I have decided to pay attention to what the differences are in Chance's hearing now that one of the implants is not functioning at full capacity.
We don't know exactly what he is hearing out of that left ear, but we do know it is not functioning at full capacity.
Chance says he notices the loss particulary when he listens to his ipod. He says the left ear is really quiet and isn't hearing much at all. Listening to an i pod would be a prime opportunity to experience how well your ears are working. I know we had a couple sets of headphones bouncing around the house for a while and in one set the left earbud was broken. I picked up that pair to use a few times not realizing one side was broken. It annoyed me to only have one side working. Sure, I could hear fine out of the right side, but the music quality and sound was so much better when both earbuds contributed to the sound. I didn't like to use them and ended up throwing them away.
Chance has started a new school which is quite intense and expects a lot out of the kids. This is Chance's first year attending so he has to listen and pay attention to the rules and expectations. He is having to put more effort into hearing what is going on in class and since the environment is new, he can not rely on what he already knows. All of teachers are new, the school building is new and all of the students are new to him.
Chance is doing well, though he has been experiencing some anxiety and I can tell that he is making great strides to try and understand and catch everything. He came home one day and told me that he was only able to complete 3/4 of an assignment in one class and then he said,"I want to get a 4.0 and the teacher would not let me finish the assignment and turn it in later in the day!"
Chance also said that the quizes in class have been hard for him to understand in a few subjects, so we worked out with the special ed teacher that Chance can come in and take quizes in her office if he needs to.
At home, Chance is asking us "what" a lot more often. He still catches a lot, but both the family and Chance have to claify more often.
I have noticed when we are talking about something that happened at school with his brother or when we are telling a story or recounting an event, Chance asks, "Who? " or "Now what happened?" I find I am repeating things much more often. Just simple things like who is going to the movies or what needs to be done before we can leave the house.
Chance can still hear, and I know that many people have only one implant all of the time. I have been able to see how having that second implant adds to and enhances Chance's hearing. Chance can be more relaxed as he listens with two implants, he doesn't have to work as hard to hear and he just naturally catches more. Chance also is more bothered by background noise with just one implant.
Chance has been more tired, and I think it has to do with the fact that it is taking more of his brain capacity to hear now. He fell asleep while doing homework one night which is very unChancelike. It wasn't just a nodding off either, it was a zoned out dead to the world kind of sleep.
1 comment:
I think your experience with the malfunctioning ear bud really does show what it's like to only use one ear. Two ears make a huge difference. I bet everyone, including Chance is really getting anxious to get the new one on and mapped! Can't wait to hear how that goes. My new N5's were so much louder, and that was an adjustment for me. On top of that, I didn't have to go a month or longer without hearing optimally. So I expect an adjustment period, but I bet in short order he will be doing fabulous! :)
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