Spring Sprint

Saturday, December 10, 2011

One year later ....

Well Hello Bloggers ...on Friday I went to see Adrienne and had my one year review . She was very pleased with how my hearing had progressed over the last 12 months ....there is still a bit more growth in the hearing that should come over the next 3 to 6 months if I keep working on increasing my volume and pushing the hearing a bit more ... so I will continue to try and do that but  what happens some times is that I get in a very comfortable place with my hearing and just want to stay there . So I need to work on this a bit more ....
On Friday I got the program "Clear |Voice " ( CV) on one of my 3 programs . This program softens the background noise . I could not wait to try it because all noises are equal with  my C I and the world is a very noisy place . I turned the program on with CV as soon as we left the office . We were in Park Lane and once off the elevator and we were walking out I noticed that I heard no sounds --- where are they ?? Talk to Rhonda and all seemed normal but no other noise --amazing --- then we drove to Mic Mac Mall --the drive over was again in silence except when Rhonda talked -- no road noise at all ................. in the Mall all was quiet --then we stopped for coffee and I put on the other program which I usually use ---- Oh the NOISE in the mall ...... it was soo loud ... I changed back very quickly ........then off we went home ... we were going out later so I went upstairs for some quiet time and when I came downstairs I could hear some sound --- not sure what it was but it really sounded like a sewing machine and I am thinking --what is Rhonda doing sewing ?? As I got into the dinning room I could see that Rhonda had the vac going but the noise I was hearing was soooo soft ...... that was neat ,,,,,
Today I used CV all day --the drive into city was so peaceful and we were in a restaurant and it was certainly much better for me BUT ...I told Rhonda on the way home that I am really missing all the sounds I heard all the time and that my hearing right now almost does not seem real --- I know I can switch back and forth and I will just giving the CV the full run right now .....
My 3rd program is the one that I use with my MP3 player and there  some changes made to that also but so far have not had time to check it out so will save that for another blog ....
Have a good Saturday night ............ Cheers ............

Friday, November 4, 2011

almost a year

good morning ..... well it is almost one year with my CI ... what a year it has been for me .... this time last year I was not allowing myself to believe that I might be able to hear sounds again let alone my wife's voice, my sons laughter or the grand children ....... 
The other day I was out on the trails with my buddy and I was hearing this very loud noise --- what is noise I asked him ?? He said it is the water in the brook but it is very full and running very fast so we went over to it and it was soooooo loud to me .... amazing .....
Now this is gonna sound really weird but the other day the furnace came on and there was a new sound I was hearing --what is that --no one home so I am going around the whole house trying to figure out what the noise is ....... then it shuts off ..... think ..... think .... had to be the fan blowing the hot air up so I just waited and a few hours later back on came same noise and sure enough --- hot air blowing out --- these simple things make me laugh so hard .....
I still have some problems understanding some people ...the more I spend time with people the better it gets --of course if I control the conversation I seem to get more but not always .....
Every day I smile about some new sound I hear or just the fact that I can hear sounds and I always count my blessing each night ...
Have a great FRYDAY ...... 

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Sunday , September 11, 2011

Good Morning All ....
 I do not think any of us will ever forget September 11th date and for all those families that lost loved ones the media attention is  such a hard reminder --- I pray for them all ......................................
I have not blogged for a bit as life is going along pretty normal ..... once in a while when my battery goes dead I leave it for a few minutes and being deaf is such a void ---- I can still remember the morning I woke up deaf while  we were on vacation in PEI and how blank I felt and that is exactly how it feels ---- I thank God every day for my implant .....
Yesterday we had our annual around the town yard sale ---- it is one great big social event .. we sell lots of stuff but we also get to visit with friends that drop by as so many people know that we always have stuff in the sale .....so one thing I had in the sale was my door bells notifies that flash lights .... I do not use them any more --- BOUGHT REAL ONES AFTER CI !!!!!!! anyway I saw this young lady looking at them and she pointed them out to fer friend so I went over to explain what they were and she said Oh I do not need them I have a cochlear implant ---- I said really ..tell me about it and she said she got it as a little girl --then I showed her mine and told her my story .... off she went and I thought wow that was neat ......
Later in the day this couple comes in our drive way and I am not sure exactly how the conversation got going but very quickly we found out that we both had CI , both were implanted by Dr Morris and both went Adrienne our Audiologist ----man we were talking back and forth so much -- he had been totally deaf for 6 months --his name is  Mike  and was the first person I had met that was similar to me in that he heard went deaf and now hears with a CI ......we were like  2 little kids ---( Adrienne don't listen) we even switched receivers to see if they would work LOL !!! they didn't ...
One thing we did talk about was battery power and where I use up to 4  a day , his uses 2 ..... so need to find out why ..... he asked about my balance --those of you that know me know how bad it is ... his too ...
Mike lives in PEI .... He said he might be a candidate for a 2nd one ---- I sure hope that it works out for him  ......
Well I was just so excited all day to have met Mike and so needed to blog that ...............
Sun is out today so to one and all have a GREAT SUNNY SUNDAY ........ Chris

Friday, August 19, 2011

August 19.......

Well Good Morning Blog followers -- it is bright and early this am but I did have some things to write about so needed to "get er done !!!"
My son Nick wrote this week that I had not been on the blog for 6 weeks and so what's up ??? I have been having a great summer , enjoying the summer hearing to its fullest , family friends, birds , water lapping , motor cycles , music ....... it has just been wonderful and I have not blogged because no real Firsts since the "thunder Storm" till last evening ........................
Yesterday after a wonderful day at Bayswater beach with 6 friends .. not sure if I ever described what happens when the wind blows but it whistles kinda of in my ear --- reminds me a lot of sailing in a boat when I wore a hearing aid --- lots of that yesterday at beach  but also some great one on one conversations which were just great  ..after the beach Rhonda and I went to Chester to meet up with my sister Lynn and her husband dave and also my 1st Cousin Elaine and her husband Michael ... Elaine & Michael are from California and come stay in NS for the summer months -- we try to connect a few times while they are here. Both are wonderful super people.  Last night was the first time I had seen Michael and |Elaine since I had my CI installed . It was so neat to tell them my story and honestly every time I do tell the story I realize just what a miracle it is and how lucky and blessed I am .... Thanks You God & Dr Morris !!!
Back to last night , I was having my usual one on ones to get caught up with every one and when I talked with Michael I noticed something different in what I was hearing ---- most voices sound the same to me --that most women similar not same but similar and same for kids and also men so Michael was very distinctive so I asked Rhonda .... Does Michael talk different ? ..She laughed and said he has a strong British Accent !!!So I am able to tell that --- it was my first recognition of an accent ...I am sure in the last 8 months I have heard many but did not know ......so that is really cool ..we did have a great evening and when we went out to eat it was noisy in the restaurant I loose the conversation at the table but am just so happy to be able to hear all the "Noise" I just sit there and smile .....
Have a great weekend Bloggers ..... Hugs to all ... Chris ..

Monday, July 4, 2011

July 4th

Well Happy Summer one and all .. hope that you all had a great Canada day weekend--- Great to have a long weekend . 
My highlight of Canada day was the fireworks that night here in H town ..... they were spectacular but for me the noise was almost as exciting as the light show ......I could hear the initial pop when shot off and I never in my life heard that ...then when they banged in the sky it was an awesome sound not too loud at all very comfortable till the very end when they blow off so many all at one time and that noise was not comfortable to me at all but I soooooooooooooo loved the fireworks .................. rest of day and weekend  was fun ...lots of family and friends and yesterday we went to a big Geo Caching event in Liverpool and it was fun to meet a bunch of new people  as always  I am not good in large groups but one on one was great ...
okay --lets hope for a warm and dry July ....lots of beach days I hope ..... Cheers ... Chris 

Saturday, June 25, 2011

June 25, Saturday

Well I cannot believe it has been couple weeks since I have been on this blog but the weather was sooo bad it was depressing and then this past week we had sun every day and I had a list a mile long of things that needed doing ................... today , Saturday and wet again so getting caught up on some inside jobs .....
Well first for Adrienne, the day after seeing you I switched to program 2 and have been there ever since ...I had the sound lower at first but now right up at the middle level and it is great . I am picking up a lot more sounds now ...like I can hear the keep pads as I am typing and I did not hear them before .................... 
Last week I went to have dinner at a friend's home and there 5 guys invited. We used to spend most Thursday nights together on our boat years ago. We had not been together for over a year . They were amazed at my CI and how well it worked . Now on a one to one -- I got it all --sitting out on the deck in a group --I knew when someone spoke but not always what was said and when all talked it was a lot of noise but when I explained to the guys --one fellow said -- Hey just hearing the noise must be pretty awesome and it is ..........
This week I did get out for a short hike with Rick and as we were walking back down the trail I could hear the birds in the woods and it was so neat -- 2 months ago I did not hear them ......
I had a lot of work to do outside this week and so I hooked up the MP3 player in my phone and it plugs in direct to the CI and I had music playing steady all day ..... it was awesome for me and I find that when I repeat the same  songs over and over that I get a better understanding of the words ........................ 
I am just loving this whole new experience in my life .............
Have a great weekend ............................. Chris 

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Wednesday June 8th

Sun, Sun & more Sun .all day . I loved it .... Bring it on Baby ....
 Bring it on !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ok enough foolishnish.... I just made that spelling up ....


