Can't sneak up on mama anymore...

Doggie tags are jingling!

The first month

It's been 4 weeks since surgery and 3 weeks since activation. I'm discovering new things all the time. Today I'm not feeling so hot so I decided to head to my family doctor before it turns to strep....it's a sinus infection at this point and hopefully my fresh new zpac will shoo it away. The thermometer thing....it beeps! Who knew? I sure didn't. I'm finding new things like that that make noise all the time. The photocopier at school tells me if I left something on the glass. Really!?!!
I had my 3rd audi visit on Monday with very little tweaking. She thinks I'm about "there" on volume so my next appointment will be 1/17....hopefully to pick up my Neptune. She does training on 1/13 and hopes mine will be ready by then. She also said that the training was going to include clearvoice. I wonder if that means they think it's going to be approved by then? Hope so.
My sound is moving toward a more Donald Duck type now. Started with bells then robots, then Minnie and Mickey. It just keeps changing. I'm beginning to notice pitch more when I listen to music. I am still rocking things with lots of rhythm mostly....it sounds best. I also find that I prefer things I have heard fully before....songs I knew before I started losing my hearing.

Therapy

I had my first audioverbal therapy appointment today. It was supposed to be 2 hours after activation....turned out it was 2 weeks. She was impressed at my progress and I don't have to go back until the 28th...which is good news to the bank account. ;) I have a new list of websites to listen to.
Caleb decided I needed to listen to him play his recorder. I could hear him...that's a serious start. Ready for him to move on to a better-sounding instrument though. ;)

Neptune!!!

Neptune was approved today! Yea!!! Got a fresh map and a test run in the booth. 10% with ci only...10% better than I had before. Gotta start somewhere. ;)

Changes for the good

It is amazing how this thing changes and improves constantly.
Today I noticed that my last class of the day, chatting while they stood in line, sounded like a bunch of voices (which they were) instead of a convention of sleigh bells. I still can't pick out words there but what was coming my way en-mass had the same tone quality as a voice...or rather 22 of them.
I noticed during the announcements I'm picking up bits and pieces over the PA....did the pledge fine although I think my L's are a bit soft. I also could tell it was orange chicken day....Yummy!
One more a-ha...I have had 3 different people tell me my voice has improved.
I also moved to program 3. I go back Thursday so it's about time.

My new ear's first church service

We went to Church this morning and I was anxious to see what I could understand. My hearing had gotten so bad that I had to peek to see when the prayer was over. Today I got 4 out of 5 amens. I call that a success. Brother Matt was away today and our service was led my Jessica. She is our newest associate pastor and I'd never even met her or heard her speak until today. I didn't get much of the sermon but I got what I thought was an impressive amount considering she has a high-pitched and fast voice.

Headphone instructions

Here are the instructions for the headphone thing I posted about last. I was working from memory as when I read it, I didn't need it yet. This is from Sam's blog:
http://samspritzer.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/how-to-make-ear-buds-for-t-mics.pdf
There is also a version on Tina's blog:
http://funnyoldlife.wordpress.com/cochlear-implants/
Thanks guys for all you do to keep us new guys in exciting things.