May 1,2012 .................... it has now been 18 months since I have been turned on with my CI and what a difference it has made in my life . It has changed things with Rhonda, with the grand kids with friends and family and it has made so many new things available to me . I say new because they are new . I have been turning up the volume whenever possible these last few months and so many new sounds are coming .
yesterday I was cutting the grass first the first time this year, now I know that I cut the grass last year with the CI but so many things were happening to me that I do not think I paid that much attention to the mowers and maybe I just turned so low I could not hear ...well yesterday I heard both of them --those suckers are loud --lol ...I had the ci cranked up so I turned it down some but not so low that I could not hear all the sounds --I use two mowers and both sound different .....I had a great day hearing all the different sounds from those mowers ...here is an interesting thing --if I stood with my CI ear to mower hear it perfectly clear but when I turned away from mower it just sounded far off --no idea which direction the noise was just noise far off ...
just to repeat again from other posts that when I am in a quiet room with no more than 2 other people and I can see them ...I can get at least 90% ..... change any of those and my hearing understanding changes ---
Now --- the other day I did get a new I phone and YES I do love it ...a buddy knew I had the phone and so he called me using 'Face Time" ...well I heard my phone ring --saw it was Wayne --saw the face time connect and next thing I know I am looking at his face and Yes I could get what we talk about because I could both hear and see him ..........oh technology is sooooo amazing .
With this higher volume I am using more power so batteries lasting even less time ---I have been taking the car charger with me lately as the other day I went thru 5 batteries ... again PTL they are rechargeable ...
Life is rolling along --I feel so lucky and blessed that this hearing opportunity has been given to me ..the last time I was in to see the Doctor he told me that they had done this operation now on a number of NF2 patients and only 1 had not worked. That is fantastic news for any NF people.
Enjoy all the sounds you hear and Remember to always Protect your hearing ...
Have a great day ...Chris

Feb 2012 in the

Well good morning ......sun is brightly shinning over the snow in the back yard .....have not had much snow this year so far and I am just fine with that . Yesterday I sent a note to a friend that is doing a travel blog and told him that his blog will be a great mémoire for him in years to come and that is also how I feel about my blog.
Monday am I am in bed  and I put on CI on, Rhonda has the radio on and there is no other noise in the house. I can easily tell when the DJ is talking or when there is music on but what is being said is not clear at all. When R wakes up I tell her all this and then she suggest maybe putting on a song that I like using the ipod. So we do that and again not clear as to the words in the song. Then we get the idea that maybe I should read the lyrics as the song is playing just like closed caption on TV or at the movies . So I go get the note book and bring up lyrics by Charlie A'Court and song starts and now as I read along I am able to hear and understand what is being sung 90% of the time ......this is amazing and it just reinterates the fact that I need to lip read along with hearing in many situations .It also points out again that I really can only do one thing at a time --if I am going to listen to music I need to sit and take the time to do it but I think after a number of times in reading it my brain will make the leap when it hears the song .....how many times I will need to read the song is yet unknown and also finding the time to do just music ..... 
I think I am going to treat myself right now to one  song .... 
have a great Fryday ................... Chris 

January 2012 ....

Well almost the middle of January ....I know that I have not posted often but that is kind of a good thing too because that means that life is flowing along pretty smoothly ....
I am really liking the new program in that a lot of back ground noise is much quieter ....I really notice it in the car but is also noticeable if I switch back to the regular program just how loud everything is ... 
I am hearing a lot of voices very differently since December and they are not clearer but almost like I have a cold and hearing that way ...it is different because some people that I could understand perfectly before now have a higher or fuzzier voice ...... the TV is worse instead of better ...... funny how that seems to be .....
Now the neat thing that happened to me this morning and that I wanted to share was this ..... I really needed to get outside today so found a few caches close to home so loaded my gear up and took off .... one cache that I did I needed to walk in a small farm field . As I am walking along I could hear myself walking in the long grass. It was soo cool ...there was no snow down and grass was very cold as it was about -12 this morning ...... it was not just a crunch crunch but rather I could hear the grass blades bending .... it was just so quiet and I was all alone ................ wow ....I did say a prayer of Thanks and then thought .... blog this Buddy ........
Have a great Thursday ..... Chris 

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 ............

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

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