Just For You Jennifer!!

Well, I hope my links have made you happy Jennifer!! It's ALL about pleasing you and Cynthia. That's what gives my life meaning.

Just a quick note while I'm here. Yesterday, Rick, Sylvester and I were sitting on the couch. Rick was dozing in and out while Sylvester and I watched tv. Every so often I would hear some weird noise......Sylvester heard it too. He would lift his head and look. Of course I had no clue what it was. Finally, at one point, the noise happened while Rick was back in-the-moment with us. I said What IS that???? It was driving me crazy. Well, it was the buzzer on the dryer. I didn't know the dryer was going.....Rick had turned it on. But it kept buzzing every so often......buzz.......buzz.......buzz.......buzz........buzz........ You would think I would go upstairs and turn it off, but noooooooooo. That required too much effort!!! I just kept hearing that irritating buzzzzzz until it finally cut off.

That's it. That's all I have today.

Plop, Plop, Fizz,...

Fizz, oh what.....Oh, never mind. Wrong thing. Sorry. All I need is the "fizz, fizz" part. Friday, I was sitting at work with nothing to do. It was very quiet because there was hardly anybody at work. We had a 3 day weekend ahead and apparently the majority of the crew decided to make it a 4 day weekend! Anyhoo, I got a Diet Pepsi to drink and poured it in a cup on some ice. I started hearing something weird.....not very loud,....but what was it? AH HA!!!! It was the fizzy part going sssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!! I haven't caught that one before! That was pretty cool!! I had to pour more Pepsi on so I could hear it again!! Just thought you might want to know that.

Not much else going on. We've had a good weekend! Hope everybody else did too. Saturday, Rick's brother and sister-in-law, Buddy and Janelyn, came down to visit. It was great getting to spend some time with them!!! Sunday, after church, we got a lot of yard work done and it looks so much better. Then today, we've been over to Cyn's most of the day. We got a couple of Papa Murphy's pizzas and played a card game, Head and Foot, all afternoon. It's been a fun day!! Of course, we had to play with the girls too! If you haven't tried Papa Murphy's pizzas, you really need to. They are fabulous!!

Oh, by the way, those snide little remarks are just soooooo cute, Cynthia and Jennifer........

A Nag-Nag Here.....A Nag-Nag There......

....here a nag, there a nag, everywhere a NAG NAG!!!! Yeah, yeah, I know. Cynthia reminds me almost daily that it's WAY past time for me to update my blog. Now I'm starting to get it from others too!! So, I figured I best take some time, sit my beehootie down and find a few words to say!

The last time I checked in was right after a tweaking. Well, it didn't take me long to realize that after the changes, things just weren't as good as they had been. I thought I would give it some time because maybe I just needed to adjust to the new settings. However, after about 3 weeks, things still were not as clear and I was not understanding as much as I had been before, so I emailed Meg and told her about the problem. She set me up with an appointment to come in so we could re-tweak. I'm also having an issue with the sound being "squashed." This happens when I'm in a noisy environment or when something is making a loud or high pitched noise. It's like everything becomes very condensed.

Rick fessed up afterwards that he could tell a big difference in what I was catching after my prior tweak. However, he never said anything. He said that since I knew I was having a problem he never put in his two cents worth.

So, I go back to Meg and she put me back on my prior program. She's only going to make one small change at a time so we'll know exactly what is working and what is not. The only thing she changed this time was trying to open up the program to allow in more sound so I don't get that squashing thing happening so much.

The squashing is caused by a noise reduction program that is built into the processor. They have to be careful about letting really loud noises go through. She says it's one thing for a person to hear a really loud noise and have it fry the hair cells in their ears and it's a totally different thing to have a loud noise go through and fry my auditory nerve. We really don't want to do that!!!! So we have to work on that to see how much we can let through and try to get away from too much squashing.

