A lot of folks extended their Memorial Day Holiday through today. I elected to take Amtrak to the Cochlear Center, rather then spend two hours or more inching along in interstate traffic. I drove to the subway station, parked my car, took the subway to the train station. It was noisy, busy and controlled chaos. I explained to the guy at the Information Desk that I was a person with a hearing disability and that I probably wouldn't "hear" the train announcements. This was a better explanation than going into this long-winded explanation that I was a deaf person with two cochlear implants, and while I can technically "hear" the Public Announcement System, understanding the actual announcement was going to be dicey, especially in a noisy environment.
The guy at the information desk told me there would be three consecutive stops, and that at the third stop I was to get off the train. I thanked him and proceeded to the gate. The train was about ten minutes late in arriving at the station. 42 minutes later I arrived at my destination, got off the train and took a taxi to the cochlear center with about 15 minutes to spare until my appointment with the audiologist.
I went to the kiosk and started keying in my information into the computer and verifying my name, address, etc. As I was doing so, I could hear the keys click as I pressed each key in response to the menu.
The good news is that as far as the audiogram is concerned for my right ear, with the cochlear implant, I am hearing where I should be hearing at this stage of hearing with two cochlear implants.
Because I started wearing a hearing aid in my right ear later in life, when it came to speech discrimination for my right ear, I was able to recognize two words and that was it. Understanding speech in my right ear continues to be challenging.
My audiologist and I discussed where I was as far as hearing with two cochlear implants. We went through mapping the right ear cochlear sound processor for my right ear, starting with low frequencies and working up to higher frequencies.
Right away I could hear my audiologists' fingers flying over the keys as she completed each sequence on the computer. I told her what I was hearing, what voices sound like, what noise sounds like. After the session, I said good-bye to my audiologist, as she is going on maternity leave and is expecting a baby (her second) in August.
I made my appointments for August with a substitute Audiologist and left the cochlear clinic. I got in a taxi and went to the train station for my return trip home. The trains were late arriving and departing due to the unusually warm weather. I went ahead and ate lunch at a cafe as the train was not expected to arrive for another hour and a half.
I ended up getting on the train at 2:00 PM instead of at 1:00 PM which made for a long day. I got off the train, made a stop at the women's bathroom and proceeded to the subway station.
One sound that the cochlear implants HASN'T helped with is the crinkling sound of a toilet paper seat liner or sheets of toilet paper. It was 88 degrees today with a heat index of 95. I was unaware that there was still a sheet or so of toilet paper stuck to the inside of my T-shirt over my bottom. A very kind woman came up to me and told me to check my behind. I did. I thanked her profusely.
Note to Self: Please, from now on, do a sweep of your lower back, and bottom and make sure there are NO seat liners or toilet paper sticking to you, especially during hot weather!!
So much for bilateral hearing. I still can't hear stuck toilet paper on me. It WAS noisy in the bathroom!
On the way home, I turned on National Public Radio and resolutely listened to the chatter, catching a word or a sentence here and there. I could hear applause and individual hands clapping as well. The thought occurred to me, you know how they have laugh tracks on television? Is that applause on National Public Radio real or canned? I have no idea.
I will have to ask someone that question. Hearing with two cochlear implants is priceless, even with stuck toilet paper on me!
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