Speaking of getting in the car, I finally got back into the groove of driving on my own again without becoming nauseous or dizzy, getting headaches, or anything. Let’s see…in my last post, I discussed my first week recovering which was dated June 13-20 (Monday-Monday). That following Wednesday, June 23, I got to drive a little bit around town. I was feeling pretty confident and only struggled looking towards the left side as it was still tight around my right ear. Looking into my blindspots is when I’m feeling the skin stretch! This is going away each day.
I completed all of my work duties for the end of the school year. Peter drove me to several schools so I could say my good-byes, pick up amplification equipment, clean up my desk area at the office and complete my end-of-the-year checkout with my supervisor. I passed with flying colors! I was happy to see some of my coworkers and when I got to my desk at the office, I got a little surprise! Some of my coworkers boxed in and decorated my desk; they even had a little “Electrode Express” crown for me to wear.
I know I got really tired working for a couple of hours and being in the car for awhile. I learned that I was becoming tired easily, not only because I was becoming busy again, but because I’m having to work harder to concentrate on conversations using one “good ear.” I was telling my mom about this and she shared how it reminded her of how I came home from school at a young age. I was exhausted, because I was concentrating very hard, so I could understand spoken language and follow the sign language interpreter in the classroom, and learn new information.
Post-Op Appointment
Thursday, June 24, I had my post-op appointment in Baltimore with the surgeon. I wasn’t feeling 100% confident in making that drive myself and Peter had to work. Fortunately, Marla was able to take me. It was a fun mini-trip to Baltimore with her! We got to catch up on things. After arriving to the outpatient center at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Della Santina met with me. He looked at my ear and decided to pull out the rest of my stitches. The bruising was slowly going away. I got to watch him on the screen. It looks like there’s a camera on his surgical head-light or ear scope. I got to see inside of my ear, which meant I got to see my eardrum again (by the way, my ears are very clean!) He had to check my balance system in my ear. I HATED THIS PART! His assistant did this prior to coming in, and he did it for the second time. He asked me to look at his nose, and while I did that, he grabbed my face and jerked it to the right, then the left, then the left again, then right, etc. I wasn’t allowed to take my eyes off his nose. He was able to determine my balance doing this. I got a headache after this as I was still struggling with sudden movements. We continued to discuss everything, including how I was feeling. His instructions were to continue cleaning and taking care of the incision, take it easy, especially with driving, and keep an eye out for symptoms of vertigo. In a couple of weeks, the incision will be completely healed and the activation will take place on July 12!
By the way, he said the ringing in the ear should go away when the implant is activated and the numbness could last about a year.
I took it easy the next few days. Peter continues to learn a lot of new signs in order to better our conversations–he continues to amaze me with his motivation and support! I got to FaceTime with some friends, had some visitors from my Gallaudet ladies and got to have a movie marathon. It was much needed! I got out of the apartment more often, and went to the pool. I couldn’t get my hair wet, but it was nice to enjoy the beautiful weather. Things were getting better each day. I wanted to experiment with my implanted side. I took out my left hearing aid, and put on my right hearing aid. I couldn’t hear anything. Peter said my name over and over again, louder each time. By the time he raised his voice, almost as if he was yelling, I was able to hear a quiet, deep, muffled sound, “BABE!” It was so weird! It’s truly amazing to hear that the surgeons today try to preserve whatever hearing you have left when doing the implantation, not that I have a lot of natural hearing left!
