My faithful readers are getting tired of reading about BUGS. I am so behind in my writing and will add something today. There are a lot of thoughts to share in my head but no one benefits from them unless they are written down. I feel like a Gumby doll being pulled in 20 different directions because there is just not enough of me to go around! Some of you may not even know what a Gumby doll is (my age is showing!) but you can see one here. It is a clay figure that can be stretched several times its size. The summer is flying by and I've made two trips in the last two weeks and have two more upcoming ones in the next two weeks. I usually don't travel four weeks in a row (I don't know how my husband does it every week!) The summer has been filled with swimming, weddings, family reunions, homecomings, family time, guests, and so on. Our oldest son moved back home two weeks ago and we are still "adjusting." (Will explain that in another post.)
Anyway, during my therapy sessions, I discovered why I was having trouble distinguishing the "sh" sound. It is because I am not used to hearing it. I have always pronounced a word the way it was spelled unless someone told me otherwise. Early on, my mother was the one who would chuckle at me and correct me gently. For example, I didn't know as a child to pronounce "sugar" like "sh"ugar. Or "flood" and "blood" was a short "u" sound instead of the long "u" sound. Mom corrected me on those and I've known to say them the correct way. My friends and family have been so used to my speech that I was rarely corrected before my implant and even afterwards. But, now I am consciously aware of the way words sound because I can actually hear them, except the "sh" sound. For example, I was trying to order a salad to go for lunch over the phone and the person on the other end kept asking me to repeat was I was saying. After the fourth or fifth time, she finally understood me. After I got off the phone, Kim, my coworker in the next cubicle came over to my desk and said, "Laurie, it's not "ch"ef salad. It is "sh"ef salad! I have always pronounced the word "chef" with the "ch" sound. No wonder the gal on the phone could not understand me. Kim said "That girl was dumb. She should have known what you were trying to say!" About a week later, Kim caught me mispronouncing another word, which was the word, "machine." Again, I've always pronounced it with the "ch" sound, and not the proper "sh" sound because that is the way it looks when it is written. So, I asked Susie, my therapist, to come up with a list of words where the "ch" masquerades as "sh" sound. Here is what we came up with:
chaise, chef, Cher, chargrin, chalet, chamois, charade, Charlene, Charlotte, chartreuse, chateau, chenille, Cheri, Cheryl, chevron, Chevy, Cheyenne, chiffon, chignon, chandelier, chaperone, Chicago, chivalry, machine, nonchalant, parachute, and cache.
This list blew me away because I do say the "ch" sound for most of them and am trying change. But, some habits are hard to break, especially if I've said them incorrectly for over 40 years! If you think of any more, leave me a comment and I'll add it to the list. Sometimes your friends can be your best therapists!
Monday, August 07, 2006
Monday, July 31, 2006
Splat!
I heard another "new" sound yesterday. I went to Ohio this past weekend to visit relatives and to go to a family reunion. As I was cruising on the highway, I heard bugs hitting my car! I hadn't heard that before. I'll add more to this later because I'm exhausted and need to go to bed. . .
Monday, July 10, 2006
Locusts!
I've discovered a new sound that I don't like. . . .locusts! I have been hearing them for the last few nights but knew they weren't crickets or birds. It is a rather piercing sound. They sound like wheezing bugs with really bad asthma! Jason came home tonight and told me what that sound was. . .more later. . .
Friday, July 07, 2006
Just Me and My Husband
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
July 4th
"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism." Erma Bombeck
Today is the 4th of July. I thought I would start off with a quote from one of my favorite humorists, Erma Bombeck. Erma lived in my hometown of Dayton, Ohio and I think my mom read every single one of her books. I read them, too, as well as her column in the Dayton Daily News, and loved her quick wit. Now that I think about it, I think Erma helped Mom keep her sanity through some of her difficult times. Laughter is truly good medicine! I still have Erma's books and should get them out again.
Some more hearing joys: Fireworks and music are great together! Steve and I went to see the fireworks on Saturday night but we saw them from a distance on purpose to avoid the crowd and traffic. We have a "secret" place in downtown Maryville that is high and overlooks the city and that is where we parked. I brought my knitting along and Steve played his video game on his phone until dark. (Our kids tell us we are "boring old people" but we are quite content to relax and sit with each other!) When the fireworks started, I could hear every pop, crash, boom, and bang even though we were several miles away. The best part was the music on the local radio station in the car that was synchronized with the fireworks show. I even recognized the Star Spangled Banner as it played on the radio and knew when the show was almost over. Our viewing spot turned out to be a perfect balance to listen and watch at the same time. If we had been right underneath the fireworks, it would have been too loud for me and would have drowned out the music on the radio. So, we enjoyed the show and I enjoyed my "independence" of hearing for 8 months!
