UAC

This last week I attended the Utah Adoption Conference.  It was so nice to just sit and listen and absorb all the great information.  And I got CEU's.  Bonus!  I've always loved conferences but I've had to use an assistive listening device for the last 5 years or so to get anything out of them.  Now that I'm doing so well in situations like that, I do not need an ALD.  I still sit near the front and I still focus on the speaker's face so I can lip read but the volume of the speakers voice is usually enough.  I listened to about 8 different speakers and did excellent with 7 of them.  One not so much but my coworkers got all the info so I can glean from them.  It's just so nice to sit and listen without having to work as hard to hear.  However, I'm still so far from hearing if noise is introduced.  During one of the conference sessions, a row of DCFS workers sat behind me and they became disruptive about half way through the session.  They laughed and joked and made fun of the speaker.  It was all very unprofessional and very rude.  And I couldn't figure out how to make my brain silence them and continue to focus on the speaker.  Looking back, I wish I would have just turned around and put them in their place.  In the moment, I was using all my energy to try to understand the speaker.  I am really looking forward to getting my second CI.  I think that is what I need to be able to do well in noisy situations.  The CI team submitted the request to my insurance last week I think.  So in two to three weeks, we anticipate an answer and then will work on an appeal (we are assuming the request will be denied).