Fame and Fortune

The media have finally realised my star potential, check out this link:
http://www.inmycommunity.com.au/shopping-and-lifestyle/health-and-wellbeing/Gift-of-hearing-restored/7635826/

The return from Singapore

Singapore was a blast, I had so much fun. We went everywhere and did everything.
It was the first time I'd been away with friends since becoming deaf and there were a few differences I noticed. The first being the isolation between the deaf and the hearing. While it wasn't overly obvious, I still felt a little left out of things because I simply didn't know what was going on. I always had to ask the others "what's happening" just be kept in the loop. This really came to a head when five minutes before we were due to board the plane to return home, one of the girls I was travelling with announced she had lost her passport. No passport, no boarding the plane. This obviously created a huge amount of stress for all of us as we tried to come up with solutions to get home. The worst part from my point of view was that in the panic I didn't know what was going on. I guess that's how children feel most of the time when adults are making decisions for them but the adults don't stop to explain what's happening. This is a bit how I felt, like a child.

I also had a minor panic of my own when my batteries went flat and I had to change them during dinner. I use disposable batteries when I travel so I don't have to worry about recharging my normal ones. I replaced the flat batteries but when I tried to turn the processor on it didn't work. Panic, panic, panic. Thoughts kept swirling in my head that I'd have to go deaf for the rest of the trip, that I couldn't go off shopping on my own or chat with my friends or all sorts of things ........... I tried a number of different things, finally taking the batteries out and replacing them the other way around. Phew, this worked. I experienced a wave of relief. Having had the cochlear implant for a year now I simply cannot go back to being deaf again, not even for a day.

The best part of the trip? When one of my friends turned to me at the end of the long midnight flight and asked if I had got any sleep. "Yep", I said, "slept like a baby with my ear turned off, how about you?". "No", she replied, "there was a baby crying the whole way ....................".

Travel, travel, travel

I'm off overseas again, this time to Singapore for a girls weekend. I'm prepared with my CI ID card, spare batteries and a travel case with a spare ear hook and drying capsule. I'm hoping security will detect my magnet this time for a bit of attention but I suspect I will walk straight through without much fuss. We are taking an overnight flight which means sleeping but I'm not sure if I should take my CI off so I can sleep in quiet or leave it on so I'm aware of what's going on. Hearing people would say leave it on but I just can't sleep without complete silence now! Ah well, I'll report back in three days!!!

It's lost!!!

I had a bit of a drama the other day. I was watching my son play soccer and my battery gave me a warning that I was about to go flat. I took out a spare battery from my purse, changed it over and as I went to put the coil back on my head I realised the magnet was missing. The magnet, the bit that keeps the coil attached to my head had fallen out!! This is a small disaster as without the magnet there is no way to keep the coil on my head and if I don't keep the coil on my head I can't hear. So what followed was a bit of a panic with all the people sitting around me court-side searching for a tiny black magnet half the size of a 5c coin!!! I must admit I did start to panic a bit. Going back to being deaf is no longer an option for me. Luckily, one smart mum realised that a magnet was most likely attached to something metal and found it attached to the handles of my bag, phew!

Anniversary

Today marks the anniversary of my implant surgery and the day that changed how the rest of my life would turn out. Thank you Cochlear, Ear Science Institute, Prof Atlas, mum and dad, kids and husband, I heart you!

Survival!

I survived my birthday, it was actually a great day. I spent the day attending a work conference where I had to give a presentation on higher education. The presentation was fine and at the end I put up a slide with my mobile number on it for people to text me their questions. I've used this strategy a number of times and it has been successful. It saves me the stress of trying to hear the question and allows me to "filter" the questions. It also keeps an audience on task and I usually make it entertaining. After my presentation I was told that there were a few people who questioned why they couldn't just put their hand up and ask a question the old fashioned way. I guess you can't win them all!

Another year gone!!!

Well, tomorrow is my birthday, my 41st birthday in fact. I think the last year has been the most hectic of my entire life; adjusting to my cochlear implant, returning to part time study, full time lecturing (and hasn't that been an adventure!), the kids and husband adjusting to living with a deaf person, the dog and well, just life.
In two days it will be the one year anniversary of my implant surgery. Just those two hours on the surgery table one year ago dramatically changed what my life has become. Imagine if I had decided not to have the surgery (and many people make this decision)? As it turns out, apart from my little daily struggles, my life pretty much went back to normal.
I walked back into my lecturing job (which I love), I still manage my family well (they may not agree with that), I have all the same friends, I still ride my bike, go for runs, go to the beach, I study online, I go to parties and out to dinner ............. in fact I can't really think of many things I want to do that I can't! One thing I can do is turn everything off when I want some quiet. That's the best thing about the implant, I can turn it on and off as it suits me, he he he he he.