A couple of weeks ago I had a moment of panic!! As usual, I got ready for work. I put my processor on towards the end of my morning routine. I always check to make sure the volume setting is correct, attach the battery, put it on my head, do the final touches to my hair, get dressed and mosey downstairs to feed the baby kitties. When I went downstairs and was talking to the kitties, I immediately noticed that I couldn't hear much of squat. I'm thinking -- OH MAN, this is BAD!!! Well, I head on to work wondering what in the world has happened!! I was starting to get very concerned. I was only hearing a VERY teeny tiny amount of sound. Not much of anything. As soon as I got to work, I emailed my friend Regina and told her what was up and asked her to say a prayer. Shortly thereafter, Rick called me as he does every morning when he is leaving work. I told him that something was wrong and I was not hearing much of anything. He says - is your volume turned down? I'm thinking, what kind of stupid question is that??!! Of course I didn't turn my volume down! I always keep it set at the same place. He tells me to check it, so I lay down the phone, take my headpiece off and LO AND BEHOLD the volume is turned ALL the way down!! I wanted to stand up and shout HALLELUJAH!!!! I cranked the volume back to normal and told him that he saved the day!! Actually I felt that I got an instant answer to the prayers that Regina and I were praying!! And that answer was delivered through my husband. Who woulda thought??!!!! I suppose as I was finishing up my hair, I hit the volume knob. I was soooooooooooo thankful that it was a problem with a very simple solution. I could go about my day and hear again!!

It also makes me realize how much I depend on my CI and how much it really changes things for me. Without it, I am only a hair above being deaf. At this point I don't know how I would manage without it. Thank the Good Lord for what I do hear and what I can understand at this time. By the way, keep those prayers coming!! I need each and every one!! Thanks!!!

Finally An Update!!!

I know, I know. I've been lagging behind in my blogging duties. Please, oh please forgive me. Well, today I had an appointment with Meg for tweaking and such. We went through the usual spiel. She asked how I was doing and I told her pretty good. Things are going well, but I'm just not seeing any big changes. She said that's the way it is. An adult brain just takes longer to change and it will be small things over time. Since my brain is old and shriveled up, it's going to take a long, long time!!! Being old does not have too many big selling points, I'm telling you!! After she was through changing my program a little, she took me back to the booth. Of course, I hate the booth. She re-did a test we had done when I was first being evaluated for the CI. It's a recording of a man speaking sentences. I have to repeat what he says. Even if I don't understand the whole sentence, she wants me to tell her any words I pick up or even parts of words. Below is my score from when I was first being evaluated. Notice, I got NO sentences and out of 53 words, I picked up a whopping 3 words. Woo!! I had a score of 5%.




Below is my test from today -- 3 months after hook up. I got a few whole sentences, some where I picked up most of the words, some a few words and still some that I didn't catch anything. However, I got 22 out of 53 words and a score of 41.5%!! Definitely not perfect, but a HUGE improvement!! Meg is a very happy girl!!! Cherri is happy too!!




Here is my audiological evaluation both prior and today. This is listening to the tones. The bottom part with the X's and O's is prior -- bad.....very bad. The top part with the "CI" is from today. Much better!!!!

So, things have really come along, but there's still lots of room for improvement. Keep those prayers coming that it will get betterer and betterer!!

Here are some things I'm picking up ---

We were at the zoo a couple of weeks ago and I heard the pink flamingos grunting. They were so cute!! And as we were leaving, there were some kind of birds squawking. Most of the animals were very quiet.......mostly napping. It was very hot that day and everybody just wanted to lay around.

In the last couple of days, I have realized that I hear the little birds around our house. I don't think I've ever picked them up before!! They are noisy little critters!!

I'm picking up words, phrases and such off of the radio. Music is still not good, but if the people are talking, sometimes I can catch what they are saying. Sometimes it's just a word, sometimes a sentence, sometimes the whole story! You just never know! Numbers still come through really clear. I don't know what it is about numbers!!

