Over the last several days, I have created an online blog and copied my journal entries into it. As much as I was helped by reading blogs of other CI users, as well as other resources I found online, I felt like perhaps someone in a similar situation would benefit from reading my story. This blog is a result of that line of thinking. Last night, I finally got the blog tweaked into a design I like, using Blogger (one of the many Google apps).
This entry is mainly about the ‘Helpful Resources’ section I added last night (in the right column of the blog page). The list includes information about hearing loss, cochlear implants, and hearing loops, a ‘hearing assistance’ technology I have only recently learned about. The items are all things that I have enjoyed reading and have proven helpful in my hearing journey, particularly my decision to proceed with the cochlear implant.
The last item on the list, Vera’s Story, and her blog More Than a Bit Deaf, are the two things that were most inspirational for me, the most hopeful. Vera’s story is actually two tales – one as told by Vera and the other told by her husband, Nigel. The impact of hearing loss, of any degree, is felt by the one with the loss, certainly, but it affects the entire family unit.
My wife and I were both drawn to their story, as it seemed to reflect our own journey, a journey we’ve been on for roughly thirty years. The list of things that Vera and I neither one hear are quite similar – things we’ve not heard for many years, or heard only faintly. The ways that Vera and Nigel interacted (or failed to interact much of the time) were similar to our own. To see it and hear it described by other people, another CI user and her spouse, brought it home to me in a way that I’d not previously experienced. The sadness, anger, grief, frustration, and all the rest are not just my own – it’s a shared load, a heavy load to bear, and I share it with my wife, our grown children, and our grandchildren.
My CI will be activated Tuesday morning, four days from now, and I ‘sort of’ know what to expect, thanks to Vera and Nigel. If my own rehabilitation is as successful as Vera’s, I will be absolutely thrilled beyond measure. Even if it’s not, I know I have made the right decision. Not to try is to fail.
I hope this list of resources proves helpful to other people. I made a decision quite a long while ago to ‘do my research’ about this, and it’s been a wonderful learning experience. Typing “deaf,” “hearing loss,” “hearing aid,” “cochlear implant” and similar terms into a search engine was my starting point. The items on this list are the ones I saved to my browser’s bookmarks and I am happy to share them.