I went to see Adriane  my Audiologist today and we did some testing as my Doctor is going on a conference and he wanted some  info on test results ...... so we did  some words , some sentences and some sounds --- Adriane said " Chris , I could just cry .... You did so well !!!" .....  Now she did have the volume up louder than normal but still I did pretty good --- my sounds are still in the mild section and we need to raise this up and the way to do it is by increasing the volume on my CI .... so today I had volume up a bit higher but most of the day was in the car and that is noisy -- tomorrow louder again .. then Friday up to channel 2 and that is now programed a bit louder than #1 .... 
6 months and I feel like I have come so far ---- there are still people and situations that I cannot understand but I am getting better at knowing and handling this ...... on we go .....
lets hope for more sunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn tomorrow .. Chris    

Saturday, May 28, 2011

End off May

Saturday night and we are home relaxing and I thought that maybe I better get caught up on my Blog ................... life is good I am really glad to say ... it has been 6 months now since I had my implant turned on and I have come so far in that time frame --- every week I hear more and more and I also learn what situations I just cannot hear in and also that some people I just cannot understand but I am learning that .....
The other night a friend was here for dinner and after we were all doing the dishes -- we do not  have a dish washer so Rhonda was washing and Jan and I were drying and all of a sudden I said what is that  noise and they both looked at me --- the water was draining out of the sink and it was the first time that I hear it ,,,, I laughed so loud at that ...
Then on Friday morning I was outside doing some work and I hear this noise , a new sound and I have no idea what it is --I know it is a motor but nothing out on the street then I look in the back yard which backs onto a soccer field and a worker was out there with his gas powered whipper snipper .......
Thursday night I went bass fishing with two of my buddies and all of a sudden I hear this squawking sound and  I look up and there is a sea gull flying overhead and again I laughed out loud .....
That is how my life is going and I am so enjoying it and thank the good lord every night that I am so lucky , Friday night we did go to a local pub to hear the band that was playing --it is always a very noisy place --- I might as well have been deaf because  I could not understand any of it because of all the noise -- I still enjoyed my self but no hearing in that situation ...... lots of speech reading to communicate there . 
Ok , I am going to say good night ... sure hope all that read  this have an enjoyable weekend and  will blog again soon ......... Chris  

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Sunday Night ...

WELL  I am sitting here with my MP3 player hooked up and Charlie A'Court playing --- Heartaches of a Fool -- which was taped Live at the Marigold ---- I am just loven it --- the guitar is awesome --- words are not all clear but that is ok -- music is awesome ----- so another busy week in the Fry household but the weekend  was the best hearing wise both positive and negative ....
Friday night there was a fund raiser at Rhonda's school for Harvest House in Windsor ---it is a place that helps the homeless with meals ---- very worthwhile cause and the young lady that organized it all was in grade 10 and is  15 years old ,,,she did an excellent job ... there were 4 sets and first Caitlin spoke as she organized the event and I could understand more than 50% of what she said ,,, that was neat ..the first entertainer was Peter Gibson , he played the guitar, the mouth organ and he sang ....the Guitar I got , the mouth organ only that their was a new sound not what it was but because I could  see him I knew and his singing was not clear .... next was Merle Jacklyn and he played the guitar and it was awesome -- he sang and most songs I could not get but  when he sang Folsom Prison --- I was rocking hahhahhah ,,,  the next two acts were the same .... I left feeling really good and enjoyed it completely ....
Saturday was the Walk for Spring Sprint and I was fired up -- I reached my goal for fundraising .....I was not completely organized to go and so rushed at the end and guess what ---- half  way to Halifax realize I forgot my spare batteries for the CI ----dam , no time to go back so on we went and we got registered and the opening talks and 1/2 way thru my batteries die..... I am not happy -- we did the walk and family bbq at my niece place all as a deaf man .....taught me a good lesson but Did I not say that a week ago when I forgot my batteries ----- I really need to try harder to remember ...
Ok we get home and get hooked back up and so weird --everything for first hour sounded very different almost like I was in a cave and all echoes --- Rhonda said I had 5 hours no sound to my brain and then noise so another adjustment ... very interesting ......
Today we went to church in Hantsport because our parish priest had returned after a break ---- now it is a single room place and lots of echoes --- when father Mike spoke I could get maybe 50% of what he said --- when the lady that was doing the reading spoke I got maybe 5 % --interesting again as it all depends on voice sounds --the singing was all a blur,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
okay ..that is my update -- I am playing the volume control a lot and it makes difference
Have a great week ............................... Chris

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

May 10/2011

Another wet day but we cannot complain really -- we are safe and our homes and families are safe while so many people are not so lucky so no complaints about the weather BUT Singing -- 
 " Rain, Rain go Away !!!" that is allowed .......LOL ....
On Tuesday I volunteer at the hospital in the computer site -- most times I do not do a lot but the site is open from 10 - 2 and they need a person in charge ... some days I do help some people ..last Tuesday I had rushed to get here for 10 am and after 2 pm I went upstairs to visit a friend. I was with him about 10 minutes when my CI shut down as battery was dead so I said just a minute and dug in my pocket and no battery --- 1st time since Dec 8th that I did not have the batteries in my pocket so I said I gotta go .....Home I went --it is about a 10 minute drive -- it was so weird to not hear any sounds at all .... I did not like that and was so happy as soon as the CI was activated again .... +
That night we , Rhonda and I were watching TV and I really wanted to try to hear it so I had the volume on the CI cranked way way up -- I could hear TV --not understand all but a little then they said something funny and Rhonda laughed out loud !!!!! Oh Man --it was like a mega phone was in my ear --- it hurt hahhahha ... I turn it down when we are in the room together but when I am alone I crank the sound on TV to 30 and turn up CI --- yup it is loud but it helps me --- again I am sure that as time goes on this will get better .....
On the weekend Rhonda and I looked after Lara (1+) and Aidan (3+) ... we had so much fun and kids were great but when Lara screamed it was pretty loud as I had the CI turned up so I could hear the kids --- Aidan talks very softly but he did repeat a lot for me and we were able to figure out what he wanted so again much better than last time with kids ...
I am adjusting the volume for different situations and I am seeing changes every week .....
Wind in the CI is almost deafening some times and I found wearing a stocking cap over CI makes a big difference in the wind -- not sure how that will look mid July on Queensland beach but  we will see  LOL .....
ok just wanted to add my up date -- have a great day and just enjoy the liquid sunshine ----- Chris  

Sunday, May 1, 2011

May 1st

hello Blog ........... no I did not forget you and yes I know it has been two weeks but other things were in high priority so just getting to my blog now .... things are really good in the hearing department -- yesterday  Rhonda asked me if my hearing had leveled off and I said no , not really ... especially with people's voices . I am getting to have fewer people that I cannot understand on a one to one . So that is a very big positive step for me   Over easter weekend we saw all the grand kids at different times and I was able to know when each of them talked -- could not understand them completely but did know they were talking which is awesome for me .. I know that as time goes on the kids and I will work it all out ... that is great ...
last Sunday Rhonda's sister had a major heart attack so we spent best part of the week at various hospitals . The good news is that she is home . Has been patched up and hopefully will be fine for a long time but it was a scary few days . We were with a lot of family all week and for me the one on ones were great but groups I did not get a lot so Rhonda as usual helped me out . What a partner !!
Thursday I was coming out of the hospital and all of a sudden the noise I was hearing was so so loud --what is that ---- Oh man I was scared it was so loud and I had no idea -- I looked up and a helicopter was landing on the roof of hospital --- I laughed at that one but it also showed me how my brain has still many sounds to learn . Background noises are very loud --like the wheels on the carts in grocery stores .... stop smiling ..they make a racket !!!! I am finding in some situations I need to turn the volume down because the sounds are so loud it hurts my ear . The other night I wanted to hear this TV show . I was watching it with Rhonda so I cranked the CI full blast --- I was hearing the tv but all of a sudden Rhonda laughed and |I grabbed my head --- it was like she had a mega phone right in my ear ..... I turned the CI back down -- LOL ....
Today I went fishing out at the beach with my buddy Paul and it was dam cold !!! and wind was up a lot -- I had a stocking cap on over the CI to help break the wind and it worked quite well . When the big waves were coming in I could get a roar in my ear from the water -- that was worth freezing my butt off for !!
Okay -- have a good week to all and I hope to blog again next weekend ...
Happy May !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Sunday 2nd try

