2 years and 2 months afterwards...

and I love my Cochlear Implant more than ever before.. There's a few reasons for this, which I'll go into now...

1. I can watch "I'm a Celebrity Get me out of Here" without the subtitles! I can hear what Ant and Dec are saying, without the subtitles.. This is a challenge in itself because of their Geordie accents!

2. I have been doing an Introduction to Child and Adolescent Counselling for the past 9 weeks and I've been using my FM system (radio aid for the oldies out there!) to help me hear the lecturer better. The FM system works by a microphone and receiver principle, so the lecturer wears the microphone and the receivers are little wireless things plugged into my Hearing Aid and Cochlear Implant. So it sounds like the lecturer is standing right next to me because I can hear every breath she takes and word she says. I've been so happy every Thursday because I can take notes and listen to what she is saying, without having to lipread!!! I can sit there like a normal hearing person and stare out of the window, or fiddle with my fingernails or watch everybody else in the room and still hear what is being said... Of course it helps that the lecturer has a clear speaking voice and there is no background noise bar the hum of the computer and projector.

3. I've been to see an unsubtitled film at the cinema!! I went to see Saw 6 with my boyfriend and apart from not being able to hear the voice on the tapes played in the film, I could follow the storyline and hear what the characters said. It's the first time in 6 years I have been to the cinema and been unrestricted by the subtitled film timings/day. I don't think I could do the same with a crime thriller or a fast paced film where there is lots of information in the audio, but still - it's so liberating and great!

The only downside to having much better hearing than before is the fact that a skill of mine is getting worse... Lip-reading. Without my HA and CI on in the morning or any other time of day, I cannot lip-read my boyfriend! It's because my ears are doing all the hard work now, not my eyes... However hard I try to read his lips, the things I come out with are totally wrong and sometimes hilarious and I go straight to get my HA and CI to put them on because it's hopeless! I'm a little sad about this, because lip-reading is a skill I really value, something I have been doing all my life and I hope it doesn't get any worse - but it's a small price to pay for the above benefits!