Guest guest Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 Hi shani i just reread your post... thanks for sharing it. i m scheduled for surgery on march 15 and im newbie on forums. it has been helfpul to read the emails on the forum but also quite scary when i read about possible problems one can hve with the implant. so it was very encouraging to read your email and you have been using ur implant since dec. only three months. that s great. im glad you are feeling more confident around social situations esp your family. i think that is where my deafness holds me back the most. and awesome about lipreading... i so depend on lipreading although my hearing aids do help my lipreading. so i still cant imagine ever not needing to lipread since i have been deaf since birth i and practicaly taught myself to lipread since age 3 ... so have you been doing things to work on listening or to practice? the dr hasnt said much about what i need to do.. he wants to see how i do first and he thinks i may just pick up very quickly.. see see in april when im finally activated. do you have kids?i how do they feel about it ? and im sure much easier for them to communicate with you now..... Jb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 8, 2004 Report Share Posted March 8, 2004 Hello JB, Sorry for taking so long to reply, but we just had a long weekend here in Melbourne. 3 whole days off work, but back now. I was very nervous about my operation. It was the first time I had been into hopital to have anything done. I actually think I was a bit shocked to wake up in the recovery room and I was asking myself what I had done. If you can get through those few weeks before turn- on then it all becomes worth it. I wasn't in much pain afterwards, just very tired, and it was difficult to eat at first. I didn't need to take any painkillers except for Panadol, though they did give me some just in case. I think in all social aspects I do still require lip-reading but I think I need to challenge myself a bit more. The other day I greeted a work collegue, looked back down to my computer screen and then heard him say " How are you? " . I didn't think just looked up, replied. I didn't even realise what I had done until he said " That's amazing, you heard and understood that without lip-reading. " My audiologist didn't really give me any exercises to do. She said that it would be 2-3 months before I would be able to understand audio books and not to push myself. I was of the opinion that it wouldn't hurt to try audio books and see how I went. I thought children's ones would be easier, but because of the music and sound effects, that is not the case. I used an adult book, but as other people in this site mentioned, you have to find an unabridged one. I couldn't understand any words at first, but I could follow along as long as I knew exactly where it started from. You can follow the rhythm of the words, and I think it must have been practice as well, knowing what the word should be and then learning how it sounds. Being Australian the audio books have been American and English, so I had to get used to the accent. Now I play the audio book in the car on the way to and from work, and just try to listen and see what I pick up. My husband also would try reading out random words and seeing what I understood. This way was good because then you know when you getting things right and when you're not. Individual words are a lot harder and I didn't score very well on those. He would also read from the newspaper and that was successful too. I try watching a lot of news programmes, trying to lip-read and not use the captions. No, I haven't any children....yet. That was one thing that always worried me, having children and not being able to understand what they were saying. Or even other people understanding my children better than myself. A friend of ours had a baby recently and it was so strange, and amazing to actually be able to hear him breathing. It was a hot day and so he was restless, and I could hear the little breaths coming out of him. I do find it easier to talk to my nieces and nephews now. I think children's voices can be more difficult to understand, but it always comes as a shock when they say something and I can understand. Good luck with your operation. Let me know how it all goes. I think you said it was the 15th March? Best wishes. Shani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.