I'm still discovering "new sounds" but they are gradual over a period of time. My hearing journey seems to level off and then it takes off again in spurts with a new sound or discovery. And then it plateaus again. I'm beginning to feel like a normal hearing person like everyone else and forget that I have a hearing loss. It's amazing how the smallest or simplest changes have made my life a little bit easier. Several weeks ago on Father's Day, Marissa and her boyfriend took us to see the movie, "Cars." I wasn't really crazy about going to the movie theatre again because it is still difficult to understand EVERYTHING without close captioning. I still prefer to watch movies at home. But, watching a show forces me to practice without it and I wanted to spend some time with the family. To my surprise, I was able to hear and understand "car lips" and caught words and phrases here and there. I even heard, "Where is McQueen?" as well as several other phrases. It was enough to help me understand what the movie was about. The movie was a cartoon, which helps because the animation makes the storyline easier to follow. Also, one thing that I did was to switch my processor to the telecoil setting (the one I use for the phone) and the sound in the movie theatre came in much better with the surround sound system. I'm wondering if the theatre has a special "loop" for telecoil and I just happened to discover it. When sounds are too loud or distorted for me, I just switch to telecoil. It seems to work better than the BEAM program in some situations (I do this in church, too.) By the way, the movie is GREAT! It's a wonderful movie for ANY generation. You have to go see it!
Talk Radio: I've been listening to talk radio in the car when I drive. I have NO CLUE what the subject matter is but I'm doing it for auditory practice. I do catch words and phrases here and there. Numbers are the easiest. I hear phrases like "thank you for joining us today", "and now," "I can't believe. . ." "the next song. . ." "brought to you by. . ." - just to name a few. One of these days I'll be able to enjoy a whole program. I've downloaded several Podcasts to my iPod and practice listening to those as well. The advantage to that is that I know what the subject matter is.
Auditory therapy: Still working on k's and t's. I seem to have trouble with them at the BEGINNING of a word (tab - cab, take - cake, tan - can, tap - cap, etc) because I don't have any vowel sound clues. But I get them with no problem at the END of a word (back - bat). When Susie, my audiologist, reads to me I'm understanding most of what she says. (Remember, I'm not reading her lips.) She only has to repeat a word or sentence once or twice if I don't get it. She still slows down her pace for me but is slowly speeding up a little. She found a good website for auditory practice called Focus on English and I work with it at least once a day.
I need to stop and make some Snickerdoodles for Brad before he goes back to Virginia today. Those are his favorite cookies! He flew home on Sunday for two days to be with us for the holiday weekend. It is nice to have him home again. I'll close this entry with a verse from Psalm 33:12, which sums up my 4th of July weekend. "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance. From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind: from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth. . ."
P.S. (Added later. . .) When I tried to let the dogs out before going to bed, they refused to move. No amount of coaxing could get them to go outside. Then I heard some "popping" sounds. Neighborhood firecrackers and fireworks! Riga and Maddie do not like them at all (they're afraid of storms, too.) I even heard the fireworks IN the house - it sounded like popcorn popping!
Today is the 4th of July. I thought I would start off with a quote from one of my favorite humorists, Erma Bombeck. Erma lived in my hometown of Dayton, Ohio and I think my mom read every single one of her books. I read them, too, as well as her column in the Dayton Daily News, and loved her quick wit. Now that I think about it, I think Erma helped Mom keep her sanity through some of her difficult times. Laughter is truly good medicine! I still have Erma's books and should get them out again.
Some more hearing joys: Fireworks and music are great together! Steve and I went to see the fireworks on Saturday night but we saw them from a distance on purpose to avoid the crowd and traffic. We have a "secret" place in downtown Maryville that is high and overlooks the city and that is where we parked. I brought my knitting along and Steve played his video game on his phone until dark. (Our kids tell us we are "boring old people" but we are quite content to relax and sit with each other!) When the fireworks started, I could hear every pop, crash, boom, and bang even though we were several miles away. The best part was the music on the local radio station in the car that was synchronized with the fireworks show. I even recognized the Star Spangled Banner as it played on the radio and knew when the show was almost over. Our viewing spot turned out to be a perfect balance to listen and watch at the same time. If we had been right underneath the fireworks, it would have been too loud for me and would have drowned out the music on the radio. So, we enjoyed the show and I enjoyed my "independence" of hearing for 8 months!
I'm still discovering "new sounds" but they are gradual over a period of time. My hearing journey seems to level off and then it takes off again in spurts with a new sound or discovery. And then it plateaus again. I'm beginning to feel like a normal hearing person like everyone else and forget that I have a hearing loss. It's amazing how the smallest or simplest changes have made my life a little bit easier. Several weeks ago on Father's Day, Marissa and her boyfriend took us to see the movie, "Cars." I wasn't really crazy about going to the movie theatre again because it is still difficult to understand EVERYTHING without close captioning. I still prefer to watch movies at home. But, watching a show forces me to practice without it and I wanted to spend some time with the family. To my surprise, I was able to hear and understand "car lips" and caught words and phrases here and there. I even heard, "Where is McQueen?" as well as several other phrases. It was enough to help me understand what the movie was about. The movie was a cartoon, which helps because the animation makes the storyline easier to follow. Also, one thing that I did was to switch my processor to the telecoil setting (the one I use for the phone) and the sound in the movie theatre came in much better with the surround sound system. I'm wondering if the theatre has a special "loop" for telecoil and I just happened to discover it. When sounds are too loud or distorted for me, I just switch to telecoil. It seems to work better than the BEAM program in some situations (I do this in church, too.) By the way, the movie is GREAT! It's a wonderful movie for ANY generation. You have to go see it!