I just gave the kitties a snack and I hear them munching and crunching. Lots of lip smacking!!

I was making a stir-fry and I could hear the veggies in the pan sizzling!!

Yep, things have come a long way in 3 months, but there's still a lot farther to go. I just keep hoping and praying that God will continue to open up new pathways in my brain and the fluid issue won't be a problem so that things will continue to greatly improve and sounds and speech will become clearer and I can understand better.

Beep on!!!

My Poor Big'en!!!

Yesterday, Sylvester -- aka Big'en, aka Roy (as in Roy Biggins from the tv show Wings. They do favor each other!!!).....anyway Sylvester had to go to see Aunt Donna (our vet). Big'en used to be BIG....a 16/17 pounder. He is now a measly 9.6 pounds. Aunt Donna has checked him before but can't find anything wrong with him. Recently we thought he had a couple of bad teeth that had to come out, so off he goes to Aunt Donna's. Thank goodness, it ended up that he just had gingivitis, so she cleaned his teeth really good and then gave him an antibiotic shot. She has also done some more testing. ANYWAY, all of that is to say, that when I picked him up in the evening, he was NOT a happy boy. Not happy in the least. He was screaming and yelling from the moment they brought him out and continued to scream all the way home. I really hated for him to be so unhappy and I tried my best to reassure him that we were going home. But the thing is -- I heard him yelling the whole time!!! Never before would I have heard a thing!! Love my boy!! He can be a talker!!!

Today on my way home from work, I was listening to the radio and realized that whenever they were spouting off numbers, I caught them all. I don't know what it is about numbers, but I can catch them! Now, if I could just teach everybody to talk in number code everything would be just peachy!!

Here are 3 of my babies. Sylvester is down in front -- the black one. Next is Scarlet, aka Momma Girl, then Baxter, aka Cutie Boy, Baby One and Rutabaga Head. Lucy must be off to herself someplace.

ps -- Jim, I checked out "my" picture!! That's beautiful!! Thank you, oh kind one!!!!

Hello?? Hello???

Last Saturday Cynthia was over at my house and she was talking on the phone to Mom. I walked in the room and Cynthia promptly put the phone up to my ear. Well, I'm sure she didn't even think about it, but she put it up to the implant. I haven't even tried to talk on the phone because I really didn't think I would catch anything. Well, the phone was already there so I figured I might as well give it a try. Mom says Hello! I said Hello! She says Hello, Hello!! Then she moved on into the general conversation. She had no idea that I was listening by way of the implant. I was truly amazed!! I caught pretty well everything she said!! First off I got to hear how she had not been feeling well and thought she was going to vomit........ It's always nice to have your inaugural conversation be about vomit. Lovely, just lovely. She was fine now, but had been feeling poorly before.

I tried talking to Rick on my cell phone a couple of days ago, but I was in the car and it was harder. I still understood some of what he was saying. I need to try talking on the phone some more and see how it goes. Because of my hearing -- or lack thereof -- I just don't talk on the phone much. I'm going to have to start calling people!!

We drove out to see a house that my cousin is building. Let me just say --- BIG, beautiful mansion on 68 acres -- getting the picture??!!! Anyway, I was driving, Rick was in the passenger seat and Mom was in the back. Rick and Mom were talking and I was catching some of what she was saying. Not a whole lot, but some here and some there!

I have switched back over to the "fast" program. I've had it on the "slow" program for probably about 3 weeks. I can't tell a big difference. I think I may get more sound from the fast one.

I had a headpiece die on me. That's the part that sticks to my head. I went to put on my processor one day and nothing happened! I thought I had shorted out!! Thank goodness I had a spare!! I switched over to the spare and everything worked fine. We messed around with the non-working processor and discovered it was just the headpiece that quit working. Meg has called AB and they are sending me a new one! God love those people!!

I still keep noticing little things here and there all the time that I've not heard before. I have found out that my house pops all the time. And the thermostat clicks when it comes on and goes off. I also heard the rain one day!!! I never hear the rain!!!

