A little joke

A concerned husband went to a doctor to talk about his wife. He says to the doctor, "Doctor, I think my wife is deaf because she never hears me the first time and always asks me to repeat things." "Well," the doctor replied, "go home and tonight stand about 15 feet from her and say something to her. If she doesn't reply move about 5 feet closer and say it again. Keep doing this so that we'll get an idea about the severity of her deafness." Sure enough, the husband goes home and does exactly as instructed. He starts off standing about 15 feet from his wife in the kitchen as she is chopping some vegetables and says, "Honey, what's for dinner?" He hears no response. He moves about 5 feet closer and asks again. No reply. He moves 5 feet closer. Still no reply. He gets fed up and moves right behind her, about an inch away, and asks loudly, "Honey, what's for dinner?" She replies, "For the fourth time, vegetable stew!

(Reference: http://www.start-american-sign-language.com/deaf-jokes.html)

Deaf Tradies - the best kind .......

The Block is a renovation show in Australia and this week they introduced one of the carpenters as being deaf. Here is the clip to watch:

Deaf Tradie on The Block - click here to view video

Drisana Breaks Down the Barriers

Remember my friend Drisana? Well here she is again breaking down barriers for deaf people. Have a look at what she is up to now:

Drisana Breaks Down the Barriers for Deaf People - Jury Duty

A few months have gone by with the second implant

After a few months with the second implant (in the ear that has been deaf for 40 years) things have taken an interesting turn. I've gone from having to "suffer" while wearing the second implant, to actually finding I need to wear it to get better sound. In fact today, I've worn it all day, that's a first. It was only two weeks ago that I couldn't stand wearing it for more than an hour. The biggest thing I'm finding is all the new noises. Things like a car engine starting next door, previously I've not heard that. Even the sound of my typing right now is so loud! Is this how hearing people hear all the time? With all this noise? I suspect it is just my brain feeling a little overwhelmed and it will settle down in time.

Two cochlear implants or one? At the movies.

It has occurred to me that I have only ever watched kids movies at the theatre since going deaf. Kids movies are easy to follow and after attempting to watch an adult movie the other day I realised that I wasn't really hearing as much as I thought I was. I went to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and tried listening to it with two ears, then one. Neither was very successful so I was a little disappointed. Oh well, back to the kids movies at the theatre and adults movies on DVD.

Cochlear Friendly Fashion

Yes, you read the title correctly. I have been searching for a fashionable hat (it's very sunny in Perth) that doesn't knock my magnet coil off whenever I put it on and I have now found the answer with this:

It's one of those caps without the top part, a tennis cap if you will. It works perfectly as the processor cord sits over the hat band, yay, sun protection is taken care of, yay, and it doesn't look too bad, double yay!

How is the new ear going?

Well ............ I've had so many conflicting thoughts on how it's going that I've not been able to articulate my progress until now. The second implant is a TOTALLY different experience than the first. This is to be expected I suppose as I was only deaf in my first cochlear ear for three months before the implant. This implant on the other hand is 37 years after going deaf.

So what do I hear? It's very difficult to describe, it's almost like a gong sound, you know, a gong, a big gold metal thing that you hit and it makes that unique sound. So every time I hear a sound in the right ear I get a "gong". Not just the sound either, the vibrations that come with my auditory nerves being stimulated.

So, that's why I don't wear it all the time, it takes a toll on the brain having a gong go off every second so the most I can wear it is a few hours a day. But here is the interesting part, it gets a bit better every day which is really exciting.

I'm also starting to understand what stereo hearing is like - whoa people - it's like sound coming at you from all directions and loud!!! How can you live like that? It's sensory overload!!

This is another reason I can only handle a few hours per day of wearing it, my poor brain is overwhelmed (my brain and I have a unique relationship after going through two cochlear implants together, it's rather miffed at me for putting it through all the stress but always puts in a good effort regardless).

I'm really starting to understand the experience of people who have cochlear implants after many years of being deaf and can understand why some would give up. As my mother (and Uncle Greg as it turns out) says "patience my child".