One Month Update

Long overdue update,

I last went to see my audiologist again on August 16th, and the outcome of that appointment was disappointment for myself, and maybe for everyone else around me.

The reason I say disappointment is because I am not making as much progress in my listening skills as I should be expected to do. I did this to myself though due to my thought process of how to develop my listening skills. Instead of listening to my audiologist in how he says that I should be practicing listening an hour a day, by watching tv with captions, having my mom read something outloud to me and i read along, etc. I did not do this often during my first month of having the implant on, and because of that, I have not improved in my listening skills. I am still hearing everything and is stable compared to the hearing aids. But I do hear things like a person with a mild hearing loss, so that has changed but I really still have no idea what each sound is.

Because of my lack of practice, my audiologist isn't quite pleased and has requested me to come back again in a month... So now I have to make a goal and a habit to practice listening some more and go back to see him hearing damn more than last time.

I often worry about how well I am doing and is pretty much constantly anxious that I am not hearing as much as I should be. Like last night, I kept getting worried thinking that I wasn't hearing voices etc. My implant needs a lot of maintenance it seems like, from all the constant moving about I do, and the weather is pretty harsh on it. I have to constantly check to make sure the battery is working, my coil is not twisted and who knows what else. It's just a lot of work with it, and because of that I forget about my hearing aid in my left ear. For nearly 2 weeks, it was plugged up with wax and I wasn't hearing as much as I could be and I just discovered the culprit of that issue today. I am pretty much losing my head with all of this.

You could say that I am in a low place right now with this progress. This entire journey is a lot of ups and downs, and I don't know what more I can say about this right now.

I feel quite scattered in my thoughts right now, so maybe this vacation can help me collect my thoughts and create a better post for people. I have been told by a lot of people that they love reading this blog, but have the problem of not being able to post a comment, so I do not know what the issue is. If you would like to contact me to learn more, you may email me at: a.cartier3@gmail.com I am open to anything anybody has to say and will do my best to answer any emails in a timely fashion.

Until next time,

-Anna