Environmental Setting

I noticed right off the bat with this setting that everything was quieter and I didn't like it. I am going to have Kristin turn it up a little bit on Friday because I don't think i'm hearing and understanding as much as I did before but it is still working, I just prefer it to be a little louder.

The settings, however, are AWESOME! The first time I tried, I went to the bar with my friends and I changed it to the "noise" setting and it decreased the background noise and put me in a "bubble" so I heard noise closer to me better. I could hear everyone at the table and it just amazed me because I've never been able to do that! Bars and noisy places usually stress me out, but now... it's a totally different experience and i'm loving it!

I also got several comments from different people that I am louder and more confident in myself and a few have said that my personality is changing. They also said that my speech is improving and they can tell that i'm working on it. I love hearing comments like this, It makes me realize how much of a difference the CI is making and in my opinion, it's for the better. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to be able to get this done. I admit, I do think "why didn't I do this before"?  But, I know the answer already, I wasn't ready and I know that deep in the back of my head, I was waiting for better technology than they had 10 years ago and my hearing aids were working just fine until recently so I never saw a reason to. It's really funny to look back on my blog and conversations because I was SO nervous and unsure about getting it done and now it's one of the best things that has ever happened to me!

I also heard Locusts for the first time this last weekend when I went camping with my family. I had made my Dad turn off the music because it was just too loud and I couldn't hear anybody. The music was off and I was sitting there and I was still aggrivated by something but I couldn't tell what it was so I finally asked my mom what that sound was because it was really loud. She looked at me with a smile on her face and said can you hear the Locusts? I said is that what it is? She said yes! I have never heard that sound before, while that is life changing, It was very annoying! At the time, I didn't think about changing the setting to eliminate the background noise until the next night. On Saturday night, it finally dawned on me to change the setting so the noise wasn't so bad. It was amazing, it completely eliminated the locusts and I could hear the music at a decent level and I could still listen to everyone talking. This technology is amazing!

I need to start using and playing with the settings more because now I realize that it does help in certain situations but I am just not used to it. With the hearing aid, I was used to having just one setting. If I didn't like it in that situation, too bad. With the CI, I can change the settings and make it comfortable for me and I really like that. The only settings that I haven't used much is the music setting and the focus setting, I plan on using the focus setting in class one night and see how it works and I need to get my iTunes set up so I can start my music journey!

In short, everything is going great and it's crazy how the CI keeps shocking not only me but everyone around me. It truely is an amazing adventure. I go to Dallas again this weekend for my 4th mapping. I'm excited to have a weekend with my Mom!

News is spreading & other programs

NEWS IS SPREADING

First off, before I start off writing some more, I am in MyWestTexas which is a local news website and the link will be below. I will be in the local paper on Sunday with more pictures available! It’s amazing to see all the support that I have on Facebook and even from my blog from people that don’t even know me that are so excited for me and it’s crazy how fast the story spread on there, right when I shared it at least 5 friends shared it from there. It truly is an amazing journey and I am very blessed.

http://www.mywesttexas.com/life/article_04403c8e-6694-5067-9b7f-1ea2bc614462.html

As an additional note, If you are considering a CI or going through the process of getting one or just have a question about it. Please don’t hesitate to ask me, I would LOVE to help in any way I can. I loved the comments that I got from other people with CI’s and it makes me feel like my blog is helping in a way. You can leave me a comment with your email address or you can email me at this address:

Malloryrowland20@yahoo.com

PROGRAM 10-12

I didn’t notice anything huge between these, but then again I didn’t do too much when I had these channels on. It’s still an amazing experience and it’s neat to see how each channel tunes in everyone’s voices even more.

PROGRAM 13

A huge sound that I noticed with this channel is opening a Dr. Pepper from the 20oz bottle. It was so cool to hear it fizzle when all the bubbles come up. That was one interesting experience!!

