I attended the UMC again the day before yesterday. Just a check here and a tweak there to the CI. No great changes made, but I left with the settings picking up just a bit more of the higher tones. Spoke with the speech therapist but didn't even practice anything as it just wasn't necessary. Telephone use is still not great but that just seems like a 'luxury problem' really and doesn't worry me. I don't need it for work and I haven't used the phone for a 'blether' for years so while I can use it still with my hearing aid (not great, but serviceable) I'm not making too much a point of it all.
I'm still not set up satisfactorily for using my streamer on the computer (for listening to anything on there... say Skype, or a film) but I also don't feel any urgency there as I manage reasonably via my HA.
I need not show my face at UMC again until the 12 month check, which will then be followed by annual checks... a requirement for the insurance side of things. Unless of course I myself feel the need or something goes wrong with the CI, whatever. So that's me until February 2015... or thereabouts.
My HA is actually due to be replaced but the longer I manage with it, the better really. Like any washing machine, HAs have a designated life-span really, and if they last longer, it's good but you could probably be doing with an update eh? And with HAs, it's best not to wait until it breaks before replacement. Your washing can pile up, but you don't want to be without your ears! Of course I have a 2nd one to 'use up' if this one conks out so I'm hoping I can put it off for another couple of years because it's always such a bloody rigmarol and it *always* takes me up to 18 months to have the chosen model 'fitted' to my satisfaction. The idea of starting that all up again! All the more glad that the CI didn't take so long :) Of course I will only be getting one new HA, not two.
So 'that's me 'til Tuesday'!
It's as good as it gets and unless I was to get a 2nd CI (not going to happen) I am at the best level of hearing I can get. Oh unless of course a new hearing aid was to improve things... always a (slight) possibility. I am eternally grateful for being given one and do realise how lucky I am. I have read loads of blogs from people in similar situations and have yet to come across one where things went quite so swimmingly if I'm honest. I also speak and email with other CI users and every story is different, every road travelled varies from person to person. There is no, one, 'end result'. It has all made me feel kind of a fraud. I'm not! But I have to keep telling myself, reminding myself every morning before I 'plug in'... 'I AM STILL (almost completely) DEAF' and I genuinely needed this help because with my CI on I'm so much more in tune with the hearing world.
Fun factoid... I still watch TV via my audio loop, but with the television's sound OFF instead of ON :)
Having that chatter at a distance is sooooo bloody irritating! I haven't even *tried* using it regularly like a 'normal' tv viewer because it's so much more pleasant just tuning in to my CI/HA. I should perhaps practice without subtitles as I do hear TV a lot better than before but I still feel the need of them.
I doubt I have much more to tell about my journey so if I blog again, it may well just be for the sake of blogging - getting something off my chest perhaps. Might be best not to get me started on Scottish Independence though!
I actually quite like having a place I can blether without being interrupted ;)
