A Long Weekend

Last Friday, a friend and I drove 2 1/2 hours to attend a mutual friend's son's wedding. I did all the driving. Conversation was a little challenging in the car during the drive down because my right ear is not implanted.  I resumed wearing a hearing aid in my right ear for the first time since the cochlear implant surgery for my left ear.




While the hearing aid helped with traffic noise, it didn't improve the quality of conversation that much.  I am used to the cochlear implant in my left ear now, and I found myself relying more on the cochlear implant than the hearing aid.



I also drove at night on the interstate and I was not at all familiar with where I was going.  It was very frustrating as my friend doesn't always have a good sense of direction and was getting equally frustrated. I could hear the Garmin give verbal instructions but distinguishing between the words North, South, West and East was even worse. As my friend was sitting to the right of me, any verbal clarification of directions was rather tricky to listen to. I haven't done interstate night driving for a very long time. It was terrifying, but I needed to do it.



I should have Googled the directions and printed out maps, studied them, committed the maps to memory before we left for our destination. 



Next time I will definitely do that.  The wedding was outdoors - thunder clouds were threatening to erupt any minute and the wind was blowing.  It was a very short 30 minute ceremony and we all made it inside before it rained.  I could hear and understand the Pastor and hear the vows as the bride and groom were married, just as clearly as if they were sitting next to me.  What a huge difference in hearing, from last year's Labor Day wedding to this June wedding.



The fidelity, clarity, quality in sound with the cochlear implant sound processor is just huge.  It is like having a mini stereo receiver in your head and every sound has a stereo quality to it.
Voices still sound scratchy at times, but are more and more human to me as I continue my hearing journey. Lyrics are still scratchy and doesn't quite sound like singing yet.  I still cannot use a landline phone without the aid of captions.



The wedding reception was noisy, and conversation was challenging at times, but I don't strain to hear. Not at all.  The Cochlear Implant does all that for you.  I was even able to pick up a little rhythm and join in the dancing.



Tomorrow I will be attending a conference for three days.  It will be my first conference post-implant. I'm actually looking forward to it.



Hearing with a cochlear implant continues to be a gift.  When I think back to my first day of hearing post-implant, on Activation Day, I am just amazed at where I am in my journey.  It has been eight months since the surgery and seven months of hearing with a cochlear implant.



Amazing!  I definitely want my right ear implanted as well.  Then I will have surround sound!