PROGRAM 14

I went golfing for the very first time with my very good friend Amme for a fundraiser for another one of my very good friend’s (Sue) Husband because he has cancer for the second time around. It was so good to be around such good people helping for a good cause and definitely for a good well deserving man who needs it. We golfed with Bob and Doug. Bob was the only one who golfed regularly, he was a good golf teacher! Doug was interesting and a good guy, he signed to me and I enjoyed his story about how he learned how to sign. I told Amme that it was interesting to hear the “whoosh” from the swinging of the golf clubs. I liked that sound, it made me smile. I was also talking to Lee (Sue’s husband) and he was joking with me that my nickname should be “Lumberjack” because I hit the ball into the trees! I understood him with no training with him whatsoever. I enjoyed that day, it was a good day with great friends.

I also realized that I had the TV on the Olympics very loudly one night and I could hear MY dogs barking outside. That was so awesome! I’ve never been able to do that unless the TV was off.

I’m learning more and more every day.  I live by myself and need to learn how to recognize the sounds but I think it’s just coming so naturally to me that it just seems almost normal so it doesn’t surprise me unless it’s random stuff that I’ve never heard before. I jump at every little noise that I don’t recognize and I think it makes the dogs jumpy too because see me jump so they jump up with me and run towards the sound so that helps a lot!! Love my little hearing doggies!

PROGRAM 15

This was a neat channel. Yesterday, I was in Brandi’s office and I told Brandi that that door sounds weird and she said that it was a squeaky door and she got very excited for me!

I am also hearing my dogs scratch themselves. It sounds so weird and I can hear every bit of them scratching! It’s annoying, but it makes me laugh because it never bothered me before!

PROGRAM 16 AND 3^rd MAPPING

I plan on switching to program 16 tomorrow and that will mark halfway through all the programs. I have a feeling that I’m pretty close to where I want to be because I’m doing so well. I have my 3^rd mapping on Monday in Dallas and will have more news to report then!

2nd Mapping (7/16/12) & extra news!

PROGRAM 8

This was a really neat day. We were all standing around getting ready for dinner and my mom was getting food and I was off facing the other way doing something and my mom asks, “Does Mallory want any mushrooms?” and I answered, “No, I don’t want any mushrooms.” I turn around and they are all staring at me shocked and it took me a minute to realize what I just did. Tara asked me, “You heard and understood that?” and I said “well I guess I did!?” Pretty awesome day!

2^ND MAPPING

We went back to Dallas and had to drive because we didn’t get flight tickets in time. We got to the doctor’s office at 3 and I went in and said hi to Kristin. She’s so cool and she even read my blog! I’m glad she’s my audiologist AND she’s from Midland! Anyways, I told her about all the programs and how I did. We did the same test as last time when I had to count the beeps and that’s how she maps out where I am. I also told her about paper and water bugging me and she said that’s a common complaint and that it will get better. After she was done mapping she had me go and check the fountain in the hospital to see if the water was still bugging me or not and I said it still sounds weird, but it’s not too overbearing. She had to do a hearing test with the CI and she said I did well, but there were times that I would say yes and she didn’t do anything. She asked if I still had ringing in my ears and I said yes so that was the problem there. She said I was doing very very good so far!

After seeing Kristin, we were running late to my AVT appointment with Linda. We got in and she also mentioned my blog and asked how I was doing. Then we moved on to see how I did on the understanding. She did small short stories and read them one sentence at a time and I was supposed to repeat after her then I had to repeat back the whole story. On the first short story, I got about a 60% then after that I got better and better and got to 100% by the last story. She said that my brain was learning to focus even more every time and that it was absorbing all the information. Linda is a very awesome lady, she kept me smiling because she was just so surprised that I’ve came this far already. She kept saying “isn’t she INCREDIBLE?” and “WOW!” It made me feel good and I’m just so happy that I’m progressing so well and that I have a good person to do my AVT with!

We had to drive home that night and driving out of Dallas was fun and we got to go over a very pretty bridge. We had a good dinner at Chilli’s in Weatherford, they had an amazing Sirloin! After that we had to drive in the rain, hit some loose gravel and saw some pretty darn stupid people in the road. It was a very long drive home but I’d like to say I’m very thankful for my VERY supportive Mom who came with me during this trip. I love you Mom, you’re an amazing Mom and thank you for all you do. I feel like this is flying by and it’s nothing like I thought it was going to be, it’s better.