Well darn this is my 2nd try -- I had a long blog done and got called away and when I came back hit wrong key and lost it all ....
Week was busy mostly at food bank .... we were ready for out families on Wednesday and we helped 37 families but it cleaned out most of our stock so later that day 2 women  went on a shopping spree and Thursday I worked filling all the shelves .. we are now ready for next month . On Thursday after FB I went to Wolf Ville and was out on the dykes geo caching. It was so windy and so noisy in my CI that I finally had to take it out --- 1st time I had to do that. It was too uncomfortable to wear. Thursday night we went to Windsor;s volunteer banquet where I get to present the Judy Fry Volunteer award .. Great tribute to Judy -- The acoustics in the room were very bad. I was able to know when some one spoke but no idea what was said ... BUT I did hear the piano play "O Canada" for the 1st time !!!!!!!
Friday was in Halifax as my sister had some oral surgery and I took her. I was able to easily communicate with nurses and doctors. each situation is different and learning to adapt is all part of the whole process. 
Rhonda has been so supportive to me. She listen to me when I tell her of a problem or a frustration and offers her thoughts and opinion .Our life is good together and just lately we have started to talk about a long car trip after Rhonda retires. This was never in the cards before because no fun to travel in a car when u cannot communicate. An hour or two ok but days on end no fun for anyone . It is wonderful that we are now able to plan this ....
Ok supper is almost ready -- Have a great week ..... 

Monday, April 11, 2011

Spring Sprint 2011

Spring Sprint 2011

Spring Sprint 2011

Spring Sprint 2011

Spring Sprint 2011

Hello All ... on May 14th we -- the "Fry family" will be walking in the brain tumor walk called the Spring Sprint -- we walked last year for the first time -- it was pretty amazing and the Fry family had a lot of people there who had brain tumors. As we can see through research many things can be achieved -- I am the perfect example. They told me that I would never hear again and a miracle happened and I am now hearing more than I ever thought I would again. I am asking for some sponsorship but I also know that we all get so many requests so I am keeping mine  small and asking for $10 . All those $10 will quickly add up -- the link is below or you let me know by e-mail that u want to support me and we can arrange to get the $$.
thanks for all of your support ... Chris 
Ok the link is not shown below but I am going to send it as just a link on the blog and I think that will work -- Thanks again 
Spring Sprint 2011

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Sunday again

Happy Sunny Sunday Morning !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I hope that you all get to enjoy a little of this sun in some way today .another busy week of course as it is for us all . I am not complaining really . We are lucky that we are busy and that we can still do all things that we do --just takes some of us a little longer now and also we get tired more easily. I really found that this week . 
Well it was an interesting week , Monday , I spent a part of the day with my sister Patsy and we had a nice drive in the valley and lunch and it was sooo neat to be able to communicate so well with her and laugh . Then Tuesday I was at the hospital computer site and we were fairly busy and that day I had a few problems understanding some of the clients and had to have one person write to me .... that shook me up a bit but I could not understand or speech read at all . 
Then on Wednesday , Thursday and Friday I worked at the Hantsport Food Bank . We had some major problems with the building so had to move .. now the place we moved to was full of stuff so owner hired a crew to come and haul it all away but there was shelving we wanted so 2 of us went Wednesday to help the movers . They had 3 helpers and I could not understand one of them at all --the second one talked so fast and had a beard that I could not get him at all ....it was frustrating for me but we got it all done  and I could hear lots of noise ....
then Thursday Friday we cleaned and build shelving and stocked the shelves --- Good news is that by Friday afternoon Food Bank was already for next Wednesday which is our open day so that is great ...
Now for me when we were all working there -- usually there  was 5 or 6 of us -- I got all the noise , I got all the chatter but unless I was looking right at someone I did not know what was being said --at one point one of the workers asked me "Are you Ignoring us ??" I guess they were asking me a question --- 
This is what is  so hard to explain and for others to understand -- Yes I do hear ....  Yes I can understand most of what is said directly to me ..... BUT I do not hear like you do and when lots of activity going on for me it is a lot of confusion . More than once the other day I thought someone was calling me but they weren't .. at one point I wondered if I was hearing things hahhahhahhahahh
Anyway it was an interesting week hearing wise and was a real education for me about this hearing process..
Next week is another busy week and on Thursday evening we are going to the Windsor Volunteer Dinner where I always present the Judy Fry Volunteer Award to the town recipient so it will be interesting to see how the CI works for me in that situation ....................
Ok , bent your ear enough ............. Have a great week and catch you soon ............ 

Sunday, April 3, 2011

sunday again

Sunday , last week just flew by ... I mean that , it was Monday then Fryday ....... wow ... Monday/Tuesday we went a retirement seminar put on by the teachers union. What a pile of information and we learned so much. Rhonda will now decide exactly when she will retire and I am hoping it will be sooner rather later. Now we sat right in the front and all presenters used handouts and displays on the screen and I could see all the presenters very well and I could hear them all. First thing in the day I would say I was hitting 90% of what was said using all that was available to me by late in the afternoon as I was more tired it dropped to 75% . There was only one female presenter that I really had trouble with and one man spoke very very fast so that was difficult but overall I did very well and was quite proud of myself. I did not get any of the ?? from the group as they were asked but Rhonda told me any that were very important.
On way home on Tuesday , Rhonda had marking to do in the car so I just hooked up the mp3 and listened to some music --- sweet.
Wednesday was a normal day here and that evening I was doing the dishes and thinking about my mp3 player and thought If I can hear the music that is saved why can I not hear the radio that I have in my player so got all the player hooked up and sure enough it worked --listened to Q104 and CBC ...took forever to get the dishes down I was having so much fun with radio. Now words are not clear most times in either the music or the talking but it is good for my brain and some  words do come and each time things are repeated they get clearer. Thursday was out on the trails with my buddies and we had a great day . Friday errands all over the place --  and Saturday was my grand son Aidan's  3rd birthday party and the kids had so much fun and I did great hearing them all and last night was a 50th surprise party for a good friend and we really had a good time and again I was able to do very very well and so many people are so interested in the CI and so happy for me that I really do feel so lucky to have such good friends. 
That is it for today and I hope that all have a good week . 
And yes I am hoping for sun and warm this week !!!!!!!!!! 

Saturday, March 26, 2011

saturday night

I hope that all are enjoying their weekend ... I am sitting here typing to all of you with music playing in my head from 3 songs that I down loaded to my phone and the instrumental  is so real . It is truly miraculous . 
This is a music weekend . Last night was a friends birthday so the gang met at the Spit Fire Pub in Windsor. There was an awesome band playing called 2 to Midnight .. what a great band and for the first time in many many years I was able to hear the beat of the music and on one song after watching the singer lips and getting the beat I knew what song  was without Rhonda telling me. So I am one very happy camper and feel like I am taking giant leaps in this hearing process !!!! Bring it on !!!!  
Enjoy your Sunday ...
Hugs to all .... Chris 

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Wednesday ....

This program that I am using now is very strong and yesterday I was the chiropractor for my back maintenance and was hooked up to the tens machine ( sp) ..which I get every appointment only yesterday when it shut off I heard it beep for the 1st time !! Very neat then when Lisa came back into the room I was lying face down but I did hear the door open and close ....
Today I had to go back into see Adrienne ... we have been trying to get an  MP 3 player to work on a direct link ear piece ... it is wired direct from MP 3 to Processor and we could not get it working right but today Adrienne made some new changes and when I got home hooked it up and music was blaring in my ear .... MAJOR AWESOME !!!!!! now  when it is hooked up that is all u get but it is very cool and I am happy -- now to down load some music ...
Adrienne upped one other program so now I have all three working and they are all quite loud .... I did another hearing test today between two different programs and there is a slight increase in the louder one but it is very strong so not yet . We also compared the results to one from 6 weeks ago and it is  better -- we still have a ways to go Adrienne says but she is quite happy with my progress. 
Okay , I am off on the  trails with the guys tomorrow so it will be interesting to hear them  and I am going to try the different programs through out the day. 
Have a great evening everyone .......
 

