July 25th, 2005

Hey!
Well right now I'm kind of in a "plateau". I seem to be doing ok. I can function fine without my hearing aid... But the thing is that its kind of a hassle to deal with. For example I went on a trip to the Lake Burton. And yesterday we were loading the car and cleaning the lake house. Its like 90 degrees out so my brother told me to take my implant off because of the sweat. That was annoying because I like to hear everything, I don't like to wonder around like a "deaf" person (if you know what I mean). Then when we were out in the boat, I had to be careful because when your hair is wet...You can't put it on, you have to be careful to not splash anyone or make sure it doesn't blow off from the wind of the boat. So to me it was just easier to use my hearing aid. Which wasn't very good!!! : ( But I did use the implant whenever I could. I think it's a "life-saver" to have my brother around (who is by the way also an Advanced Bionics Implant user) because he tells me what I can and can't do with my implant. I always forget, like when we were going to the playground...He reminded me to take it off when I was going down the slide. So I guess special thanks go to my brother. hahaha. Well I guess I better get going. I'll try to keep blogging to keep yall up-to-date!
Talk to you later!

July 14th, 05

Hey Everyone!
Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. But things have been going great! I've learned that sometimes things can sound better if the volume isn't blaring loud! haha. But anyways, right now I'm hearing lots of sounds. I haven't been wearing my hearing aid and so I keep forgetting I don't have my hearing aid on. SO that's GREAT news!! That means I'm getting better! Yesterday I had therapy and I got remapped. Therapy went good! I'm in the middle of stadge 1 and 3! Yay!! Right now I'm detecting the differences between words but I'm not able to tell you what it is. Does that make sense?? So I guess that's what I need to be working on now. I got lots of homework for the next two weeks (next week's therapy is canceled because I'm on a vacation). So I promise I'll do my therapy! Its really important to do so because then I'll be ready for school to start. I hope I'll be able to hear my friends and teachers very well. So keep your fingers crossed!!! As for the remapping....I think we are going to pretty much stay where we are. Because if I go louder, things get distorted, rattles come in, and I don't hear as good. So where I am right now is good!!! Okay, well I better get going. I have to get back to work. : )

Reasons why I wanted this Implant

My hearing was borderline on being a candidate for the Advanced Bionic Cochlear Implant for a long time. But the reasons we were holding back was becuase of my speech. We didn't know if it would go down or if it would even improve. Your probably wondering why I would have such a great voice if I'm deaf but the truth is...its all beacuse of my mom! She was the one who made me go through therepy for so many years. My mom, a therapist, and I did Auditory Verbal therapy till I was like 9 years old. Now thats only beacuse they didn't know I was deaf untill the age of 2. Most people are probably in and out of thereapy by the age of 5 or 6. But my speech and hearing has been going downhill for several months. And we all decided it was time to get it. My mom already had to go through this with my brother, so she already did all the resaerch on which implant was the best. So that was one step less for me. We had already decided that we were going to do the Advanced Bionics Implant becuase my brother had such a success with it. Other things that we really liked about the Advanced Bionics Implants were: the service we get (it was fantastic everytime we needed something or even for an answer to a stupid question we had- haha), we also liked the looks (It comes with a variety of colors, and the processor itself looks "sleeker" and more stylish). So you can tell we are big fans of the Advanced Bionics Cochlear Implant. But anyways, when thinking about this, there were a whole list of things I wanted to get out of it, such as
- hearing all the annoying noises in the enviroment,
- hearing my friends talk in the Cafeteria,
- hearing someone ask me out with out saying "WHAT?!?!",
- hearing people in a resturant and the waiter taking our order,
- and watching T.V without Captions,
I want to hear everything possible in this world!! So these are my goals through this journey of having the Implant. Maybe this will help you make an easier decision on getting the implant.

Getting used to the Cochlear Implant

Hey! Well today I'm sitting around the house, nasty weather huh? But you know everyday I've been noticing different sounds that I don't think I've ever heard before. For example...Dogs....THEY ARE QUITE ANNOYING. haha. I can hear them licking themselves and when they walk. I have to site there and tap them to stop licking its so loud. haha. But oh well. I've also relized that I keep forgeting that I only have my implant on! Thats GREAT huh?? Right now my hearing aid is in the dry-box just collecting dust. haha. I've been leaving it there and going all day without it. Yippee!!! Now at this rate, by time school starts I'll be able to hear everyone perfectly!! YAY! Well I better go. Chao!