PROGRAM 9

This was a very neat program. Some sounds are clearer but the one thing that stood out the most and yes, I admit I got a little emotional, is the music. I turned on the CD in my car on my way back to work from lunch today (7/17/12) and it so happens to be one of the few songs that I know the lyrics to. It was Lips of an Angel by Hinder. I could hear every single word around the music and some words I couldn’t understand but I’ll get there soon enough. I teared up because it’s been a very long time, if ever, since I was able to hear that. I always thought it was weird that the music would drown out some of the words, but I found out I was wrong today. The music supports the voice and the words behind the song. I can’t wait to hear more songs and be able to listen to them. I heard Memaw on this channel without looking at her lips without any of our speech training. I remember before with my hearing aid I would ask “What?” With everything and I would get annoyed because I couldn’t seem to understand anything anymore and when all of this happened with the CI I realized that my hearing did get REALLY bad and it wasn’t benefitting me anymore. With the CI, I am asking “What?” less and less with every program or I try to guess what they say if I’m not sure and most of the time I get it right. It’s really strange being at work and being able to hear some of what is going on in the office next to me. It’s just one of those things that I have to learn how to tune out instead of stopping and listening to it all the time, but it’s really bittersweet and I won’t tune it out for awhile. I don’t have to jump at everyone that pops up at my office door; I can hear them coming now. Every once in awhile there would be a sneaky person with quiet shoes that I didn’t hear. Also at work, I had to scan something and I clicked the little touch screen and it beeped every time I touched it and I never even knew that! The kids are still hard for me to understand, I can hear certain words that they say directly to me and clearly, but I need more training with them. I plan on changing to program 10 tonight. I really enjoyed this channel but there are still some things that need tuning like voices. Voices, I know I’m understanding better and better every day and I’m shocked that I can even understand more than I think, but it still doesn’t quite sound right, it’s hard to explain what it sounds like. I’m really blessed that the sounds didn’t turn out as creepy as I imagined them to be so far, there were some weird sounds but nothing that scared me or annoyed me too much. It’s funny to think back that I had nightmares and was stressing about this whole thing, but it really has turned out to be a positive journey and I’m surprised I’m not more stressed than I am. The most stressful part is at the beginning of every channel, but I get used to it pretty quickly! Paper sounds better, I still don’t like it but it’s more tolerable. Water sounds better; I think I’ve learned to tune it out here at work because there’s a huge fountain here that drives me crazy. It’s funny because I didn’t even think of the fountain being an issue.

EXCITING NEWS!!!

My adorable baby sister is FINALLY engaged to Jason!! Words cannot explain how happy I am for them, they are such a loving great couple that love each other very much, I can tell in their eyes every time I'm with them. They are such a joy to be around. I can't wait to be beside them on the day they say "I DO!"

BONUS

As you guys know, I like to run and work out and i'm so excited to be getting back to working out as I gained 8+ pounds from worrying and stressing about the surgery. I got a new Road ID bracelet today and updated that I had a Cochlear Implant. It gives me a peace of mind that if anything should happen that they'll have my information on hand. SO, Road ID gave me a code for all of my friends and readers that if you want to get one that you can put in a code to have $1 off...

Go to roadid.com and there are 6 different bands and all sorts of different things on there if you prefer another one... and put in the code: ThanksMallory17655608 (it's only good for 30 days!)

Activation Day & First 5 Programs!

ACTIVATION DAY

Activation day went great! I went inside and my audiologist (Kristin) gave me a hearing test first, I couldn’t hear anything. Then she went and got my family and we all went into her office. First she put it on me and said that I would only hear beeping right now and to tell her if I could hear it. The first beep was so cool, I’ll never forget it. That was the moment when I knew that everything would be okay because it’s at least working. She went through all the beeping and I had to say yes if I heard it. Then the next step was to count how many beeps I could hear and to tell her. Then she did all the settings and then told us all to be quiet. She turned it on and LO AND BEHOLD, I could hear something while she was talking. It was overwhelming and I was trying to be strong while she was talking to me. It was so strange, it was full of beeping, buzzing and all sorts of sounds and I couldn’t quite hear voices, that’s something I didn’t expect and in all honesty, that part terrified me. When she finished that part up, I looked up at my family and they were all in tears and I started crying myself. Two and a half weeks with absolutely no hearing drove me crazy, I handled it better than I thought but I was ready to hear at least something and I got my wish that day. After that she had to test it out on various things. She rang the bell and it wasn’t too loud for me. She crumbled paper and it wasn’t loud but I got excited because it has been a very long time since I’ve heard that sound. She also clapped and did some other things and none of them were too loud for me. I was finished after that. Then, she went through all the parts of the processor and how to take care of it and all that good stuff. She asked while we were doing that, if I could tell the difference between her and my Mom and I said yes because the pitches are different between them and she said that was very very good since it was only the first day. She also explained the programs and that they were giving me 8 programs to work on when I was comfortable to go to the next program then I had to go see Dr. Peters. He said that everything looked good and that I was good to go on working out, roller coasters, and flying. I got to get a picture with the doctor that made this all possible and I will forever be grateful for Dr. Peters and Kristin. (I will remember to get a picture with her next time, I forgot with all the excitement!)

