Not much news....
*snip*
Good news on the hearing front: While I don't feel that I'm hearing better or more clearly, something new happened tonight....I realized that I had the volume cranked all the way up, and it wasn't too loud...in fact, it was just about not loud enough. I have never had that happen before. Other implant users talk about having to be reprogrammed over and over because they max out their volume quickly, but this is a new experience for me. That's a good sign: my brain is adjusting to the volume. I have an appointment in a week for another mapping session....we'll crank it up a little then and see how that goes :) I still get the massive shock feeling whenever I put the processor on. It lasts for about five minutes then it calms down a bit. I dread putting it on every morning but it's amazing what you can do when that's your only option!!
I've had some entertaining "head music" this week. I know I told you about the tinnitus I was experiencing...it's much calmer now, but I had what I called "Dueling Ears" for the first few days. Whenever I would put the processor on the left ear, the right ear, which was formerly the dominant one, would almost immediately start shrieking out some sort of nonsense at a tiringly high volume. I honestly had moments when I would hear a noise and not know which ear it was coming from. The brain, in an effort to keep things "normal", will try its best to compensate whenever there is a loss. In my case, when I lost the hearing in the "good" ear three weeks ago, the tinnitus started trying to fill in the gaps so it would seem like I was "hearing" something. When I gave up the hearing aid altogether and started wearing the processor full-time, my poor brain just went haywire trying to restore things to order! After a week of "left-eared-ness" my right ear is slowly starting to calm down. I still have the tinnitus, but the volume is a little lower and a little less disturbing. It doesn't wake me up at night anymore (it actually did that one night last week...several times during the night....I was SO annoyed!!). Gradually, I feel like I am making the transition...and it's getting better...I am feeling calmer about it all :) I'm not, as I say, really hearing better yet, but I'm getting the hang of things, which is great in my book :) I am feeling really good...enjoying the weather, which has been much nicer, and getting a lot done. It has been a good week :)
Good news on the hearing front: While I don't feel that I'm hearing better or more clearly, something new happened tonight....I realized that I had the volume cranked all the way up, and it wasn't too loud...in fact, it was just about not loud enough. I have never had that happen before. Other implant users talk about having to be reprogrammed over and over because they max out their volume quickly, but this is a new experience for me. That's a good sign: my brain is adjusting to the volume. I have an appointment in a week for another mapping session....we'll crank it up a little then and see how that goes :) I still get the massive shock feeling whenever I put the processor on. It lasts for about five minutes then it calms down a bit. I dread putting it on every morning but it's amazing what you can do when that's your only option!!
I've had some entertaining "head music" this week. I know I told you about the tinnitus I was experiencing...it's much calmer now, but I had what I called "Dueling Ears" for the first few days. Whenever I would put the processor on the left ear, the right ear, which was formerly the dominant one, would almost immediately start shrieking out some sort of nonsense at a tiringly high volume. I honestly had moments when I would hear a noise and not know which ear it was coming from. The brain, in an effort to keep things "normal", will try its best to compensate whenever there is a loss. In my case, when I lost the hearing in the "good" ear three weeks ago, the tinnitus started trying to fill in the gaps so it would seem like I was "hearing" something. When I gave up the hearing aid altogether and started wearing the processor full-time, my poor brain just went haywire trying to restore things to order! After a week of "left-eared-ness" my right ear is slowly starting to calm down. I still have the tinnitus, but the volume is a little lower and a little less disturbing. It doesn't wake me up at night anymore (it actually did that one night last week...several times during the night....I was SO annoyed!!). Gradually, I feel like I am making the transition...and it's getting better...I am feeling calmer about it all :) I'm not, as I say, really hearing better yet, but I'm getting the hang of things, which is great in my book :) I am feeling really good...enjoying the weather, which has been much nicer, and getting a lot done. It has been a good week :)
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