What can I do that I couldn't do last week? This is a tricky question for me because you have to pay attention to your hearing. I was coming down the stairs last Friday from the library on my way to pick up my fifth grade class to bring them to computers. However, as I was on the stairs I heard a teacher saying to her class to be quiet in line. For someone who relies on reading lips, this was GREAT!!! I told the teacher I could hear you all the way from the second floor(where the library was located) and she understood why because she knew about my cochlear implant!
I am going to try and be more reflective here. I have noticed in terms of my hearing journey that after dinner during the weekdays , I tend to take my cochlear implants off. I think it is because I am so bombarded with noises that my brain (the one with the new cochlear implant) is overwhelmed. However, I feel like I should try to diminish the length of how long I keep them off. How? I am going to do what I have always loved to do even when I was a kid. READ!! I am going to continue reading my books on kindle online with just my left cochlear implant. I need to recognize that I have superpowers. Two of them! Two cochlear implants and realize that they both need practice hearing and to be patient. In addition, my superpowers allow me to talk with others about my experiences and to encourage them to explore their options. I just met with a friend of mine at a hearing loss conference who told me that she was considering getting a 2nd cochlear implant and she told me she was so happy to talk to me because she felt better knowing what the surgical process entailed.
I didn't realize I haven't posted in a while! I have been so busy !!! What have I been busy doing? I am a teacher so I have ten more days left of school and it has been hectic trying to wrap up fourth quarter.
I have been busy trying to fundraise for our annual Chicago Walk4Hearing this coming September. If you have not attended, please do. I highly recommend it. It is so great to see so many wearing hearing aids and cochlear implants. It reminds me that I am not alone in my journey.
I also was invited to a meeting to meet those work for the Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission based in Springfield. It was great to hear about them and what they do. It was also nice to meet new people of other organizations.
I went to Aldi the other day. I love ALDI! This guy came up to me and asked me about my cochlear implants! He introduced me to his wife. It was so funny having complete strangers talk to me about my cochlear implants but I would rather have people ask me questions about them than stare at me. It turned out he had a granddaughter who was 7 and had cochlear implants. We were talking about sign, lipreading, speech therapy and it was so great to be able to talk about my experience with them.
My kindergartners have been asking what are those things on my ears so I am going to bring in my children's book I made in college that talks about my cochlear implants. I will keep you posted.
'Til next time,
Deirdre Me at top of stairs near library hearing a P.E teacher
P.E. teacher was behind those doors talking to her students
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