Day 2
Today was supposed to be my 2nd tuning day in London. But I couldn't go, for those who know these terms they'll know why: 'train' and 'somebody jumped the line', so I ended up staying at home.
Initially, I was disappointed to smithereens. Commiseratively, I turned on the TV to watch snooker. The balls...whoa...'P-CKK!'...echoing 'P-CKK-K' - if anything, they sound exactly how I remember them.
With a rise of happiness over this simple issue, I suddenly felt ambitious and stared wantingly at the CD player; 'Your mine...' I whacked in my favourite album of all time, The Prodigy's 'Experience'. The first track I promised myself to play, although with utmost, involuntary pleasure, I played 'Weather Experience'.
The music started off...'swiiiiiiiirrrlllLLllLLllllll, bmm, bmm, bmm, bmm... 'Wales, and in the more central and southern parts, it'll be a fine dry day...(etc)'...bmm, bmm, bmm, bmm..........der-der-der,bmmmmm, der-der-der, der-der-der, bmmmm, der-der-der...' A tsunami-style wave of shivers over took my body and as soon as the drum beats came in, I burst into tears.
The music was much more similar, than expected, to how I've experienced it pre-Implant. Although there were a lot of tunes I couldn't pick out clearly, I was still glad to have listened to whatever I was hearing at that moment. I ended up playing the whole album - and, yeh, crying more like a soppy baby.
In the evening, Mum and I 'played' some more mouth-covering word games - today, we covered people's names, food, and drink. People names was hard - too much variety at this stage. Food worked out OK and drinks also went down pretty badly (no pun intended!).
General progress, however, include ability to seperate a few more sounds from the TV, the CD player (with tracks I already know off by heart), what Mum's doing upstairs (feet shuffling across the floor or hoovering), conversation with Mum was becoming easier and cars/buses are now recognisable although they still sound like swirling water, as they did on Day 1.
Another thing, Mum's friend, Bev, visited the house this evening. Normally, I wouldn't be around people for long because I wouldn't be at all comfortable with trying to converse to them. Usually, I totally misunderstand what they're saying. More often than not, I would make an excuse to..um...excuse myself before running upstairs into my bedroom and playing the role of a loner. I didn't quite fancy the idea of sitting down and displaying a wide Cheshire-Cat smile to people whenever they laughed or smiled.
But tonight, before I could make any lame excuse, Bev asked me a question. I answered. Before I knew it we sat there talking non stop for an hour - during which I understood practically 90% of what was being said - this, like yesterday's conversations at the CI Centre, wouldn't have been possible without the help of lipreading. I know it is only Day 2, but despite the fact I can 'hear' voices, I can't 'understand' much of a conversation without lipreading.
Tomorrow, 2nd tuning proceduring. For now, bed. Oh, btw, talking about bedtime - as I'm drifting away into blissful sleep I often notice 'flashback sounds' of what I heard earlier in the day. I wasn't sure if yesterday's bedtime episode was all an imagination - they sounded a lot like the voices I heard throughout the day. But tonight, it's slightly different - it appears my brain likes to repeat what it heard earlier; the beats from the 'Weather Experience'!
Initially, I was disappointed to smithereens. Commiseratively, I turned on the TV to watch snooker. The balls...whoa...'P-CKK!'...echoing 'P-CKK-K' - if anything, they sound exactly how I remember them.
With a rise of happiness over this simple issue, I suddenly felt ambitious and stared wantingly at the CD player; 'Your mine...' I whacked in my favourite album of all time, The Prodigy's 'Experience'. The first track I promised myself to play, although with utmost, involuntary pleasure, I played 'Weather Experience'.
The music started off...'swiiiiiiiirrrlllLLllLLllllll, bmm, bmm, bmm, bmm...
The music was much more similar, than expected, to how I've experienced it pre-Implant. Although there were a lot of tunes I couldn't pick out clearly, I was still glad to have listened to whatever I was hearing at that moment. I ended up playing the whole album - and, yeh, crying more like a soppy baby.
In the evening, Mum and I 'played' some more mouth-covering word games - today, we covered people's names, food, and drink. People names was hard - too much variety at this stage. Food worked out OK and drinks also went down pretty badly (no pun intended!).
General progress, however, include ability to seperate a few more sounds from the TV, the CD player (with tracks I already know off by heart), what Mum's doing upstairs (feet shuffling across the floor or hoovering), conversation with Mum was becoming easier and cars/buses are now recognisable although they still sound like swirling water, as they did on Day 1.
Another thing, Mum's friend, Bev, visited the house this evening. Normally, I wouldn't be around people for long because I wouldn't be at all comfortable with trying to converse to them. Usually, I totally misunderstand what they're saying. More often than not, I would make an excuse to..um...excuse myself before running upstairs into my bedroom and playing the role of a loner. I didn't quite fancy the idea of sitting down and displaying a wide Cheshire-Cat smile to people whenever they laughed or smiled.
But tonight, before I could make any lame excuse, Bev asked me a question. I answered. Before I knew it we sat there talking non stop for an hour - during which I understood practically 90% of what was being said - this, like yesterday's conversations at the CI Centre, wouldn't have been possible without the help of lipreading. I know it is only Day 2, but despite the fact I can 'hear' voices, I can't 'understand' much of a conversation without lipreading.
Tomorrow, 2nd tuning proceduring. For now, bed. Oh, btw, talking about bedtime - as I'm drifting away into blissful sleep I often notice 'flashback sounds' of what I heard earlier in the day. I wasn't sure if yesterday's bedtime episode was all an imagination - they sounded a lot like the voices I heard throughout the day. But tonight, it's slightly different - it appears my brain likes to repeat what it heard earlier; the beats from the 'Weather Experience'!
posted by nopplish at
5:50 pm
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