Steven asked me to write another post as he thought people might be interested in hearing about his progress since having the implant, from someone else’s perspective.
It’s been a couple of months now since the operation and I find it difficult to clearly explain how enormous the change has been for the two of us! After the second day of switch on, the progress was rapid. The audiologists and rehab team were very surprised by it. I was less so, perhaps because I have nothing to compare it to, and also because I always believed that Steven’s blindness would force faster progress, as he wouldn’t be able to lipread.
So what has changed? Well the first thing that happened was that Steven stood at the top of the stairs one day and called me. He asked me something and I replied without thinking, but he heard. I was astonished! We carried on talking like that for a little while, just for the novelty! Next I started to notice Steven hearing the tv. He took great delight in repeating to me some of the dialogue that he had picked up. My dad took Steven to one of the rehab appointments, and Steven stayed the night with my parents on the day before. He gave my mum the shock of her life by suddenly answering one of the questions on her favourite quiz show “The Chase”! She poked my dad and announced “He’s hearing this!” much to Steven’s amusement 🙂 Tv listening is even better with the Phonak tv Link, an amazing little gadget which Steven is going to do a post about soon. More and more of these things have been happening and we’re now starting to forget how difficult everything was in the past!
An unexpected but understandable side-effect of the implant, is that Steven’s energy levels are significantly better. He no longer needs extra sleep during the day, because he isn’t straining to hear everything and exhausting himself. Another is that he just feels more part of the world. He can hear and join in with banter, for example chatting with the lady at the train ticket desk and joking with the man at our local post office. That was something which used to really bother him before, the fact that people might think him rude, or that they would be embarrassed and unwilling to repeat what they had said. This has been strange for me, as I am so used to repeating everything that anyone says. Now Steven regularly says, “Yes, I heard!” when I do it out of habit. We need to come up with a signal to indicate when I should do it, as occasionally in noisy situations, he still needs me to, although it’s rare! This has given him confidence, and he recently insisted in going to the door to collect a take-away we had ordered, and easily spoke to the delivery man 🙂
If I was to try and say what I love most about the impact of Steven’s implant, I would probably pick out two things. The first would be conversation. I love that it has allowed him to chat to his mum and my family more easily, as well as casual chit-chat with people he encounters when he’s out and about. It’s also nice that he can chat to me more easily in slightly noisier situations, like restaurants. The second would be how much it has opened up his world. Before the implant, he was able to access the world only via his amazing Braille display. So many things that he enjoyed were lost to him. Now, he has regained many activities: talk radio, football commentary, watching some tv, listening to live darts, listening to the news, listening to podcasts, as well as hearing the screen reader on his computer more easily. Perhaps most important of these things was listening to audiobooks. I remember crying when Steven told me one day that he really couldn’t hear them any more, especially when it was so bad that he cancelled his Audible subscription. It makes me really happy that he has that back.
So what’s still hard? Very noisy situations, or a lot people chatting are both still tricky, although nowhere near as much as before. Music is difficult, although he can get some enjoyment from it. Direction is also still tricky. He is often not sure where I am from my voice, something which will change when he has the second implant. He also still struggles with strong accents.
All in all, the implant has made a huge difference to Steven’s life, and by association, mine and I will always be grateful to all those who got us to this point.
Hearing Again 