The following post is largely corrospondence I have just had with a few people whom I have come to know as a result of the cochlear implant miracle. These people, though deaf for many years have new opportunity to 'hear' again and so a new journy for them begins.
‘Hearing’ again for the first time is an awesome experience in the truest sense of the word. By that I mean that any emotion we can imagine having and even one we may have had privately could become a reality, even if only briefly! I’m still filled with awe as I contemplate my own journey.
I feel truly ashamed of the times when I have complained or when some well meaning person has asked of me, and I have not conveyed my fortune. My ‘hearing’ gets better and better, gradually but it’s measurable and so, so better than having the world silent to me. I have those emotions as I am faced with little reminders of what I have lost, and then I am filled with happiness of what I have gained. I really don’t deserve the privilege of ‘hearing again’ like I do especially considering my previous ignorance of the hearing impaired and my reluctance to appreciate or respect their position or feelings.
I have a close knit handful of friends and family who have in the past, and even now continue to love and appreciate me just as I am, however I am!
I never intended a large portion of my reply to your email to focused on me. But I’m finding that you and other people, who I have begun to correspond with, have experiences which become real and meaningful.
Your Switch-On is a very special time for you. What ever your experiences and emotions it will be a time you will look back upon as your beginning. It is the foundation from which a wonderful new world and the re-establishment of the broken past will again be assembled. For a start the most simple sounds such as a click ticking or a tap dripping will give you the most pleasure because for me they actually ‘sound’ almost exactly as I remember. Enjoyment comes with recognition. You may be as lucky as me and be soon able to ‘hear’ a whisper of the ones most precious to you. As I write this the rain is on the roof and I have made several adjustments to the volume and sensitivity settings on my processors so now its almost real. I’ve even more positive now just writing about it.
I am currently in Auckland for an appointment. Today is my first day alone to catch a plane to Auckland and then try to participate in some informal discussions so another milestone for me.
We have escaped the storms in Rotorua which have lashed many other parts of the country during the past week. Storms for me are a very part time thing. Once I remove my processors, I’m once more totally deaf so unaware of any weather, but for the visual cues and others senses like feeling and smell. Carmen sometimes tell me it was a windy night or there has been an electrical storm. Unless I can see it, I have to accept her description of it. So I put on my processors and I’m suddenly back in a different world, to experience a new day of ‘sounds’ and the inevitable challenges of interpretation them.Hang in there and don’t start measuring your progress on the first few days post Switch-On. Progress and definition will come and will be much than the speed in which your real hearing declined.
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‘Hearing’ again for the first time is an awesome experience in the truest sense of the word. By that I mean that any emotion we can imagine having and even one we may have had privately could become a reality, even if only briefly! I’m still filled with awe as I contemplate my own journey.
I feel truly ashamed of the times when I have complained or when some well meaning person has asked of me, and I have not conveyed my fortune. My ‘hearing’ gets better and better, gradually but it’s measurable and so, so better than having the world silent to me. I have those emotions as I am faced with little reminders of what I have lost, and then I am filled with happiness of what I have gained. I really don’t deserve the privilege of ‘hearing again’ like I do especially considering my previous ignorance of the hearing impaired and my reluctance to appreciate or respect their position or feelings.
I have a close knit handful of friends and family who have in the past, and even now continue to love and appreciate me just as I am, however I am!
I never intended a large portion of my reply to your email to focused on me. But I’m finding that you and other people, who I have begun to correspond with, have experiences which become real and meaningful.
Your Switch-On is a very special time for you. What ever your experiences and emotions it will be a time you will look back upon as your beginning. It is the foundation from which a wonderful new world and the re-establishment of the broken past will again be assembled. For a start the most simple sounds such as a click ticking or a tap dripping will give you the most pleasure because for me they actually ‘sound’ almost exactly as I remember. Enjoyment comes with recognition. You may be as lucky as me and be soon able to ‘hear’ a whisper of the ones most precious to you. As I write this the rain is on the roof and I have made several adjustments to the volume and sensitivity settings on my processors so now its almost real. I’ve even more positive now just writing about it.
I am currently in Auckland for an appointment. Today is my first day alone to catch a plane to Auckland and then try to participate in some informal discussions so another milestone for me.
We have escaped the storms in Rotorua which have lashed many other parts of the country during the past week. Storms for me are a very part time thing. Once I remove my processors, I’m once more totally deaf so unaware of any weather, but for the visual cues and others senses like feeling and smell. Carmen sometimes tell me it was a windy night or there has been an electrical storm. Unless I can see it, I have to accept her description of it. So I put on my processors and I’m suddenly back in a different world, to experience a new day of ‘sounds’ and the inevitable challenges of interpretation them.
Hang in there and don’t start measuring your progress on the first few days post Switch-On. Progress and definition will come and will be much than the speed in which your real hearing declined.