I admit...

... that it's been hard to post recently. I've been pretty busy to be honest, and, frankly, I am not having those gigantic leaps of hearing improvement I used to have. This does not mean that I haven't noticed some fine details changing.

For instance, it had been a couple of months since I heard my Queen music, and I happened to listen to Bohemian Rhapsody the other day. I did notice an improvement in the quality of the sound, and I understood the lyrics somewhat better. I have a better concept of 'environmental' sounds too - the sound of a washing machine in the other room - the humming of the friddge, even the sound of water rustling down the pipes when I'm in the garage.

Some things aren't much better and frankly I don't see them ever improving. I still have difficulty in understanding people in bars, for instance, when the light is low, there's lots of background noise and when there are lots of groups of people, but I still manage to get on more or less.

I'm also finding a bit of a confidence to receive phone calls from overseas - the other day I had a call with someone from Holland which I followed (I didn't have the guts to make the call myself - I'm still trying to build up the confidence for that).. but slowly but surely....

Hope all my readers are all OK and the people who had their implant are benefitting from it like I did!

Phone calls

All of a sudden, in a trickle, I've been getting more confidence in using the phone. I've been OK with using it with family and friends but have been relatively reluctant to use it at work. Some habits die hard I guess. What I've tried to do is basically get used to using the phone with people who know me and are comfortable with my hearing loss, and then moving to other people. Well, with much sweating and a bit of trepidation I called a colleague of mine overseas a couple of times this week - as well as colleagues in-house. One slight problem - when I make an internal phone call at the office, I don't hear my voice. When I call outside, I do. I wonder why?

Anyway, quite a step for me because the phone is vital in my job.

For Yana

I just received a lovely comment on the blog from Yana. I thought I'd reply through here as the information might be useful for other people too. Firstly, Yana - I wish you the very best of luck, I'm sure you'll manage. It's not easy - if anything it's quite hard. And it's NOT hearing normally again. Anything but. In extremes of sound for instance (very loud or very faint) sounds are very electronic and almost unpleasant but it depends on how you see it. I like to see my cup as half full and not half empty and that's the approach you need.

Anyway here are the Q&As!

1) Did you have to do rehabilitation with a speech therapist?

No I didn't. Since I lost my hearing post linguistically, I didn't really need a speech therapist, but some people I know who lost their hearing pre-linguistically, especially children, need a therapist.

2) How long do your batteries last?

They last anything between 2 - 2.5 days, depending on the programme I use. The more specialised programs are much more power thirsty. Also, when I'm in noisy environments they last last. Last but not least, since my implant I've flown about 10 times, and I've had battery failure on 3 of the flights, so I'm not sure if exposure to cabin pressure has something to do with batteries going flat faster.

3) Did you insure your implant?

No. Firstly insurance of the sort is quite hard to get in Malta, and secondly, repairs are dealt with through the cochlear implant programme I form part of.

4) Have you had a part of it break and who gets to pay for repairs in this case?

So far, no! *gulp* It's a bit scary as I'd have to wait for a replacement to be sent if such a thing happened.

5) I gather you didn't hear very much before.

Alas, very little. I lost my hearing at 13, but I managed quite well with a hearing aid. Then 2 1/2 years ago it went all pear shaped as I suddenly lost much of what I have left. What caused it? Well, no cut and dried answer for that. Some doctors think that my mother was exposed to measles when she was pregnant with me, and the virus was dormant in my ears waiting for an ear infection to take place. When the infection happened, bingo! I lost my hearing!

Do keep in touch, if you have any other queries, drop me a line here and I'll reply. My email address is i_carabott at yahoo dot com.

Football game

A couple of day ago, I was at the National Stadium at Ta' Qali to watch a football game - my first since the implant. AC Milan had a training camp in Malta and I decided to attend the game against a local club, Birkirkara (the score was 5-0 for Milan, in case anyone is interested).

The noise was absolutely astounding! I was amazed to actually hear an announcer in the stadium - I didn't know such things actually happen. I didn't understand very much - I think that's beyond the capacities of the implant what with the hubub of 17,000 people talking, but it was an interesting experience. When there were lulls in the stadium I could hear the players calling to each other, the referee's whistle, even the punting sound of the ball. There were also some funny points - such as people insulting the Italian players in Maltese (or as it was a particular Brazilian and also a Dutchman who weren't playing very sportingly for what was a friendly game), the prodigious swearing was also quite distinct for me. And the sound when people scored - now that's what's interesting. It actually sounded quite weedy compared to what I was used to with a hearing aid. My reasoning is that it was due to the implant automatically cutting down the volume to avoid damage to my nerve.