Nancy
Perron
Copyright 2000
What a trip!! Wide open spaces, CD playing easy listening music, air condition keeping it comfortably cool at times. Weather was beautiful. And this was my first long trip alone in years. And a real test for the cochlear implant.
I have had the implant for 18 months now and life has improved in so many ways that I am still astonished at what I pick up soundwise as well as interacting communication-wise.
I was on the way to Michigan, my home state, from New Hampshire, for a two week visit to be with my sister and nephew while they underwent a kidney transplant (sister was a donor for her son).
It was great to stop at rest areas and get gas or make purchases and actually hear what was said without guessing or to answer a question and hear the whole question!!
What was even more amazing is when I crossed into Canada and had to stop at the border and listen to the agents there. I heard them...now with hearing aids I would be petrified that I would hear something incorrectly and get pulled over, but both times, coming and going, I could hear them distinctively and it just made me feel so good.
And when I got home to Michigan and visited with various relatives, they were amazed at what I could now hear, and the various situations I was in and still could understand what was said.
I mean, my Dad sat behind me in the back seat of the car and I could hear him without lipreading and having to turn around!! I was the driver and didn't even have to look in the rearview mirror to understand his question or information he was stating. It just "floored" me! I have had this only 18 months and already I am communicating in ways I never thought would be possible in my lifetime. Most certainly not with hearing aids.
Again, the clarity and sharpness of the voices I hear everyday and in phone conversations has surpassed what my wildest aspirations could imagine. Calling back to New Hampshire while I was away was so easy as well.
Life on the highway is easier now. Traveling is a zip. Conversations are so much easier in the car or any vehicle for that matter. Music, easy listening at least, is nice and mellow. But music for me is an ongoing development. Speech and language right now is my mainstay and it is great.
And to top this off, I am going back to Michigan in August with my son. My Mom is not in the best of health at this time, so I am going for one last visit before the summer ends. My college daughter is also in Michigan working this summer...she needs a "hitch" home. And I will expect this trip to be just as graceful and easy going as the May trip.
And the traveling bug has just bitten big time!!!!!
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