Monday, March 21, 2011

monday

It is one large Monday morning -- that sun is awesome ... and the moon last night ... wow ... it was something ..... well we did fine on St Patty's day ...... and as usual in a crowed group I do not hear well but that is how it is for many folks that have hearing losses. Friday and the weekend were nice and quiet and I think that Rhonda did get  well rested over the break and is now back at school . Yesterday while Rhonda was doing her school work I went to clean up a bit around our property. for the first time I heard the barn doors open , me banging around in the barn --wow I am noisy ---- had to get the extension ladder out to fix something it was quite noisy --- wow I could not get the smile off my face ---- lol ..
when I was down near the road I could hear the cars approach ... I did not hear the car engines I heard the car tires on the road --- that is weird sound and takes me a minute to realize exactly what it is ....
Okay I gotta start and get my domestic duties started for the day ... have a great one ................

Thursday, March 17, 2011

happy St paddy's day to all ..............

hey Hope you all get to enjoy the "Green" today .. we are doing an afternoon with friends and a pub evening so you know it will be fun !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday was my son, Nick, 30th birthday and Lisa his wife had a surprise party ---it was fun --lots of kids and lots of good friends --- large gathering are no good for my hearing but if I can get a one on one I am usually ok but i still just enjoy all the noise ...
This week is March break and so Rhonda and I get to spend lots of time together --- the other day we were out in the car and I beeped the horn and then I laughed and Rhonda said --whats  so funny and I said --- I never heard the horn before ---- she said never --and i said -- why blow horn I could not hear it but now I can .... ok to be honest with you I have blown it about 6 times since and laugh every time ....
Our week has been pretty low key as Rhonda had the flue till Monday and is still not 100%. My big thing right now is working on the Tv and radio .... I am experimenting with volume increases when I am by my self and  and it is very interesting how the volume helps at first then if too loud no help .....
The other night at Nick's I met the first lady that I could not understand at all. Her voice must be very high because I could not get any of it and then because I could not understand here and I was trying so hard I then could not read her lips --- it was very frustrating and I did not tell her so I had to fake it and that was really hard for me .... next time I hope I can understand her if not I will tell her.
Okay folks -- have a great Green day and blog later ................

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Saturday .....

Hey all ... Saturday ...I am so sad at all that is happening in our world .... my heart just goes out to all those people in the Pacific ....... it is such a tragedy. We all need to count our blessing every day and be thankful for each day .
I left you on Tuesday and it was a pretty normal day, except for one thing. I was making some lunch and all of a sudden a heard this noise like -- bing bing bing ,,, what is that and I look around and I had left the fridge door open and it was the warning bell --- I had never heard it before !!! and Tuesday night I went a meeting about our food bank and I sat right up front and I knew what was on the agenda as we have to move because the roof is leaking very badly where we are. There were about 25 people there and at the beginning while they all talked it was difficult for me but once the meeting got going and the fellow that was chairing the meeting speaks in a  very clear low voice I was able to follow what he was saying ----  it was pretty neat ..... Wednesday was food bank day and we worked hard because beside our normal routine we were also packing up all the food getting ready for a move. But no definite location confirmed for us yet, Thursday I was at the computer site at the hospital and it was not very busy but I could hear everyone  as they walked up and down the hall --- just hearing the walking sounds is pretty cool when u have nor heard anything at all for a long time .
Friday , I met my cousin for coffee in Halifax and she is at the stage with her hearing where I was about 15 years ago and so we had a great chat about the implant, about deafness and hearing aids and about frustrations we both felt and also a good chat about tinnitus ,,, Cathy is doing so well and hopefully she will be able to consider a CI at some point in the future ,,,,then I went to see Adrienne to check my CI. Well I had an MP# player and there is a direct hook up to the CI and I really wanted to know if I could get it working but we tried for over 30 minutes and no luck and then we found that my processor was not working on one of my 3 programs so it is gone to California to get checked over and Adrienne loaned me one she had. Then i spent a few hours caching in the city and then a trip to airport to get my son Mark .... I walked into teh airport and imeddiatly hear this announcement being made ... no idea what was said but HEY ,,,, I used to walk around the airport and hear nothing so an announcement was cool ...... Mark is great -- he has a very low voice so I hear him very well but he talks so fast that no one can understand him so we get a number of repeats but it is such a blessing to hear the voices of my sons .....
Okay , have a great weekend ..... and blog next week ..................... 

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Now it is Tuesday .....

Good |Morning .... I am going to try and blog twice a week. So I left you last Thursday and on Friday I had an early breakfast with Nick at Mac D . That was great as Nick and I get some one on one time  which does not happen enough . Then I was off to the hospital fort the computer site for the day where I volunteer. It was neat to be able to understand people and not have to get them to write things down . When they come by my door with the machine that is washing the floor I feel like I am at the airport and standing out on the runway beside a plane . This 3rd program is soo loud I am not missing any sounds and some are sooooooooooo loud . Friday night we went to a friend's 50th birthday party. There were about 30 people there at their home.  Oh it was loud so I had to adjust the volume on the CI as it was just tooo loud . I refuse to turn it off . Even confusing loud sounds are better than not hearing at all . We did enjoy ourselves at the party.
Saturday , we went up the valley. Rhonda had her course in Wolfville and I just relaxed at the coffee shop with my book and then some shopping and home. Saturday night two friends came over and we played cards for the evening and with just the 4 of us I was able to follow all that was going on . It was pretty neat for me . Sunday was school work day and Sunday night we had two friends join us for dinner and the evening. Again with just 4 people and at home i was able to follow all . I was pretty tired on Sunday night after the busy weekend . you know the expression ---- "Great to be popular .... hell to be the Rage " .... LOL just kidding ..
Monday , my sister patsy had to get her car serviced in New Minas so we took a few hours and walked the rails to trails in Kentville and did a few geo caches ... Patsy loved it and at one point she was about 10 feet from me and saw the cache and hollered to me that she found it and I did hear her yell ---- no idea what she said but  I heard her and she was so excited that I heard her yell ... 
Tuesday and a stay at home day to get this house cleaned and laundry done as the rest of the week is busy ..
Untill next time ......... Remember to try and take 5 minutes just to yourself ........ YOU DESERVE IT !!!!!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Thursday already ..........................

hello Blog ..... I did not forget you I have just been quite busy but I have stored a few things I wanted to share with you ..... Saturday was the morning in New Minas grocery shopping while R did her class in Wolfville . I still get amazed that I can ask a question to a clerk and know if they have replied and many times not ask them to repeat . we were back home for lunch and we got this idea about moving a whole bunch of furniture around in the house . It could not be all on the same floor , too simple . We were moving stuff from the living room upstairs to Rhonda work den and other stuff back down stairs . 5 hours cuz one job led to another to another -- u know .. anyway the neat thing for me was that I could holler upstairs and ask a question of Rhonda and as long as her replies were "Yes" or "NO" ... i could get it , maybe a repeat once or twice but it meant I did not have to run up and down ..... that is pretty neat stuff ....
Sunday home and then Sunday night we went out to dinner with 2 friends of ours . The Port pub in Port Williams is where we went and it was quite busy and so it was very noisy --- 1st time that I have ever adjusted the volume on the CI but i had to turn it down ... that is part of using a CI ... it has 3 programs and you switch between for different environments. I have always left it at a loud setting to get all the noises but now am starting to adjust it manually for different situations and it helps ... Our dinner was great and I was able to get most of the conversations that had on a one to one but with all the background noise some was very difficult to understand. 
Since we moved the furniture around we then decided that Rhonda work den needed to be painted so that is what I have been doing all week and it is almost done and looks great . I did not have any radio on or anything in the room and I had the  door closed so no bird sounds .... it was so quiet except when i moved the ladder and that kind of stuff it was weird to not hear anything --- hard to explain as u would think after 12 years of deafness I would understand quiet but this really different ... I kept going " hello"   "hello" ,,just to hear myself hahhahahhahahah
Tuesday night we went to Nick & Lisa place for supper and Lara was soo cute and I had the CI turned up loud so most times  all I heard was a squeak  when she spoke but when she hollered ,,,, oh man it was loud .... Aidan has a soft voice but I could hear him and understand him when he looked at me ..it will all come with the kids I know and I want them comfortable with Grampy Fry ..
I am using the loudest setting most of the time and this morning I went out to clean off the little bit of snow that fell last night and it was crisp and clear outside and I could hear my feet walking in the snow ,,,, crunch,crunch and hear the snow shovel in the snow --- it was awesome to be there and hear that I cannot explain how something so simple just made me so happy ......
ok part of all the moving was taking down a shelf in the hallway and now that the room is all ready to be put back together I have to go paint the hallway where the shelf was .... 
Sun is out so enjoy this Thursday ... till later  

Friday, February 25, 2011

Fryday

This is the 3rd time that I have sat down to do this ... something happened each of the other two times like an e-mail that took me somewhere else then on and on .... u know ....
Anyway Friday already .... yesterday went well , last night had  dinner with my friend Barry. I arrived about 6 and stayed till around 9 . What was interesting for me was at 6 pm i could read and hear everything that Barry and I talked about without any repeats ... by 7 pm I was getting Barry to start repeating some things and by 9 ... i was hardly getting 50% understanding ...I was just so tired and I think that my brain had shut down ...
interesting and I was smart enough to say ..listen i am really tired so gotta shove off ....
today is just a domestic day here at home and I am loving it -- no radio or tv on just me and the birds till Rhonda gets home at supper time ..... I am loving the quiet. I do hope to go for my walk in an hour if I can get all my chores done ..... 
Have a great weekend ....... Cheers ...... 

