FINALLY! ...an update! : )

Wow, I haven’t posted in while! YIKES! I’m sorry…I keep forgetting to post! : /

But yeah, things are going good. Last week I went to get remapped because I felt like I was loosing most of what people are saying. So we changed my settings and put my implant in the cleaner (wow-that cleaner thing really makes a difference! lol). So right now my settings are set the following:
program 3 – 50 - quite environment
program 2 – 60 - noisy
program 1 – 80 - cafeteria or very noisy environment
She set me on these settings because it’s supposed to help me hear better when I’m driving in a car, listening to music, and eating in the cafeteria or a restaurant. So my homework was to experiment with the different programs and see if it helps make a difference.
And right now, I’m in the process of doing that. Although I gotta say, I hate changing the programs throughout the day because for some reason it takes so long for the implant to switch over. And by the time I switch over, I’ve already missed a lot. But I think that that’s something that will get better with more practice on switching BEFORE I get there! : / But I’m working on it…
But other then that, the new mapping seems to work good…it’s defiantly better then what I had!

Oh, the other day I also put an order in for my NEW HARMONY! YAY! Thanks to my mom for helping me get that, maybe now I’ll be able to HEAR EVEN MORE! Now, I’m not even sure if I should be happy or a little nervous! Because quite honestly, it gets kind of annoying to hear my dog lick herself while we’re watching TV! Haha, just kidding…I’m looking forward to it! : ) I should be getting it in the next few weeks, so it should be interesting to see the differences between the Auria and Harmony. They say that the Harmony helps make music a lot more clearer – YAY! And being that music is everything to me…I’m looking REALLY forward to that! : )

But other then that, life has been going good! I just turned 18, I went on my first date, I've been to two Proms, I’m touring colleges, and also I’m taking Swing Dance Lessons! My junior year has definitely been the best so far, and it’s all because of my implant! My freshman year sucked because I had hearing aids (Superos by Phonak), and missed A LOT. Then my sophomore year, I was just getting the implant and I was trying to get used to it. And now, it’s the end of my junior year and I’m doing GREAT with hearing everyone and making all A’s and B’s!!

I went on my first date a few weeks ago. I was soo excited! Because I didn’t know how people would react to me being deaf and this guy asked me out!! I was honestly really nervous about it because I didn’t know if he knew about my hearing or not. But he was actually pretty cool about it! We went to the park and we were talking and he asked what that thing was on my ear. So I explained it to him and his mouth just dropped! Haha, he couldn’t believe that I was deaf! But he was surprisingly cool with it which made me really happy and a lot more confident about my hearing. And what’s so funny about it all is that he’s actually part deaf too! And I didn’t realize that either! He can’t hear out of his left ear either which was kind of neat to find out! : ) So you never know what you might learn about someone else, huh?!? So yeah – I guess I was just imagining the worst when I thought about telling people about my hearing. People are actually more understanding about your hearing then you realize! And that really makes me happy! : )

I’m also touring colleges right now! I went to tour Georgia College and State University (GC&SU) and I absolutely LOVED that place!! I am looking soooo forward to college, no offense to mom, but I am!! We got to tour the dorms, see the classes, and eat in the cafeteria and what-not. The dorms were pretty cool. It’s more of a quad-suite so I would have a roommate. And hopefully my roommate won’t mind my vibrating alarm clock!! Haha! So yeah, right now that’s my first choice in colleges (go GC&SU!) but I’m also touring some others such as University of West Georgia and Berry College. SO we’ll see…

I’m also taking Swing Dance Lessons which is A LOT of fun! My brother is actually my swing dance partner (he also has the implant)! We’re not as good as the dancers on Dancing with the Stars (…not yet at least! hehe) but we’re having fun learning the dance moves and listening to all the jazz and swing dance music! ; )

So yeah, life is going good…I love my implant! I’m definitely enjoying my life a lot more!! I’m making better grades, hearing more things, trying new things such as dance lessons and running for office in clubs, and I’m also getting better at being more vocal about my hearing! : )