My Diary p4. - April & May 03Click on Date Below to go to that day's entry
Some rather good news - my wife and I went out and bought me a new acoustic guitar yesterday, so I can start to get back into playing!! (For those who must know it is a Maton acoustic).
Really good to have one back in my hands. I miss it. Almost had to find another bed for my wife last night (kidding!!). Am taking little steps but so far have been happy with how nice it is and sounds. In simple terms the CI seems to add a little bit of clarity to the sounds coming in. Have told a couple of people who are quite excited, and there are many people who I have enjoyed playing with (music) over the years and I look forward to another chance!
Have been wearing the body worn pack (processor - Sprint) fairly regularly over the last week. I actually don't mind it. While I still wear the 3G behind the ear one mostly at work, it is good to have the added functions of the body pack as well as the low running costs. I tend to wear the 3G all day on weekdays and the bodypack at evenings and all weekends. Am about to start to work out how to go about re commencing some sort of music playing - both listening and playing - and will be keen to get a guitar back in my hands. Will let you know how it all goes.
Sorry to all those loyal 'fans' out there for missing my promised update over the weekend but we moved this weekend so have been either too tired or the PC was in a box and did not get a chance to do the update. Not a lot to report at moment, all going quite well. I have extended my box of toys (for those of you who have not heard of my 'toys' before they are officially known as 'Assistive Listening Devices' - Toys is much easier and more fun!!) in the past week and my next major update of this site will include all of these toys and what they are used for as well as some tips n tricks that I have come up with or have heard of.
Went with my wife and my parents today to the CICADA groups annual BBQ at the implant centre today. After meeting implantees last year at a similar day when I was a prospective implantee, it was a good experience answering questions and hopefully calming some nerves about the whole experience.
I have worn the body pack (Sprint) processor very much every night since I received it last Monday, and as yet am not able to draw any conclusion as to which is better. They are very much the same, but very different. Have bought myself a battery charger so the Sprint should cost us next to zip to run. Wearing it at night will at least hopefully extend the battery life of the other Behind the ear model, which currently uses three batteries every two-three days. It is good to be able to fiddle with a few more controls though - but that is probably more to do with me being a fiddler!!
Have a few more buttons to play with now......
I received my body worn pack today. Only reason why we have decided to get it is to see what the difference is, and to play around with different programs. Have worn it for about 4 hours now and have managed to send it flying twice, strangled myself once and am really wondering just how the wires are meant to survive living with me!!
It will be good to have a fiddle in the real world with the different programs and occasionally use the body pack (sprint model) here and there and maybe even save some money on batteries. The G3 (BTE model) will probably be my main processor but will be good to have a spare and options.
Many others have found the Sprint to have slightly better performance, I am not yet convinced of any real difference between the two - I am sure I will pick it up eventually.
Do you have any idea how neat it is to be able to pick up my mobile and ring my wife!! Having survived on SMS text messages for past couple of years, I am now able to ring my wife on voice phone using telecoil. BUT, discovered that using telecoil while sitting in a car with engine running (in car park at work in case the police are reading this!!) is not such a great thing as the engines coil is picked up by the CI!! Oh well. Good enough for me.
I am being really encouraged by the support that this site (and we) have been receiving from complete strangers from all parts of the globe. Hello to all of those in countries far away.
Have a fitting appointment for the body pack SPRINT processor this Monday coming, so I will have the chance to have a fiddle with the levels and a few more controls to play with. Will be good to compare the difference though. Probably won't wear the body pack all that much, though it will be good to have it as a spare.
First things first, happy Easter to all. Hope you have had or are having a fantastic and relaxing time.
My wife had a pretty good word for how things are going at the moment - it has 'Plateau-d'. Well I am sure that there is no such word but thought it was a pretty cool way of saying it.
While everyday brings new and exciting new (occasionally annoying) sounds to my world, it has more and more become a part of me. There is still much more to go yet, but we are really starting to focus more on life rather than the implant. Which is a good thing. Sure there are a few more tweaks that can be done to perhaps make it all sound even better, but really if I were to find out tomorrow that there is nothing further that they can adjust, I would be quite happy with what we have!! So it is a good feeling knowing that it can get better yet.
