The first week - and retuning!

I have returned from a lovely week away experiencing lots of new sounds! My friend Bethan went on holiday after her switch-on to better relax and get used to hearing new things, and we thought that would be a good excuse to go on a little road trip around the North West visiting friends and family and drinking a lot of beer/wine/cider. It was actually brilliant to get away and relax; it stopped me from sitting in the house thinking about what I could and couldn't hear!

I tried to keep a note of what new sounds I was hearing but I gave up after a while, there were too many! Here is a brief diary.

Day 1 - already described in last post. You may recall that I signed off to go and watch Daredevil - this was quite good to watch because I could read the subtitles and work out what noises fit into speech. Even though it was all very beepy.

Day 2 - Wednesday

I woke up (never mind what time) and got up to go to the bathroom with my implant on. Switched the bathroom light on to start brushing my teeth, noticed a funny chinky noise which was really pretty (weird I know). Turned around and realised it was the metallic clink of the bathroom light pendant banging off the radiator!!!! I have heard this before with my hearing aids, but never realised how high pitched it was before. And with my hearing aids I would certainly never have noticed it with my back to it. I think because my brain is not at all used to hearing high noises it sits up and pays attention when any come its way. Apparently this will settle down with time as I get more used to it. Loving the novelty at the moment though!

Had breakfast; I could hear David scraping butter on his toast and chewing his toast. I could hear my tongue on the roof of my mouth. If David pointed it out I could hear Rhubarb's claws clacking on the hard floor. If everything was very quiet I could hear the kitchen clock ticking!!!!!!!! 

We spent a happy morning gardening and playing with our ridiculous new compost bin (yes, I know, middle age beckons). I could tell when David was saying my name from behind me, and would turn around to see what he wanted. I'm sure that novelty will wear off soon enough...

We headed over to the Lakes that afternoon - the car was quite noisy so I felt like I wanted to turn up to programme 3 to bring the high sounds up a bit. I still haven't got over the car indicators ticking! 

We walked Rhubarb in the park, where I noticed I could hear all the birds chirping! Including this robin ....

Went to a restaurant - I could hear the women on the table next to us laughing and the occasional cough (I had no idea coughs were high pitched). Amber and Richard turned up for some more drinks, and I found I could understand more of Amber's voice than David or Richard's - obviously it was higher-pitched so I was getting more input. Yay for lovely sisters-in-law!

Day 3 - Thursday

squinty faces

We got up and went down to breakfast. I experienced a repeat of all the noises of yesterday's breakfast - including the woman 2 tables away scraping butter on her toast!

We hiked up Cat Bells which was stunning, if very windy!

 Again the wind noise seemed to mask other sounds, but I could still hear footsteps and stones scraping. I could also hear bikes whooshing past when we were back on the road. Not cars though - perhaps they're too low-pitched. 

view from top of Cat Bells over Derwent Water

Day 4 - Friday

evidence that I camped

I could hear David shaking out a plastic bag from 2 rooms away, and heard him bashing his shoes together outside. Rhubarb's clicky claws started to become more obvious. I could tell when the hoover was switched on, and when it stopped, but not the sound in between. I'm guessing that's because it's low pitched. Water running from the sink is still one long high noise/beep. 

We set off for our campsite in Ambleside; I could hear yet more birds tweeting all around us. I couldn't really hear the wind outside the tent but David assures me it was extremely loud... Friday night we treated ourselves to a meal at the Drunken Duck, which was lovely. Unfortunately my implant batteries ran out and I didn't have any spares on me, so I had to switch back to my hearing aid for the evening. Was surprised how much I missed all the new noises!

Day 5 - Saturday

We walked back to the Drunken Duck to get the car - yet more birds tweeting. I couldn't make out individual calls but could tell I was getting a lot of beepy stimulus! I could make out the car keys rattling when we got in the car. 

Headed off to Liverpool to see my brother Tim - he was v. surprised that I could follow him with only the implant switched on - he thought I must have my hearing aid on as well! (I have been keeping my hearing aid in my right ear but switched off - otherwise I would probably lose it.)

Some Liverpudlian sounds: swan hissing in the park, ice clinking in cider, crisps crackling in pub, glasses clinking in restaurant. 

Day 6 - Sunday

I heard a seagull on the beach! and all the sounds mentioned above.