Deaf Education Conference
recently went to Richmond, Virginia, for a conference for Deaf and Hard of Hearing teachers. This conference is called ODUP: Opening Doors Unlocking Potential. As part of this conference, we provided a day for parents and students who are in high school; this was called OD2LBHS (Opening Doors To Life Beyond High School). I was asked to open up the conference by presenting my experiences as a Deaf individual and how I transitioned to college and into the real world. Fortunately, this blog helped guide my presentation. I got to share with parents, teachers and Deaf/Hard of Hearing high schoolers my experiences in school, what accommodations and amplification equipment I utilized, my IEP, transitioning to college, jobs I worked, how I learned to drive, advocating and receiving accessibility in the real world, etc.
recently went to Richmond, Virginia, for a conference for Deaf and Hard of Hearing teachers. This conference is called ODUP: Opening Doors Unlocking Potential. As part of this conference, we provided a day for parents and students who are in high school; this was called OD2LBHS (Opening Doors To Life Beyond High School). I was asked to open up the conference by presenting my experiences as a Deaf individual and how I transitioned to college and into the real world. Fortunately, this blog helped guide my presentation. I got to share with parents, teachers and Deaf/Hard of Hearing high schoolers my experiences in school, what accommodations and amplification equipment I utilized, my IEP, transitioning to college, jobs I worked, how I learned to drive, advocating and receiving accessibility in the real world, etc.
This was a fun conference as we were able to network with other parents and teachers from all over the state of Virginia. I got to spend a lot of time with my undergraduate cohort from Radford University and see familiar faces. I feel that this was a special conference as I was there with my own Deaf/Hard of Hearing teacher, Miss Connie. I like to think of this conference as a mini reunion for all Deaf Educators, where most of them learned about my cochlear implant decision and journey. We also continued to learn new methodologies and information regarding teaching Deaf and Hard of Hearing students.
A funny story: while we were at the conference, I was really curious about where the magnet was on my skull. My coworker, Karen, used metal things such as hair clips, bobby pins, and paper clips to see if the magnet inside would attract it. It all failed. We explored the different booths that were set up outside of the conference (information booths for Deaf Educators). There was the booth from Cochlear Americas (the company I decided to go with for my cochlear implant) and they had their demo kit. Their demo processors were magnetic. I tried using their demo processors but I felt awkward trying to locate the magnet in front of everyone so I put it back. After the conference was over, Karen and I decided to go to the craft store to see if we could find a magnet that would attract to it. Using an unraveled magnetic strip, she moved it across my head but it didn’t stick. Hesitantly, we decided to use super strong magnets. Karen moved the pack of magnets across my head and it finally stuck to it. HOUSTON! WE FOUND THE MAGNET! I wanted to see it for myself, so we decided to get the pack of magnets and get some minion ribbon (there’s a minion obsession among my supervisor and coworkers). When returning to the hotel, we took the ribbon and tied it on one of the magnets, making a bow. At first, it wasn’t sticking to my head and it was repelling. We flipped the magnet around, fixed up the bow and it finally stuck to my head. This was really exciting! I even got pictures!!!
Beach Trip
After returning from Richmond, I only had less than 24-hours to rest before Peter and I took off to Delaware for our vacation. We decided to spend the 4th of July holiday at Bethany Beach with his family. This was a wonderful trip and I was finally feeling relaxed! I do have to share one thing that I struggled with while we were visiting the beach. I got to spend time with Peter’s family, and met new faces, but none of them signs.. It was really hard to follow multiple conversations, especially with one ear. Peter tried hard to sign and keep me informed, but it just wasn’t enough. Even though it was hard, his mom and sisters entertained me, asked me a lot of questions regarding the implant process, and how to sign things. While we were at the beach, of course I wasn’t wearing my hearing aid, but his nephews and sisters continued to ask how to sign things. It’s really nice knowing that his family is interested and willing to pick up on some signs to better communicate with me. I was getting exhausted again from following conversations; after everyone left, I got to rest for awhile. We got to spend the fourth of July on the beach, but our firework show was cancelled due to the yucky, rainy weather. We all decided to spend the evening hanging out by the beach, but I left early. I found it hard, and almost impossible, to follow conversations in the dark, with the waves crashing onto shore, and with one “good ear”. Peter was feeling badly about my not being able to be part of the conversation, so the group came back to the beach house where there was light and I could be a part of the fun. In spite of the challenges I faced, this was still an amazing trip. Our firework show was postponed to the next night, and was shot off about half of a mile from where we sat on the beach. I got to experience watching them on the beach with one hearing aid in, and it sounded like popcorn popping in the microwave. I was able to relax on the beach, got sun-kissed, swam in the ocean, saw dolphins and horseshoe crabs (I had a horseshoe crab crawl across my feet and I freaked out!), explored new places, ate delicious food and, of course, my all time favorite, SHOPPED! I was growing to like and become more comfortable with Peter’s family.