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Thursday already ..................................

Sunny Thursday .. Adrienne will be proud of me i am on level 3 today with my CI and turned up over 1/2 ...... yeah those birds are now right in the center of my head hahahhahah ... I will leave it there for today and see how I do ....the noise does give me head aches but I can honestly say that I can notice a difference in many things when I keep the sound up loud. It just that everything gets magnified and that is the hard part. On Tuesday I was out geo caching with my three buddies, Ken, Rick and Brian ... we had a great day ... brain was the driver most of the day and i was in back seat ... I could tell easily who was talking but if I wanted to know what was being said I usually had to ask ,, but I did get a lot of what was being said ... one neat thing happened -- we were on a side road mid afternoon and i was down the road from the guys and all of a sudden one of them hollers out -- I am guessing he said my name --I looked up and they pointed behind me --  it was a school bus coming and I had not yet heard it .... that was pretty neat to me that they could holler and get my attention ....the other day  our friend jan was over twice in three days and we talked a lot and i can honestly say that by the end of the 2nd visit I was not only able to understand her so much more I could also hear her more clearly and the vibrations in her voice were less and less . So it will take time but it will work .I am feeling so confident about all of this ...wow .... 
One more thing yesterday I was out for my walk ( proud of myself as it was cold but I went anyway ) and i met two different people and it was so great to say something to a person and hear that they replied to you and also to understand what they said --- how many times did I meet people and say .. nice day or something like that and smile and move on because I could not communicate with them ... I had an extra bounce in my step after meeting people on my walks --- 
okay Hope that you all have a great day .. tonight I having dinner with a friend that i have not seen since my CI and it is just he and I so it will be interesting to see how it goes .... stay tuned ....




 

Monday, February 21, 2011

monday

Hope all had a good weekend ..... On Saturday I was at Tans as you know and my son Nick came
in and said the kids were in his car right outside the door so I went out to say ":Hi" to them . Lara is 15 months and is sitting in her car seat with the biggest smile on her face --she is awesome and Aidan is 3+ and he is in his chair and in the car when Aidan talked to me I could understand and hear him perfectly --- it was neat ..saturday afternoon we went to our Neighbor's Life Celebration at the community center which is an old Fancy Home here in town. It is beautiful inside with big high ceiling but not a great hearing place for me .. with all the chatter of folks in the room I had a hard time with my conversations but that is just all part of the learning curve .  Rest of weekend quiet and uneventful. Which is great.
The maker of my CI is AB and they set up a web place for users and family and friends to post questions or leave info etc..it is called Hearing Journey ..HJ and I did join and have asked a few questions over the past bit and the number of responses is amazing . Well one thing I was interested in is a soft ware program that my Audiologist Adrienne told me about call " Clear Voice" or CV ... what this program does is filter out the background noise and makes voices clear. I knew it was not yet licensed in the US but is here and in many other countries. I wanted to have some feedback on this program . WOW ...I was blown out of the water by the stories that many poeple wrote to me about how good this program is . They tell you a lot of details and one thing I discovered is that all the sounds that are so loud to me like the road noise in the car etc is what all these other folks are hearing too . That is awesome for me to know . CV does eliminate the majority of this back ground noise but as many suggested in their posts to me and as Adrienne has told  me . I have to let my brain  get to know all of these noises ... and i do agree and I do understand more . This just gives me something to look fwd to maybe in a year times ...the folks in the US are jealous that we have it and they do not yet but it looks like it was get the gov't approval by this summer. Amazing ...
ok have a great week everyone ...... Chris  

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Basketball Game

We, Rhonda and I had a new hearing experience last night , our 15 year old niece was playing in a basketball tournament at Horton High and we went to watch the game. I had the CI turned back up on 3/4 again and thought I was ready for noise. Oh man was I wrong ....when we arrived they were out still warming up so noise level was high but not bad then all of a sudden --- this loud loud sound --the buzzer --oh man it was loud --- when the game started I was actually able to hear the sound of the ball being bounced on the floor --- all the chants and yelling were very noisy and loud -- by 1/2 time I did have a bit of a head ache from all the noise so I turned it down a bit but not too low. It was quite an experience --- they lost by 3 points so game was close and lots of action and noise . Today ,Saturday I am writing this at Tan coffee shop in Wolfville and they just turned on the coffee grinder and I thinking this place sounds  like the airport --outside hahhahahhah okay just turned off and now back to normal noise ----- this afternoon we are going to a "Celebration of Life" for our neighbor and it is in the community center so another hearing experience ...stay tuned ............

Friday, February 18, 2011

Thursday update

Yesterday when I woke up I said today  I am turning up my CI higher than ever , the 3/4 mark. I was going to visit my son John and his two boys Jack & Isaac who are 5 & 3. Adrianne would be proud of me I left it at 3/4 all day even though it was soooo loud . First , the road tire noise was soo loud driving down and I put teh radio on and easily got the beat but the singing was way to hard on my hearing so I shut it off. . When I arrived at John's place Isaac opened the door and yelled "Hi Grampy" ... I heard that for sure -- did i hear clear or just 2 words and guessed he said "Hi Grampy" ..who knows ??? but I did hear and understand that .... that was worth the whole drive down ..... now rest of the visit I honestly did not get a lot of what the boys said and they do tend to yell or holler a lot and that was pretty hard on the hearing but if I got Jack to look at me and repeat once I could usually figure it out but I do not want the kids to shy away from talking with me so I do not push the understanding and repeats too hard. I know it will all come together . so it was a good visit and we did get outside for a while we did 3 geocaches together so that was fun. Left the CI on 3/4 all night --- heard the front door bang and Rhonda call out "Hello" when she got home . No big change on the TV for me but I do consider hearing the grand kids all day a big step. I just have to get used to the loud noises.
One other thing on my way home I stopped at Super Store in Sackville and I needed  to ask where something was and it was so awesome to ask a ? and get a reply and understand without saying --- Could u please repaet that I am deaf and did not get it >>>>... okay ... have a great weekend .........Later Gators ....

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Sunny Wednesday am ...

It is a beautiful sunny morning as I sit to do a short blog .... yesterday I was out with the geo gang , Brian  was missing but Laura was with us ..... I was driving so my hearing side was away from all. I could easily tell when  anyone  was speaking, I could tell who it was and I would get the odd word here and there. One particular word I got was Las Vegas when Ken was talking about the fantasy cache trip. I could also tune out the noise when I need to concentrate on driving in some blowing snow . It was a fun day and great to be out and again it is so different being part of the hearing world. last night our friend Jan came over and I had a great one on one with her and could understand everything she said. It is a mix of hearing , speech reading and environment. We were on the chesterfield  so no interference . Awesome. Jan voice like many female voices still is quite tiny but i am hoping it will continue to change.
This morning I decided i am  going to start a chart about my hearing and pick the things that are very low and see how they do improve .i have so much that is great but I also have so much that needs to improve and I need to chart it . So I am going to start today and as I progress I will blog it ... most base sounds are pretty good but getting my understanding and clarity is what needs work on .
Enjoy the sun today and let is brighten your Wednesday ......

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Sunny Sunday Morning !!!!

What a beautiful sunny morning and hopefully if Rhonda gets the school work done early we will go out on the snow shoes again . We both enjoy that .
Well last night at the dinner was a whole new experience for me . First the acoustics in the fire hall where the dinner is held are not very good so a lot of sounds bouncing around ..there were 70 + folks for dinner so it was very noisy . I had the CI turned up and when I was talking to people and everyone around me was talking it was almost impossible to concentrate on my conversation. there was just so much noise all coming in but as the evening moved on and people sat for dinner it became easier for me to chat . Everyone that I talked with was very interested in the CI and how it works . I am continually meeting someone that says they know others that have a CI and what a difference it has made in their lives.  One person I met last night that really made an impact on me was a gentleman who told me his grand daughter had 2 CI ... I asked how old she was and she is 4 years old . She was born deaf . Can you imagine ?? I just get goose bumps when I think about this little girl. the grand mother often looks after the little girl and so we had a great chat about how I hear sounds and noise and was able to describe for her somethings she often wanted to ask her grand daughter --- totally amazing and miraculous ---- my head was spinning by the time  dinner was all over but it was a great experience for me and a super success as a fund raiser ................
I hope that all enjoy their sunny Sunday and have a great week ....