After that we left to head to the speech therapist, her name is Linda. I was so overwhelmed and everything sounded SO weird and I was scared that I didn’t really understand anything because every voice and noise sounded like beeping, dinging or some other sound and my brain at that point just didn’t understand what it was supposed to mean. Once we got to the speech therapist she asked how I was doing and did some testing. She did some sounds like eee, ahhh, sssss, shhh… and she would go through them with me then she would cover her mouth and I got every single one of them correct. I was like okay, well that’s weird… I didn’t think I’d be able to do that. She said it was good that I got all of them right. Then she did actual sentences and went through them and I had to pick out which one I thought she said and I again got everything right. She asked how I knew that was what she was saying and I kept telling her it was the “T” sound in that sentence and I just knew it was that one so that day it was the glorified “T” that saved the day haha. After that, she had told my Mom to try it with me and I felt so bad because at first, I couldn’t understand her.  Then she asked my sister, Tara, to try it and I got what she said right off the bat. I could tell my mom was sad so we tried it again and I finally got it right. Linda said that I was doing VERY WELL for the first day and that I just amazed her. I left the there feeling so much better. She showed me that each sound meant something so I have to teach myself what they mean. I said before that I didn’t think I was understanding anything at all and she showed me that wasn’t true. I left with my faith renewed and the confidence that I could do this. I have never been able to understand anything without looking at people’s lips so that was just so bittersweet that after all of this training in understanding, I wouldn’t have to work so hard to read people’s lips and understand what they’re saying.

We left for home that night after dinner and shopping. I took it off for the first part of the trip but towards the end I put it on to listen to the music and I could hear the guitar but it sounded like beeping. Some songs I liked but one song I absolutely could not stand. I wish I had written it down but I didn’t. After we dropped Tara off, I got in the front and on the way home I heard and understood my Dad and we had a full conversation in the Dark. That was another first for me and I knew that my adventure was just starting.

PROGRAM 2

The next morning I got up and started out the day with channel one but then I decided to change it to two. I was hearing all sorts of sounds. I ate my breakfast and I could hear myself chewing and I was like wow, it was cool but at the same time just SO weird. After that I went outside and let Kyra out with me and I was overwhelmed with hearing all the dogs barking. Marley sounded like a police siren with the whining bark that she does. Maddie and Kyra both sounded like little bitty robot dogs. After that, I walked inside and I heard this sound every time I would walk and I found out that it was me dragging my feet. Gosh, now I understand why Tara gets onto me about dragging my feet, that sound was very annoying, it’s okay Tara, you don’t have to get onto me anymore now! I hung out around the house by myself for most of that day. I was looking through all of my CI stuff and discovered that I don’t like the sound of paper. It wasn’t too loud or anything, it just sounded so weird, I don’t even know how to explain it. After that I tried to watch some TV and ended up having to turn the sound of the TV off. I didn’t like the way it sounded, it just sounded like garbled robot sounds or something. They said that it would take a while to like hearing technology. I went with Tara out to her classroom that night, and as we were leaving I heard a beep and I asked Tara what it was and she said it was a bird! Wow! It was the first time to at least hear a bird even if it was a beep. I also went crazy when I heard running water for the first time when my mom was doing dishes. I don’t understand why people think it’s a soothing sound, but maybe soon I will. I still wasn’t hearing actual voices at this point yet. The next day I went to my Memaw and Pepaw’s house to swim. I surprised Memaw because I could her say “sh” when she said She. I also ASBOLUTELY did not like listening to one of Gavin’s toys, did not like that toy! I went back to work on Monday with Program 2. I could hear one of the guys next to my office roll up his maps, I’m telling you, I don’t like paper right now haha but it was interesting because I’ve never been able to hear him do that. I also was able to figure out if someone was walking down the hall or not at work. I still couldn’t hear actual voices at this point yet.

