a "whooshing sound"? If that is the case, then I definitely heard wind on Saturday while inside my townhouse. It was definitely windy.  I had to go outside and tie down the covers on my patio furniture, and somewhat anchor down the furniture.

I discovered that clocks have different ticking sounds. No one clock is alike.

Hearing is such a gift.