Talk Radio: I've been listening to talk radio in the car when I drive. I have NO CLUE what the subject matter is but I'm doing it for auditory practice. I do catch words and phrases here and there. Numbers are the easiest. I hear phrases like "thank you for joining us today", "and now," "I can't believe. . ." "the next song. . ." "brought to you by. . ." - just to name a few. One of these days I'll be able to enjoy a whole program. I've downloaded several Podcasts to my iPod and practice listening to those as well. The advantage to that is that I know what the subject matter is.
Auditory therapy: Still working on k's and t's. I seem to have trouble with them at the BEGINNING of a word (tab - cab, take - cake, tan - can, tap - cap, etc) because I don't have any vowel sound clues. But I get them with no problem at the END of a word (back - bat). When Susie, my audiologist, reads to me I'm understanding most of what she says. (Remember, I'm not reading her lips.) She only has to repeat a word or sentence once or twice if I don't get it. She still slows down her pace for me but is slowly speeding up a little. She found a good website for auditory practice called Focus on English and I work with it at least once a day.
I need to stop and make some Snickerdoodles for Brad before he goes back to Virginia today. Those are his favorite cookies! He flew home on Sunday for two days to be with us for the holiday weekend. It is nice to have him home again. I'll close this entry with a verse from Psalm 33:12, which sums up my 4th of July weekend. "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance. From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind: from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth. . ."
P.S. (Added later. . .) When I tried to let the dogs out before going to bed, they refused to move. No amount of coaxing could get them to go outside. Then I heard some "popping" sounds. Neighborhood firecrackers and fireworks! Riga and Maddie do not like them at all (they're afraid of storms, too.) I even heard the fireworks IN the house - it sounded like popcorn popping!
Monday, June 26, 2006
Calling the Eye Doctor
Yesterday and today I woke up with a red and bloodshot eye and it was painful. When I got to work this morning, I decided to call the eye doctor to see if I could get in to see him today or tomorrow. When the receptionist answered the phone, I heard her introduction and told her who I was. She asked me several questions and I had no trouble understanding her. (I did have to ask her to slow down but once she did that I was fine.) She asked if I was in pain - Yes. "Is it itching?" No. "Is it watery?" No. "How long has this been happening?" Two days. "What is your date of birth?" Four-one-fifty seven. "Okay, I'll check with the Dr. and we'll call you back. What is your phone number?" I gave her my home and cell phone numbers. A little later, my cell phone rang and it was Lisa, the nurse. She asked me the same questions again and told me that I needed to come in NOW. I said, Now? "Yes, NOW!" So, I had to drop everything at work and run the the doctor's office. I do have an eye infection but it is not pink eye. I was afraid it was contagious and wouldn't be able to go back to work but it's okay. I'm not thrilled about my eye giving me problems because I depend on my vision to be my "eyes" AND "ears". When it comes to my eyesight, I don't take any chances with it.
This afternoon I heard a phone ringing near my desk. We have caller ID on our phones at work and I looked over to see if someone was calling me. All I saw was June but it didn't look like it was an incoming call. I thought maybe I missed a call from June, our receptionist at the front desk. Then I realized that I was looking at the date, June 26th! I got up and located the source of the phone ringing. It was my coworker's cell phone in the next cubicle!
When I got home, I called Jayne, my new audiologist. The LED screen on my processor is not working right and I cannot see what programs or settings I am on. The only way I can tell is by listening to the beeps and tones when I wear it. Cochlear is sending me a new one and it is covered under warranty. Luckily I have my extra processor so I am wearing it.
The house is quiet tonight with just me and Riga. Steve is on another business trip and Marissa is at work. Jason took Maddie back to Alabama with him this afternoon and I miss her already. But, now Riga can have all the attention instead of having to share it with her! We are expecting some storms tonight so hopefully I'll be able to sit on the porch to watch them come in and listen to the rain and the birds (they get extremely noisy before a storm.) Every new day with my "ears" is Christmas for me!
This afternoon I heard a phone ringing near my desk. We have caller ID on our phones at work and I looked over to see if someone was calling me. All I saw was June but it didn't look like it was an incoming call. I thought maybe I missed a call from June, our receptionist at the front desk. Then I realized that I was looking at the date, June 26th! I got up and located the source of the phone ringing. It was my coworker's cell phone in the next cubicle!
When I got home, I called Jayne, my new audiologist. The LED screen on my processor is not working right and I cannot see what programs or settings I am on. The only way I can tell is by listening to the beeps and tones when I wear it. Cochlear is sending me a new one and it is covered under warranty. Luckily I have my extra processor so I am wearing it.
The house is quiet tonight with just me and Riga. Steve is on another business trip and Marissa is at work. Jason took Maddie back to Alabama with him this afternoon and I miss her already. But, now Riga can have all the attention instead of having to share it with her! We are expecting some storms tonight so hopefully I'll be able to sit on the porch to watch them come in and listen to the rain and the birds (they get extremely noisy before a storm.) Every new day with my "ears" is Christmas for me!
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