PROGRAM 3

I finally can hear a little bit of voices, it still didn’t sound “normal” but I was happy to finally have it change a little bit. As I was leaving, I had to open the gate so I went outside and I could hear something and I stopped and waited until I figured it out…. It was the tree leaves rustling! So Cool, another first for me!!! I went to help Tara in her classroom last week and as I was walking up to her classroom I could hear people talking but I didn’t know where but when I got closer it got louder and louder and as I got there, my 3^rd grade teacher Mrs. Hart was in there talking to Tara about me. I was happy to see her. Before with my hearing aid, I wasn’t able to tell the difference if it was getting louder or not. I was either able to hear them or not. We cut out things that were laminated and I could tell the difference between paper and plastic, still didn’t like the sound of that either.  We went to Summer Mummers and I kept it on. It sounded like a whole bunch of people together and they were mumbling and garbling. Weird experience, but interesting. I also got to hear rain for the first time with Program 3, I don’t know exactly how to explain it, but I know it will get better. Water still sounds like a bunch of static and birds still sound like beeps but everything else seems to be getting better with every program.

PROGRAM 4

I switched to program 4 on Sunday (9/8) while I was having my birthday dinner with family. It’s a blessing that I got it activated before my birthday. Anyway, that night I was listening to everything, the birds sounded like different pitches of beeps when they were chirping, so I guess it was better than a regular beep. Also that night, my dad had his head turned and he said “Hey Mallory” and I looked at my mom and I said slowly, “Did he just say Hey Mallory?” We all got very excited about that. As I’m writing this, I have had so many firsts since it got activated and I’m not even finished with tuning and mapping it, it’s only the first mapping and tuning. On my birthday, I got a 100% on my speech and understanding while working with mom. I went from not understanding her behind a piece of paper to understanding her WAY better so that was a drastic improvement. I need to start doing this with everyone I know. At work I was doing the dry write out and it made a sound and I was shocked and said “Whoa!” and I turned around and asked Brandi, “does this make a sound?” And she was looking at me laughing and said “yes, did you hear it?” I said “yes, I never even knew this made a sound.” She said “that’s so cool!” Last night I came to my parents’ house, the power was out, and there was this aggravating sound and so I finally said what is that?! My mom listened and said is it Kyra chewing on her bone? I watched Kyra and listened and said yes it is. It got so aggravating I had to take it off haha. I was so tired by the end of the day. I get so tired so fast these days from trying to listen to everything and figuring it out. I’m doing good though, I don’t take it off at all during the day and they said that I would probably need breaks from it, but I only take it off in the evenings if I do. I got my other processor from FedEx so I was excited to start Program 5 the next day.

PROGRAM 5

Today, I have program 5 on and my processor is a sand color and looks neat. The voices sound better on this program, not perfect yet, but better. I’ve been at work so I haven’t heard anything “new” yet except I noticed that the keyboard when I type doesn’t annoy me anymore and I didn’t realize that it annoyed me until today, but I will keep writing it up as I notice differences. I did notice at lunch that my cousins sound better to me too and I catch most of what they say when they talk to me, they don’t sound too much like midget robots anymore. I will never get tired of them calling me robot ear (Thanks to Micah), it makes me laugh so much, they’re so cute.

The BIG Day!

Hey guys,

I'm pretty dizzy writing this to y'all but I will try to catch you guys up.

We left on June 11th for Dallas to go to my pre-op appointment. Mom and I were surprised and excited to find out that instead of waiting 4 weeks to get activated, they wanted to go ahead and get me activated in 2 weeks, which is now about a week away. June 29th is activation day!!

For the rest of the 11th and most of the 12th, I had alone time with my mom and we went shopping and saw Snow White and the Huntsmen. I had a blast! My Dad, Tara, Memaw and Pepaw came on the 12th and we had some fun shopping and eating dinner with them. I have the most amazing family ever.

