The other morning it was a chilly 31 degrees. I had to stop by the gas station on the way to work and fill up the gas tank. At 5:40 AM, I was the only one at the pump and at the station.
It was quiet. I discovered that the gasoline makes a "glug, glug, glug," noise as it is being pumped into the tank. I would not have heard that distinct sound in a noisy environment!
I have been listening to National Public Radio while driving home in city traffic in an effort to goad my brain into discriminating and understanding speech without captioning. I had a breakthrough: I heard two words, "independent nation," and I was elated. I turned on National Public Radio again on the commute home tonight and heard, "It's not easy," my first sentence WITHOUT captioning. I was so relieved. I continued to hear words here and there and snatches of conversation over the radio.
I now realize that understanding speech without captioning IS possible, and I am hopeful that this time next year I will be conversing over the telephone and a cell phone WITHOUT captioning. That is a personal goal of mine. It has been one year and two months since I had the cochlear implant surgery and had my left ear implanted.
It has been an amazing year. I have had so many WOW! moments. My absolute favorite WOW! moment happened this Spring when I was watching a female cardinal sitting on a branch of my crape Myrtle tree. I was really close to the bird, sitting on my porch step of my townhouse and not daring to breathe. The indescribable joy of seeing the cardinal open its beak and hear the bird call out of its mouth. I will never forget that. Being able to actually connect the bird call to the cardinal and KNOW what that particular soundflavoring was like once I heard it.
Pure Joy. Pure, childlike joy.
Hearing is such a gift.
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