Have had more phone calls to the wife mostly from a mobile phone which I have found remarkably clear and fairly easy to understand. Sooner or later I will need to experience other voices apart from my wife. Have also used video chat on my own to my parents and sister in Canada, caught much of the conversation where as prior to CI would have sat back and watched Jackie talk/translate for me.
I have also noticed that I am beginning to actually understand speech when I am not looking at sound source. Sure there is a lot that I miss, but for every word that I catch it is a real boost.
Finally, a quick hello to all of those complete strangers that have come across this site by accident or by being given this site's address - great to meet you and I look forward to catching up with you again soon.
Okay, okay, I have been slack and have not updated this site again for a little while. Thought you people would be sick of me already!!
Ok, we have been ringing each other at home from mobile to mobile so will be interesting to see how much more our telephone bills will be!! Really good being able to talk on phone. Still learning and coping so please no calls just yet.
Work continues to be it's usual self. I have been listening to talk back radio in car on way to and from work (FM music stations sound terrible to me now). Some of it I catch, most of it I miss. But we are still learning eh!
Looking forward to a four day weekend I can tell you that!!
Today I did something a little different. I gave a short talk at the implant centre for a workshop regarding the implant program. It was all about my personal experiences during the selection process which took place last year in 2002. It was the first time that I have been in front of a larger group speaking since the implant. I have done plenty of other speaking engagements and see myself as quite confident at it, but would have to say that not knowing exactly how I would go, I was a little nervous. But it seemed to go well and I actually have to say that I heard all of the questions that people asked from about 10 metres away which is really cool. A transcript of my talk is available on this web site - Talk Transcript
We swapped my digital mobile telephone for a CDMA one last night, the digital had very bad interference with both hearing aid and CI. With the CDMA I can hold it up to the CI without any interference. I have played with it a couple of times so I am still very pleased with how it is all going. Being able to do things that many take for granted like use a voice phone is something that I could only dream of up until now.
After our 'success' with the telephone the other night, I spent a couple of minutes talking to my parents on the phone last night. They are in London. The line was a little noisy so it was hard to make out some of the speech but all in all I think it went fairly well. This was without any 'toys' attached to the phone or otherwise. Simply using the telecoil of the Processor and a normal issue telephone -one that admittedly has a weak telecoil. Wow! I'm sure it was an experience my parents won't forget in a hurry.
Tried something really radical tonight. Had finally found a few toys (neck loop for phone and other things) that I had been wanting to try but haven't been able to as I thought they were in a box in storage somewhere. So I am pleased to say that for the first time in around three years, I had a short phone conversation with my wife Jackie. We were on opposite sides of the house, me on a mobile with the neck loop and Jackie on the land line.
We spoke for about 5 mins and I caught most of what she said. So that is really amazing!! All without any practice at all. This has been something that I have been really wanting to happen. It will be great to see how it goes after some practice and further adjustments with other 'toys'. Cool huh!!!
So if any of you suddenly find your phone ringing in the dead of the night it is probably me wanting to 'practice'...........
You might have noticed that I haven't said a lot lately here on this site. Why? Probably because I have been too busy getting back to a normal routine etc.. Things really are settling down, although our amazement is just as much there as it was the day it was turned on. Both of us are beginning to get used to me at least being aware of sounds around me again. I may not know what they all are but I am at least aware of them.
Work is quite noisy and in all honesty I may need to find myself another job in a slightly more quieter environment (any offers welcome!!) but for now I am not about to throw the hat in the ring with my current work until something else is there to go to. Hard enough to get one job these days!!
The implant and processor (the outside 'bit') has more or less become a part of me, meaning that it does not worry me that it is there and I wear it with a fair amount of pride.
My parents have been overseas since the day before surgery, and they are due to return in a month so it will be very interesting to see what happens there - I'm sure they will have lots to say to me about their trip.
Being back at (noisy) work, I have found that the batteries are lasting around 2 and a half days maybe three. Have had them cut out at work a couple of times now, especially when the batteries are weak in power and there is a sudden loud noise. No major problem. Just need to be aware that that is how long they will last.
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