After returning from Richmond, I only had less than 24-hours to rest before Peter and I took off to Delaware for our vacation. We decided to spend the 4th of July holiday at Bethany Beach with his family. This was a wonderful trip and I was finally feeling relaxed! I do have to share one thing that I struggled with while we were visiting the beach. I got to spend time with Peter’s family, and met new faces, but none of them signs.. It was really hard to follow multiple conversations, especially with one ear. Peter tried hard to sign and keep me informed, but it just wasn’t enough. Even though it was hard, his mom and sisters entertained me, asked me a lot of questions regarding the implant process, and how to sign things. While we were at the beach, of course I wasn’t wearing my hearing aid, but his nephews and sisters continued to ask how to sign things. It’s really nice knowing that his family is interested and willing to pick up on some signs to better communicate with me. I was getting exhausted again from following conversations; after everyone left, I got to rest for awhile. We got to spend the fourth of July on the beach, but our firework show was cancelled due to the yucky, rainy weather. We all decided to spend the evening hanging out by the beach, but I left early. I found it hard, and almost impossible, to follow conversations in the dark, with the waves crashing onto shore, and with one “good ear”. Peter was feeling badly about my not being able to be part of the conversation, so the group came back to the beach house where there was light and I could be a part of the fun. In spite of the challenges I faced, this was still an amazing trip. Our firework show was postponed to the next night, and was shot off about half of a mile from where we sat on the beach. I got to experience watching them on the beach with one hearing aid in, and it sounded like popcorn popping in the microwave. I was able to relax on the beach, got sun-kissed, swam in the ocean, saw dolphins and horseshoe crabs (I had a horseshoe crab crawl across my feet and I freaked out!), explored new places, ate delicious food and, of course, my all time favorite, SHOPPED! I was growing to like and become more comfortable with Peter’s family.
We’re back home now and as I type this blog, I catch myself reminiscing other things that I discovered.
I feel like I’m able to “fully understand” how my unilateral students feel. I would have to say localizing sounds is really challenging. I’m always looking to my left side when I hear something or when my name is being called. Sometimes, the sounds are coming from my right side, but I only hear it on my left side. One night, Peter and I were on the couch watching T.V. together. He was sitting on my left side (as usual, I’m always sitting on someone’s right side because of my “good ear” facing them) and I must have been super focused with the T.V. show. I don’t remember his getting up to go into the kitchen. When he called out for my attention, I looked over to my left and he was gone. He called out again, and I looked over to my right and there he was, standing right there. Another time, when I went out on a walk and I heard sirens coming up the road, I looked over to my left and realized that the ambulance passed me on my right side.
Another thing, I’m not sure how many people recognize this, but I was Skyping with my mom one night and she shared with me that there’s a little decline in my speech. I’m getting a little paranoid, but I think this is to be expected? She said that it almost sounds like I have a cold and am missing on pronouncing high frequency sounds, such as /s/, /st/, /ts/, /ct/, /z/ sounds when I talk. I asked a couple of others if they noticed anything, and after I mentioned it, they paid attention more and said the same thing. I’m not sure that this is a big deal though…
Now it’s time to wrap up this blog entry, and start focusing on some lesson plans for summer school. I’m excited to be teaching preschool this summer! I have 9 signing kiddos on my caseload. Our theme is “Going for the Gold: Summer Olympics.” I have so many ideas bouncing around my head and I need to jot them down before they escape.
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