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Saturday afternoon ......

Well it has been sunny here all day and temperatures are rising accordingly but maybe a small snowfall tonight . I mean what would I do if I did not have to start the day with the snow shovel LOL !!!!!
 It was a good week and I have been using the CI on the louder setting so lots of noise ... I think I have blogged up until l Thursday and that was food Bank day here in Hantsport and I have been involved with it for a number of years now . It is amazing in a small town like this how many people require help. There is a great team of volunteers that work here. I missed the last three months due to my operation and various Dr appointments so it was great to get back. They all cheered when I walked in and for many of them it was our first visit since I got the CI. On the one on one conversations it was great . Our work room is quite large  and when the others were at one side of room and I was on the other I could hear no sounds but when they got closer to me I could tell . We use carts to load the food bins and man they sure are noisy as they roll around. That is what i mean about the new hearing levels and that some sounds are just so loud. The carts were very noisy ..that is why in certain situations i get a head ache easily ---- but I need to keep it up so that I can get the other sounds --- eventually after a good period of time  we will get a program that is totally comfortable and I do understand this .  It was great to drop a can of food on floor and hear that it dropped --- amzing the small things that amuse this small mind -- LOL ...........
This weekend is a valentines banquet that our neighborhood puts on as a special annual fund raiser. Last night I was there helping to set up and it was interesting as most of the neighbors had not seen me since the CI and a few did not know I had it done. One lady I was talking to at the beginning of the evening said when she found out -- Gee I was talking with him and did not notice the gear on his head .....  Ok I know -- get her an eye appointment hahhahahhah again similar to working at FB --the one on one is great but groups or distance in a room cause challenges .... tonight i am serving at the dinner -- we have 80 people coming for dinner so it will be interesting to see how I make out . stay tuned on that update.
yesterday afternoon the battery was depleted on the CI and it shut down and I did not have a spare in my pockets . Rhonda was just going up stairs so I asked her to please bring me a new battery down . It took about 5 or 10 minutes for Rhonda to come back and I had been down to basement and back and when she brought me the battery I said
" Thanks a lot --- You have no idea how awful it feels not to hear even for that short time .... it was like a big sea of emptiness" .
I was so surprised that i felt so strong about that and how it felt to be deaf ---- even though I do not understand a lot of what I hear , I am still hearing sounds and that in it self is awesome .
Also yesterday I had coffee with niece and her two boys. Jax is almost three and because it was very quiet at Tim's and because he was sitting very quiet and I think he has a deeper voice I was able to hear him --- not totally understand but I did hear and did get a few words --his mum helped and we got it all .
Ok , time to go make myself beautiful for the dinner serving job ...hope all have a good saturday night ..
Cheers ............................

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Wednesday ..

Well today is a snow day off school here so I am glad of that and now we have sun shine so maybe an afternoon outing ... maybe on the snow shoes ...who knows ???
Well I am keeping the CI turned up so Adrienne should be happy with me but sometimes I do have adjust it --yesterday I went to the dentist . All was great till I got in the dentist chair and he walked in and said "hey Chris" . He has a booming voice and his office is quite small ...it sounded like he was on a mega phone ---- so I just turned it down a wee bit ... on we went  with a small filling ... when he started the drill I thought that was loud but when the assistant brought on the suction tube that was right beside my left ear I thought I had an airplane engine starting up ...   then when she turned it off .. man all was so quiet ..... then back on again and the noise was soooo loud --- I did not say anything just smiled to myself but knew I had to blog about that ....rest is going normal , birds are singing away and life is sliding along ...my goal now is working on the TV ..it is mostly just noise and not always comfortable but I am  going to get it I hope , it will take me a long time but I am working at it each day ................ okay ...enjoy the sun .... 

Monday, February 7, 2011

Monday Night

Another new week but what a weekend we had . All the grand kids were here Saturday afternoon . That is Jack & Isaac and Aidan & Lara ... I had my  CI turned up all weekend and what a difference with the kids .... it was all so loud --- when they were excited and screamed or yelled it was like the sound of a paper shredder ... I could not understand the boys but I could usually tell when they talked --Lara is still a squeak to me but I will take that as much better than nothing ... lots of vibrations and feed back at the higher level but by this afternoon things almost seem normal so that will mean I have to turn the CI  up again ...We did have so much fun with the kids and Aidan stayed for supper with Jack & Isaac then John took him home and J&I stayed overnight. I did feel more secure with the boys because I could at least hear that they wanted something .. understanding them  was more of a chore but we did just fine ... 
Sunday was pretty low key with the Super Bowl on Sunday night . 
Usually when I have TV on I have the closed caption on  but for football they talk so much that I miss a lot of the game so I take the CC off . Last night I turned up the sound ---  I could not understand at all what was being said but could tell when people were talking or music on  or crowd yelling ,,, all very interesting ....
Today was out with two friends that I have not seen in many months and not since my CI . I think that I did very well with them and my understanding with lip reading and CI was very good.
Now I do often play a game and I close my eyes and get some one to say a sentence that is not something we have talked about ... of course most times I do not get any but some times |I do get one or two words . I have noticed that I have a hard time hearing words that \I have a hard time reading on a persons lips because of the way the language works --- like silent letters and look a like letters .. Rhonda says this does not make sense but so far it does seem to be that way ... I will just keep playing my game ...
ok , that is it ...kinda of a quiet week here and that is ok  because listening all weekend and today has tired me out ... sleep well

Saturday, February 5, 2011

saturday morning

Snow , snow and more snow coming !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I really do not mind it and Rhonda hsa been home for a few snow days ...... okay  been quite a week and it ended with a visit to Adrienne for a tune up on the CI . On Thursday night we went to the Heart concert in Halifax. My first with the CI . THE place was packed so very noisy but that what people are is noisy !!! I did not get any of the singing but the light show and heavy rock I got and I can honestly say that I totally enjoyed the concert although so much was just loud noise in my head ... kinda hard to explain but I completely enjoyed it .  Last night we were out to a friends for dinner and there was just the 4 of us at their place and I was able to follow all conversations ok . As the night goes on and I become tired the listening becomes harder but I really did well and it was a great feeling. Dinner was excellent !! Thanks Steven ...
Friday afternoon I saw Adrienne and after some testing she said that I am doing fine but we still have a ways to go . What I need to do is keep turning up the volume on the CI each day or so and to continually challenge my brain . What happens to me is that I get comfortable in one hearing setting and I do not change it but when I do that it is kinda like treading water ...I do not move forward so Challenge I will do .....................
Two of the grand boys are coming sometime today for a sleep over and so so I intend to see how much I can hear with the volume up higher for a while ............
Okay , hope that all have a great weekend and that we do not get tooooooo much more snow ...Later ..... 

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Wednesday already

Not sure where all the time goes but it is Wednesday already. Yesterday some one said ..hey you have not mentioned the "birds" in the last few blogs  ??Oh they are still here and yes they seem to be Yakking a lot more but they they "blended in quite nicely " ...what I do notice now is not when they are making noise but rather the opposite ... like -- ' why is it so quiet ?|" hahhahahh .. that is a twist ...
Yesterday , I  was out in the woods for a while with my buddy Ken . It is amazing how much safer I did feel knowing that I was able to communicate with him . I have never thought about how that made me feel but I did yesterday and I did feel safer. That is pretty cool. We snowed shoed into a geo cache and that experience was GREAT . Ok , you get the idea I enjoyed yesterday LOL ....
Have to go get ready for this big storm ... Be Safe .Everyone ....

Monday, January 31, 2011

Monday Morning ....

Good morning ... I said I would blog when something happened to me  and last night something did that I found so funny I thought ...this is for the blog ....
We went to the movie with 2 friends last night. I have always loved the movies and what I do is read the story line before we go and I then I usually just make up my own story about what is happening ..LOL
Our friends picked us up and again the car was the best place for me to hear and understand. Amazing really ..... anyway we are in the lobby of the theater and I standing all by myself while Rhonda is in line. I turned the volume up on the CI so I would not miss any sounds in the movie ...  all of a sudden ... bang bang bang !!!! My mind says guns going off hit the floor but first I look around and all are pretty cool then I see the popcorn overflowing from the pot ----- oh I laughed over that one ........ 
Have a great day ......................................

