One Year Anniversary

On January 5, 2013, it was my one year activation anniversary.  I had the best of intentions to write an entire post about the year's journey.  Not going to happen!  Instead I am just going to put links of the journey so that anyone interested can just click and read on what they want to read.

Surgery

Activation Day

My husband's version of activation day

The hardest phase of being newly activated

Back to work

Hearing human again

Hearing test at 2 months post activation

3 months out

8 months post activation

The benefits of a CI to a mom

The Holidays

Here are the lovely 17 people I had in my home for three weeks over the holidays.  I know it's already February but I just barely feel like I am starting to catch up!

First, my successes.  I first picked up my older brother and his family from the airport.  They flew in from Italy.  I understood my brother and his wife very well.  Their kids, not so much because their accents are so thick.  However, I did well enough that I probably heard at least ten times that night "I can't believe you just heard me say that!"  Score!  Next I picked up my younger brother and his family from the aiport.  They also commented several times they could not believe how well I was hearing them.  The true test came home on the way home from the aiport.  It was 12:30 at night.  We were all tired.  My sister in law, Anyi, talked to me from the seat behind me most of the trip back.  She would ask me a question and I could respond correctly.  I asked her questions and could hear a response.  She did have to repeat herself a couple of different times but overall, we were able to converse pretty freely.  One reason why this is so amazing is because I never once could read her lips or facial expressions as I was driving and she was behind me.  Another reason why this is so amazing is because she is from the Dominican Republic and has a very strong accent.  (I have a very international family, I am the only one who married an American, though marriage to a man from Rexburg, Idaho certainly feels like I married a foriegner sometimes!)

I'll admit it.  I absolutely loved how much they complimented my new hearing abilities.  It was so fun.  Surprisingly, all the background noise of 9 kids did not take away from my ability to take part in conversations.  I felt so connected to my family and so much more invested in the happenings around me.

After everyone went home, the clean up process and room restoration process began.  Within a coule of days, the kids got sick.  Very sick.  They just had the flu (Influenza B if you want to get technical) but it was a horrible version of the flu and it knocked them out for days and days and days!  They are now back to normal and we are now starting to resume and get back to normal again.  So now it's time to do some catch up on the blog.