The Oven Timer

I love to cook. Cooking has always been enjoyable for me, whether it is trying new recipes or cooking for my family and friends. But, every now and then I managed to burn or overcook food because I could not hear the oven timer go off. It was always too quiet or soft and someone would have to shout at me to go turn it off. When my CI was first activated, you'll remember the confusion I had between the dishwasher and oven timer when I heard it the first time (I was running the dishwasher and thought the beeping of the oven timer was a dish clicking in the dishwasher.) Now I know what it sounds like but still needed to stay close by in the kitchen to hear it go off. Last night I was making rice on the stove and went in the family room to watch TV for a little bit. I kept hearing a beeping noise while I was scanning the TV for movies to watch and realized that it was the timer. I heard it from the other room! Now my next step is to be able to hear it from upstairs. I'm finding that I am more aware of certain sounds without even trying to listen to them.

I went to the eye doctor earlier this week to have my eyes checked. I've noticed that my vision has changed this past year. While sitting in the room in the chair waiting for the doctor to come in, I heard the clock ticking on the wall. It was the only sound in room. Before, the room would have been silent for me. Not anymore. I experimented with my processor and went from program to program to see if I could hear the clock ticking on all of them. I only heard the clock in P1 (Whisper) and P2 (Autosensitivity) but did not hear it in P3 (my program with no options) or P4 (Background). After that discovery I've been keeping my processor on P2 most of the time. That may be why I picked up the oven timer sound. Before, I would spend most of my day on P3 or P4 but apparently those two programs are not letting me hear some of the quieter sounds. Like my experience at the dentist office, I was able to respond to the eye doctor's questions in the dark without having to look at him.

I haven't heard anything yet from Dr. Merwin about going bilateral. But, I did read something interesting (and it was posted today) and would like to share it with my readers. I follow several other CI blogs and just happened to read Michael Chorost's entry for today about going bilateral. Click on his link to the right of this blog and read his March 4th entry. He could very well be telling my story. (His book is WONDERFUL.) I've made several friends online who have cochlear implants and it amazes me how much we are so alike and yet so different in our hearing experiences. But we all want the same results with our CI's - better hearing. The more I think and meditate about going bilateral, the more it makes sense. God gave us two eyes, two legs, two arms, and two ears for a reason. For example, I need a new prescription for my eyes. We are not going to just replace the lens in one eye. It only makes sense to do both. So, why not fix "two ears?" So, I will keep praying and waiting on God. We are so fearfully and wonderfully made and I know that He will answer my prayer in His time. I will wait and "listen". . .

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1