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Sunday Jan 30/2011

Well it has almost been two moths  since the CI was turned on .... when someone asks me about it I say it is a "miracle" and I truly believe that it is. I never thought that I would hear any sounds again. Truly a miracle and every day I appreciate every sound.I honestly do not think that |I will ever take it for granted. Now my blogs are farther apart. Not because I am loosing interest in the blog but rather that my days are becoming more normal and i am adjusting to my new life . I am trying to blog when things seems to stand out to me but the normal days are just that pretty normal. Before I tell you about last night I just want to again go over my hearing and hope you understand that I do not hear like you do or exactly what you hear  but I am hoping that as time goes on it will appear to me that I do .... one question a lot of people that know me ask is ... how is your balance now ? well it is the same no better because I do not get the sounds all around me ...just the sounds on my left side and only the sounds that are in the hearing range that |I hear ...so  no change in balance. I often use my cane when all by myself . much safer .
Last night we went out to dinner with 4 friends. They picked us up to go to the restaurant and so in the van we played a  game to see who I could hear ..... we were in the back seat . the 3rd seat back ... when the two ladies in the middle seat spoke ...there voices were very squeakily but I could easily tell which one was speaking. when either of the guys in the front seat spoke , I knew something had been said but no idea who said it ......as they all continued in their conversations I could easily tell when they were all talking . That is just pretty awesome in itself --- before I would just sit in the car and not know what was going on . Now in the restaurant , we had it all to ourselves so that was great for me as no major background noise . But in the restaurant , unlike in the van ,   I could only tell who was talking by looking and watching . That is because the room was so big the sounds  were lost . again my one on one went very well .
Every day with Rhonda , I get better and better at hearing her and understanding her. that was how it was with speech reading also . I am able to speech read Rhonda better than anyone else.
Ok ...that is it for now . I am hoping to go out and put the snow shoes on for the first time this year and have a little hike around the soccer field. have a great Sunday afternoon ...... 

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

WEDNESDAY EVENING

Well just had to blog about my great day today ...it went so well and it started at 7 15 am when I went out to clean off the car ... as soon as I walked outside I heard this noise and my brain said -- " crows" .... stop laughing this is important ...... I have heard crows 4 or 5 times ... first time had no idea what the noise what till I looked all around , 2nd time I was in the woods with brian and heard a noise and asked what it was ans he said a crow . I was with Rhonda coming home and saw and heard the crows at sunset but she told me but this morning when I heard teh sound my brain told me it was the crows !!!!!
I was in a car today with three of my caching buddies.We went to Bridgetown caching . I was in the back with Rick. All day when people spoke I knew that they were talking. No idea what was being said but I knew they were talking ---- that was great for me .... when  we did talk on one on one  or were outside I could do ok . So sun was shinning all day and we had a lot of laughs and I felt just like part of the gang .... these guys are great and always included me before but today I felt more a part than in the past so that was neat .....
After I got home , I knew Rhonda  would not be home till later as she was going up the valley. I am in the kitchen and I hear some noise --what is it -- hear again --- I walk out to hall saying --anyone there and sure enough ,,,Rhonda is there and is saying --"hello hello " .... wow ...I was surprised to hear the sound but also so glad that I did .
Okay , now a hot bath -- 11 1/2 hours outside playing -- 24 caches ..... all that listening !!!!! What a day ....

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Tuesday

I saw Dr M yesterday as I had guessed my tumors are just fine , so Dr said I am now good for a year before another MRI as apposed to the 6 month schedule for past number of years. He spent most of time talking about the CI and checking it . He is very pleased how it is working for me and said all post op looks good . with the speech reading and voice sounds I was able to get most of what the Dr said. There were a few repeats for me but I did understand almost all of it so that is great . It was too cold outside to do much around the city so a quick stop at mall in Dartmouth and then home.  I am not having these new sounds moments as often now and |I still find most voices are distorted but I am just so happy to have all my noises and will sort them all out as time goes by . Off to do some caching with 3 other friends tomorrow so that will be an interesting hearing day for me and of course lots of fun. That is it for now .... Chris

Monday, January 24, 2011

Monday Morning ....

This morning I am off to Halifax to see Dr Morris about the MRI results I had the other week. Dr M put the   CI in so I know he will be  more interested in that then the tumors and I am pretty sure that all is ok with them but always good to hear it from the Dr himself.
The other day I was out with Rick and I had just gotten out of the car and I heard a new sound , it was loud and repeated it very often so I guessed an ambulance and looked around and sure enough .... red lights flashing and coming my way ... this is how |i hear a lot --it is similar to speech reading -- you have to make some logical guesses because my sounds and your sounds are not the same .
Yesterday , two of our grand children , Jack & Isaac came for a visit and this new program is very strong. when the kids spoke I could hear them talk. Jack speaks very quietly so with him I just knew he spoke but really no idea what was said but I could guess what it was ---Isaac has a very high voice and is very loud ---so although I could not get what he said I sure knew he  was talking and I could guess at a lot . the other night when our grand daughter Lara , who is just over 1 spoke out I did hear that she made sounds so  it is all a very rewarding experience for me .
I understand Rhonda the most as I hear her every day and also because I know her and how she speaks . yesterday , R was up stairs and I wanted to ask her some thing she could reply with one word answer so I hollered upstairs the ? . I got back a 2 word reply --now I did not understand what she said but I knew it was 2 words and knowing Rhonda it would be  .. " Pardon Me" ...so I hollered back up --did u say Pardon \Me ... R replys yes and so I repeated my ??. Might have been easier to walk upstairs but that was too easy for me ..LOL
Ok , shower time ...Have a good COLD Monday ......Chris

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Wednesday Morning

Last night I am having dinner with Nick and he says .." So what's the matter with you ? all Ok ? " I said i am fine why ?? He said no Blogs for 6 days ?? My answer was well life has been pretty normal and i did not want to bore any one .... but I do have a few things that happened over the last few days so read on :
The other day I stopped for gas . Now I usually always go in side to pay but this day in a hurry so I decided to pay at the pumps -- imagine my surprise when I started hearing all these beeps every time I pressed a button -- oh man it was funny ...so next time you gas up outside, while u are punching in numbers and beeps are going off think of me and have a smile ---
Next , I was out in the woods with my friend Brian and I hear something and i am not sure what it is ? so i ask , what is that noise I am hearing, it is faint but I hear something. It is so quiet in the woods --Brian says --It is a "crow" ... amazing ....a little later in the day my batteries quit so I change batteries and hook back up and say to Brain , Ok say something -- well he mouths all these words but I cannot hear him ...then starts to laugh and says ..oh u want me to say something out loud !!! what a character .....
I have stayed on the same program for past 2 weeks with the CI  and as things start to get a bit clearer and less echo's I have turned up the volume. So today  I switched up to the next program and the echo's are back but hopefully they will blend in soon .....
Here is what I am noticing when my battery stop -- if I am by myself at home and battery stops some times it tales me a little bit before I realize no noise anywhere . I have been deaf for 12 years so the silence alone is pretty normal ... if battery stops while I am doing something that I hear or I am with someone that is talking I notice right away . There is no warning it just shuts off . What I do notice is that when I take the CI off at night or say to get dressed what a "void" it feels with no sound .....
If I am in a room with 2 people and i talk with one of them , I am ok doing that . then if they talk together I know that they are talking but no idea about what is being said ....so although I hear in that situation I do not understand .....
The other night we went to a movie at theater with open captions --- I have been to OC movies before but this was first time  with a CI and I have to say that with the sound and captioning it was all pretty neat and I did understand most of the movie but I had a head ache after it was over from concentrating so much ...
okay , tonight should be an interesting experience for me ... once every two months the local cachers meet at Boston pizza for dinner and chit chat . This will be my first time since I got the  CI so should be interesting ..
That is it for today ......hope that you all have a "Good One" .........

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Thursday already

Well I know that you will not believe this but today I went to another funeral and saw another doctor .... LOL ..
Can you believe it? .
The funeral was for an older man that I knew since I first came to Windsor and it was in the catholic church. So a new hearing place for me to go ..what a difference ...everything in the church was distorted for me and I could understand nothing  ...they played the same songs as the other day but in that environment nothing but noise and uncomfortable sounds . I will not rush back there with the  CI turned on. 
Then I went a new dentist here in Hantsport. My dentist has retired so I decided to switch to a Dr close to home. Dr Hagell , what a nice guy and he has a beard but with the CI, I was able to talk with him ok ...had to ask him to repeat a few things but overall did just fine .. I walked over to his office and the wind was up and blowing in my ear and the sounds it made reminded me of when I had a hearing aid in my ear and the wind  would blow --- that is a first with this CI so another FIRST !! 
Tomorrow there are no plans so hopefully a quiet day in H town BUT you just never know ...
Have a good evening ....................