When we got to Manchester I cheated a bit and put my hearing aid back on so I could get the most out of seeing Caroline and Jonathan - which was lovely as always. Caroline and I were so excited by the spontaneous Sunday night fun that we drank far too much wine. I found that the hearing aid and implant worked quite well together which is great, because the ultimate goal is to have them both on, giving me a sort of blend of sounds. For the moment though, my rehab will go faster if I stick to just the implant, giving my brain no choice but to use what it gets through there. This will help it lay down all those neural pathways more quickly. 

Day 7 - Monday

I had a tuning appointment in Co. Durham (one of JCUH's outposts for those living further North). We drove up from Manchester, with me talking to David (my chauffeur) the whole way. I've started to realise that speech is slightly easier to interpret, even though it's not sounding like what I would call speech. Just having that input of the consonants ("ssss", "CH", "TS" - they all sound very hissy!) makes a sentence easier to follow and really aids my lipreading. 

My audiologist Ruth was very pleased with my progress so far, particularly all the new environmental sounds. She was also chuffed that I'd been wearing the implant pretty much exclusively - for reasons mentioned above. I was now on level 4 and had been for the last couple of days - it wasn't uncomfortable. In fact a lot of noises that had seemed really loud at first, like fingers clicking, had diminished in volume. This meant that I was ready for a volume increase - level 5! 

First Ruth sorted out my magnet - I was wearing strength 4 from switch-on, which was actually starting to get uncomfortable if I wore it under my hair. I was having to wear it over my hair to try and cushion it. She changed me down to magnet strength 2, which felt much better. Then she plugged my implant into the computer and played lots of beeps at me. I had to say when I could hear them and how many beeps there were. This then enabled her to make my new "map" or programme, depending on how I responded to each beep or sound. I'm not responding as much to the lower frequencies, because I've had more of them before. So the new map has more input on the lower frequencies. The high frequencies are still very sensitive so they have less input. 

This all seems like audiological wizardry to me but Ruth did a great job of explaining it: it's not a case of just turning everything up willy-nilly - it depends how my brain is responding to each frequency. I don't know what any of the numbers pictured here mean but the general picture is of more "oomph" in the low frequencies. 

I was also given my Cochlear wireless accessories: a waterproof swim kit and a wireless microphone that clips onto people's lapels (for e.g. lectures or noisy restaurants). Like Christmas for deafies! 

As ever with a new map/any change in volume, everything sounded very loud and weird at first. It quickly settled down though and after checking that nothing was too loud (by clapping, and playing me some beeps) Ruth waved us off with my new hearing swag. 

Everything seemed much louder as we walked out to the carpark, but nothing was uncomfortable. When David spoke I felt like I was getting more out of the words - probably the slightly louder lower frequencies. We got home and set about tidying and mowing the lawn - I could hear the lawnmower but it wasn't particularly loud (low frequencies again). I could however hear the fire crackling and popping! 

I have 2 weeks now before I go back for my next mapping. Ruth is planning to do another hearing test then to see what I'm picking up after 3 weeks with an implant... That will be interesting! As before, I have 4 programmes to move through, but they are much louder than the old ones so I have longer to move to each new one. The last one, programme 4, will be the biggest change because both loud and quiet sounds will be amplified the same amount. Currently everything is being amplified to quite a narrow range. I can hear a pen tapping quietly, but a loud clap sounds about the same level as the pen. Because my freshly implanted brain would probably explode if a clap was amplified to as loud as a clap actually is, I'm on quite a narrow range of volume to protect it and give my brain time to adjust to essentially being electrocuted. However, programme 4 will be more 'natural'-sounding in that loud sounds will be amplified to a loud level, and quiet sounds will be amplified to a quiet level. I cannot wait! But baby steps first, walk before can run, etc etc. 

 On the whole I feel very positive about this - I'm not expecting sounds to be "sound" like for a good while yet, and I know I have to relax and let my brain do the work. I know I'm doing all the right things like wearing my implant, leaving the hearing aid off, listening for noises and asking David what they are. I admit sometimes I get slightly impatient, wishing that speech sounded like speech already, but everyone is different and with my pattern of hearing loss (extremely deaf since birth) it's going to take a while.

This afternoon I have an appointment with my rehab therapist, Sandra, and then the surgeon who will hopefully be as pleased with my scar as I am! 

Will keep you all updated. Sorry for mammoth post!