The next morning was the big day! I was very nervous and I could tell everyone else was too. The surgery was delayed about 2 hours so it was a very nerve racking long wait for all of us. Then the nurse finally called me back to prepare me for surgery.

Then I started feeling pretty loopy starting right here....

The last thing I remember is them giving me a big shot of something and moving to the operating room bed and them straping me down. Then I woke up in a room and all I could say was that my ears were ringing like crazy and they gave me medicine about three times before they said I was okay to move to another room. They gave me apple juice and graham crackers and I was happy with that because I was hungry. I was excited to see my Dad and Tara come around the corner looking for me. I was very happy to finally be out and to see my family.

Then the next thing I know the doctor comes in and checks on me and says that I was ready to go and that they put on my cochlear implant on in the operating room and he said it worked! I asked him about the ringing and if it was normal, and he said it's very normal and he said that it will probally last until activation day if not longer. He said that i'm used to hearing something so my ears are confused and are trying to hear.

I"m going to skip some things now because i'm very dizzy and my head is starting to hurt. I will give more things in detail in another post. In short words, i'm doing okay. I get sick to my stomach because of the dizziness and the ringing in my ears. The ringing feels like a music box has been opened in my ears and it won't stop. Yesterday, I felt car sick in the car but Mom says it's because of the ringing in my ears. I still don't feel comfortable driving. I sleep a lot but starting today i'm trying to stay up and fight the dizziness and ringing, it's hard but I can do it. I have caught myself trying to find my hearing aid and I have to remind myself that it's gone. It hasn't really hit me yet because it feels like i'm just sick. Tomorrow, I return to the real world and we will see how it goes.

1 WEEK

It's just about one week until my surgery for the CI. I am feeling the nervousness for sure, I am eating everything in sight haha! :( I am excited for the process to finally be here though. I am not nervous at all about the surgery itself, i'm more nervous about after and re-learning everything, but I am excited to hear new sounds that i've never heard before. There have been some misunderstandings and questions that I would like to clarify for you guys.

• I will NOT magically be able to hear as soon as the surgery is over. After surgery, I will be completely deaf with absolutely NO hearing for 4 weeks.
• Once it is activated (4 weeks later when everything is healed), I will be able to "hear" something. It won't be the same as what I hear now. It's going to be completely brand new to me. At first, it is going to sound a little computer like or like alvin and the chipmunks or something, I won't know. It's different for everyone. I will go back to Dallas every couple of weeks for them to tune it to a different "channel" every time and "map" it out until it is perfect. The time frame is different for everyone, but it can take up to a year until I am hearing perfectly.
• With that said, just because I can "hear" doesn't mean I will be able to "understand" what I am hearing. My ear will kind of be like a baby, and it is having to re-learn every sound that I am hearing because it is going to sound different. When they turn it on, I won't be able to understand everything like I can now.
• The first few months will be a roller coaster of emotions for me and everyone around me because i'm trying to match what voices go to what face, what sounds belong to what, and I will be hearing new sounds that i've never heard before. A guy told my mom that his mother (who got a CI a few years ago) broke down in tears when she found out that she was hearing a locust. She said that it was a beautiful sound, annoying, but beautiful. I've never heard that sound before either, so i'm excited for this new adventure.
• I have to be prepared for noise overload when I first get it turned on. A guy that has CI's told me that he could only handle two hours of having it on at a time because he had to process everything that he was hearing.
• My Memaw mentioned to me today about me never being able to hear a cooing baby and I am SO excited because I have a new baby cousin coming in December and I will be able to hear him/her coo.

If y'all have anymore questions, feel free to contact me. I really don't mind talking about it! Thank y'all again for the amazing support and the prayers. You guys are awesome! <3

FINAL DATE!

I (My Mom) got a call today from Dallas Ear and we set our final surgery date to be on

JUNE 13TH 2012!!!

I am estatic and RELIEVED to finally find out a date so now I can keep it in mind instead of always just stressing and wondering. I'm glad the DARS papers finally went through. Now I can focus on the surgery date and prepare myself for surgery. I'm still very nervous but super excited for the adventure ahead!

Again, thank you all for your support!!