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Wednesday MRI day

First it is still snowing here at 8 pm ... I think maybe the weatherman got it right this time ....darn ............................. anyway .. off to Kentville this am for my MRI and when I arrive at the hospital and go to check in I am expecting same routine where they say all the info and you just say Yes or no ... not today -- she asked a ? and i had to give the correct answer --- who changed these rules anyway ?? LOl anyway after 2 repeats of the questions I figured it all out and I guess I passed cuz she sent to X ray for my MRI ... now it was the first time these people did a MRI on a patient with CI so they checked all the paper work and in I go ... it was a very long time , usually 45 minutes but this was 1 1/2 hours -- long time in an MRI but what was neat was after they showed me some pics of the inside of my head and I saw where the CI was ,,, neat ,,also saw the tumors. I had seen them before with the doctors ...it is amazing what the  MRI shows...anyway all went ok . Nothing else too exciting .. went to a couple of stores but life is very normal and i am glad of that ................... so hope that we do not get too much snow ,, another funeral tomorrow morning so hope we can get out for that then dentist ... oh my I am doing the Doctor route these days --PTL it is nothing too serious .....sleep well ...  

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Momday recap ...

Well yesterday was one awesome day because I spent most of it in the woods chasing down some new geo caches .... went with my buddy Rick and weather was perfect .... now as far as the hearing goes it was also awesome --- first when we were out and if Rick talked to me I could hear him , not understand but heard him and so could go to where he was and talk with him , that was neat ,,, walking on the new snow and hearing it crunch under my feet was amazing for me .. we were out by the road and I heard this noise coming and it was a Bell Canada van going by --oh man it was soooo loud --just like a airplane -- what I am finding with this new program is that some sounds are normal , it is a very accurate program I can actually hear a small tap on the table if all is quite , a truck going by is like an airplane but the voices of people  seem pretty normal except that still a lot of echoes ....
So that was my Monday ... today is an at home day so just taking it easy with normal house stuff and of course my wonderful budgies squawking in the back ground ( u know they never stop !!!) 
Have a good day ..........

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Sunday Morning

Well yesterday we went to Judy Strum's funeral and it was very sad.  65 used to be quite old but now it is quite young ... now for me it was an unusual hearing experience... rooms was packed so we had to stand --there were two ministers, one was Karen Lynch  who was good friends with Judy and another male minister. I could easily tell the difference when it was Karen speaking or the other minister.  Every time Karen said the words --Judy Strum --I heard those words -- nothing else -- now is that divine intervention or what ?? We were standing in the line up to go into the reception room and talking with another person --- there is a ramp that you go down into the room --- maybe 10 ft in length --at the top of the ramp I heard nothing from the room below but as we got to the bottom I got all the noise from the room --- that is pretty amazing --- that within 10 ft I go from quiet to very noisy --- 
I explained to Rhonda the other day that it is like a big ocean of sound ---- you can hear all the ocean of sound but for me it is like I have a straw to my ear and I get what sounds come down that straw ---- Rhonda said that helped her understand how it was for me ...We spent the rest of the day in New Minas just doing mindless stuff and last night at home and feeling much better mentally today. Funerals are always hard on many people , Each in their own way .
This new program is very powerful , yesterday someone in the store went by me with a cart full of stuff that was banging around and I thought an airplane was taking off ..... it is ok around the house just loud ....
Okay , hope all enjoy their Sunday ..I am hoping for an afternoon walk with my Lady ......

Friday, January 7, 2011

Friday night

just wanted to wish any blog readers an enjoyable weekend ... today was a pretty normal loud ( extra loud with new program ) day . I am glad to say that things were pretty normal -- I spent the day with a buddy and other than the fact that most sounds that I have been hearing are now much louder but the echo's on my voice and many others are now blending in so that is a good thing . The cars and trucks are very loud  so that is  safe place for me .
Just glad to say that things seem pretty normal.
have a great weekend ...

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Thursday , January 6th

Well today was quite a day for me , this morning I met a friend in the city and we did 2 hours of Geo caching around Bayer's lake --it was an awesome morning .... I drove in by myself so had the radio on to try and offset the noise from the road --it is very loud but radio did help although no idea what was on -- when Brian got in my car, I turned on the key and he grabs his ears ---I guess  the radio was VERY Loud --- ( more about the radio in a bit) ... Brian and I had a great morning then off to see Adrienne . She is the audiologist. Adrienne gave me 2 new programs plus the one I was presently using and was comfortable with . Well the new program is very loud --just like the other ones were and a lot of echoes ... so before I left the office Adrienne turned the volume down just a bit ...well when I hit Spring Garden Rd I could not believe all the noise . Amazing -- all those cars I did not hear before --- well I sure heard them today hahhahah and I was standing at the lights to cross the street and 2 people behind me were laughing and it was like they were right in my ear ... crazy ..... so I get in the car and start it up and just hit the radio to turn it back on and oh man it blew me out of the car -- is was so loud --- I laughed and then I understood why Brian grabbed his ears ----this new program is pretty powerful for sure . after a few hours I did get a head ache from all the noise but I need to leave it so that I can get used to it and as each hour goes by things are getting a bit more blended ,,, when Rhonda came home and was talking with the birds ( yeah i know , we are crazy cuz we both talk to the birds all the time ) anyway , she uses a deep voice  and it was first time i could tell the difference and it really seemed like she was talking very loud to them but she wasn't ....
It is like a new beginning to me every time I get a new program .............. stay tuned for what will be heard next ... Have a good Thursday night ......

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Wednesday Night

Well I am happy to say that today was a day at home . It seems that I have not been here for a whole day for a long time so I had a chance to catch up on a bunch of things . This morning it was so sunny and nice outside that I worked for about an hour putting the wreathes and lights etc away. It was really neat to heat myself walk thru the hard snow . I was just smiling all morning at that and I was closer to my neighbors house and when the dogs started barking I did know it was a dog and could tell the difference between the woof of the big dog and the squeak  of little dog so that was neat ......... tonight I was loading some caches on my GPS and heard it 'Bing" for the first time --- man their are a lot of sounds and noises in this world that we just take for granted ..
 New adjustments tomorrow on the CI  so wonder what that will bring .....
have a good night ......................

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Tuesday Jan 04

Well last night my son Mark called and said ' How come dad has not blogged In the last few days ?" and my sister e-mailed last night -- keep that blog going -- well just for the record I do intend to keep the blog up to date it has just been very busy the last few days and no time to actually write my blog but I remember all my new sounds and so here goes ...
Sunday we were planning on staying home and on Monday going to a birthday brunch in Porters lake for Isaac's 3rd birthday. However a very good friend's mum passed away and the wake was Sunday night and funeral on  Monday so we changed our plans and went to Porters lake on Sunday -- we had a great visit with all there and the kids were awesome. I could not understand the kids at all but I usually knew when they were talking . When we left Porters lake we went by Lawrencetown beach and it was pretty well deserted and it was so calm and quiet but when we  walked to the shore line there were small waves coming and YES ...I could hear the water and could tell the difference between incoming and outgoing water !! It was amazing as I always said that the sound of the ocean was what I really missed the most --- now I wanna go to Queensland and White Point and Penny beach and ..........
The wake and funeral went OK for me but I realize that I do not function any differently in large crowds and that my hearing is very limited - The more background noise the less I hear. The one on one conversations were great so long as I was very close to person and that I could read their lips ---- that is what it is --I am lip reading but getting some assistance from the sounds ---
I am going back for another session with the audiologist this week so it will be interesting to see what changes are made.
Last night we watched a TV show and the closed captioning was very slow and so it was very difficult for me to be hearing some sounds but not getting the written words till a minute or so later ---
So that is where I am now and I hope to update this blog now every day or so ..... as things change or as new sounds are heard I will update .
Have a great Tuesday .................................................

Saturday, January 1, 2011

January 1/2011

Happy New Year to all !! I hope that everyone enjoyed them selves in their own way. We did have a great time . Yesterday we left  home after lunch and first stop was the bank to get some cash . I cannot tell you the last time I used a cash machine so when I went into bank yesterday and got some money imagine how surprised I was when the machine starting making noises and sounds ... I came out to the car laughing and said Rhonda ,... that machine makes a noise --- LOL
Last night we went to the casino for a while before the concert and the place was packed -- and I thought I was old but the casino was full of some very old folks and I never saw so many wheel chairs --- amazing -- we did not stay long it was not fun so we went up to where the concert was and it started right on time at 11 and what a show the Trews put on ----- Fantastic ... now for me --I could not hear many of the songs and no great vibrations but I got the hand clapping that gave me the beat to most of the music and just watching everyone enjoying the music was awesome -- we both loved it and were glad we went ....today on the way home we decided to grab a matinee movie and it was another experience for me -- I will say that after 2 full hours of noise etc I was very tired and had a head ache but I did enjoy the show and could differentiate a lot of the sounds .... okay off to bed early tonight as last night was  a late one ..