I was in the car with my friend Regina the other day. We went out to grab a sandwich at lunchtime. As we pulled into the parking lot, I went ahead and took off my seat belt. Well, of course it starts beep, beep, beeping constantly. I said -- Sorry I made you beep!!! Regina said -- you probably would not have heard that before. I said -- NEVER in a million years would I have had any clue that it was beeping!! There's no way I would have heard that!

For the most part, I still have to be looking at people to understand exactly what they are saying. However, it is so much easier to understand!! I do catch what Rick is saying sometimes without seeing him. He still likes to test me every now and then. I usually know what he is saying.........if not the first time, definitely the second.

It keeps coming along and getting better all the time! Yes, it's a slow process and yes, I really wish it would happen faster, but I am very pleased with the progress I have made already!! There is a total and complete difference from when I first got hooked up. It was all just gibberish, noise and beeping back then!! Remember the beeping???!!!! It is now real people speaking real words!! People still don't sound exactly right, but we're getting there!! It will just keep getting better and better!! Wheeeeee doggies!!!

No BIG Check

No!! I didn't win BIG in Vegas. I swannie!!! That always seems to happen. However, we actually came out ahead!! So, in Vegas terms, that is a win!!! We had a ball. Did the usual things, saw the sights, took in 2 shows. We saw KA, which is one of the Cirque Du Soliel shows out in Vegas. Of course it was fabulous!! We have seen three of their shows so far and I'm telling you......you can't go wrong with any one of them!! However, Mystere is still my most favoritest of all!!! When we checked in at the hotel, we were given a coupon for free tickets for a new show at Planet Hollywood. We got to see Stomp Out Loud. We had great tickets and it was a really good show!! WooHoo!! I looooove freebies!!

I ended up not using my Vegas program on my processor. I tried switching it over a couple of times, but it cut out too much of the sound. Everything was real small and tiny. I couldn't hear much of anything. I was just fine with my regular program. Nothing was really loud. I started noticing while we were in Vegas, and have noticed since then, that when things are REALLY loud, my processor seems to cut out a lot of the sound. I'll have to talk to Meg about that.

We went to the Toyota Perfect Attendance party last weekend and there were 2 concerts. One was very loud. However, I didn't hear a whole lot with the implant. So, I'm not sure what is happening.

Yesterday I switched over to the "slow" program that Meg wants me to try. I've not been able to tell any kind of big difference so far. However, she said I needed to give it several days before I really started comparing. The brain has to get used to a different program. So, we shall see.

Things are continuing to progress. No big changes, but I can tell that things are better. I can pick up what people are saying a lot easier and sometimes I feel like I am so close to truly being able to hear and understand them! I can also pick up some things that Keegan is saying. We were over at Mom's for dinner the other night and I was able to decipher a lot of what she was jabbering on about. Believe me, she jabbers on a whole lot!! That girl has a lot to say!!! Romy is still very screechy, but I know when she's talking!

Let me see if I can find some of our Vegas pictures!!


They are still working on Planet Hollywood. They've only got this end done.

A white tiger at the Mirage. Love that boy!

We ate lunch one day at a french restaurant at Paris that had some outside seating. Our lunch was FABULOUS!! We could also see the Bellagio fountains across the street when they were doing a show. Wonderful place to sit!

This is on the other side of the street.......in front of the fountains looking back through the trees to Paris and the restaurant where we had lunch.

SpongeBob does Vegas!!!

The mist!! Getting ready for a show. I think this was for the theme from Titanic.

More fountains.

The check-in lobby at the Bellagio. I LOVE those pink hangie down things!!! The Bellagio has the most beautiful floral arrangements.

These are all from the conservatory in Bellagio. As you can tell, the Bellagio fountains and conservatory are my favoritest places in Vegas! Just absolutely beautiful and amazing!!!

The glass building was set up like a potting shed and was full of butterflies!