So this post is going to be pretty random. I've decided to just do a sort of all around update. First let me start by saying I'm sorry, I really do try to make time to post I promise! Second things have been pretty interesting around here. Alex and I decided that he is going to be enlisting into the Army. It was a huge decision and it was made with a lot of thought, prayer and talking. He's gaining weight and really progressing on his way to joining the Army. He's already gained 7 lbs and he only has about 7 left. What else is new, hmm. Oh I discovered that I'm in love with brussel sprouts and spinach. Seriously add bacon especially to brussel sprouts and I'm in heaven.
I also agreed to try hearing aids. That was another huge step because quite honestly I did not want hearing aids. I'm going on Thursday to sit down with the audiologist and test out hearing aids. The specific type that she wants me to try are behind the ear hearing aids also known as BTE hearing aids. The specific model comes in 3 levels, each level is supposed to be better. Level 5 are basic BTE hearing aids although they are digital which is important. Digital provide more clarity and can help distiniguish where sound is coming from better as well. Level 7 is a step up from Level 5 in terms of clarity and stuff, Level 9 is obviously a step up from that. The audiologist wants to try each and see which will work best for me. Although she felt the last time we talked that my speech discrimination is so poor that I probably won't see any extra benefits from a Level 7 or 9.
Other than all that I've just been dealing with the typical college student problems. This week is my finals week but I promise to write a post about how the next audiology apointment. So that is my update and to everyone going through finals as well, good luck!
Merry Christmas
Rachel
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Music an unique challenge
Here is another post, just like I promised! Please enjoy. Growing up I had a special love for music. I played the clarinet for several years. Even though there was a great deal of work involved in honing my skills it was work I enjoyed. Nothing was quite as wonderful as listening to a piece the school band performed. One piece in particular still stands out to me now, although it's been several years. The piece is called the Great Locomotive chase. It was a thrilling piece of music and it honestly felt as if a train was speeding by us as we played.
This semester my husband encouraged me to pick my clarinet up again. He wanted me to have something to relax with every week and to enjoy. He knew how much my music had meant to me growing up. My music class is always an interesting challenge. For the most part music is just sound, pleasant sound but nothing distinguishable. Playing my clarinet is always an interesting challenge. I don't hear the sound correctly. So if I'm supposed to be playing softly I don't hear it at all. It's a very odd feeling to be honest. I can feel the air moving out of me and I know I'm pressing the keys but there's no sound to me.
I've had to completely relearn how to play music. My teacher has also had to completely change how she teaches. At the beginning of the semester she would still bring her clarinet to class. She would play hers thinking I would be able to hear the difference between her playing and mine. After a few weeks she realized it wasn't working at all and stopped. She's changed from snapping the rhythm with her fingers to tapping it on my leg so I can feel what I can't hear. Now I regulate my volume by my breath control not the sound. Also I use a metronome that uses a light and an app that shows me how loud I'm playing.
At the beginning of the semester my music class was probably my biggest frustration. It was hard to have to relearn how to be a musician. But now I really enjoy going to my class. While it's a challenge it's an enjoyable challenge. Also the biggest surprise is that I'm actually pretty good. I have a recital coming up in which I'm going to be playing a few Christmas songs. My teacher thought Christmas music would be easiest because I've heard it before, I'm excited to show my family how well I've done this year. I'll make sure to post a video of the recital!
This semester my husband encouraged me to pick my clarinet up again. He wanted me to have something to relax with every week and to enjoy. He knew how much my music had meant to me growing up. My music class is always an interesting challenge. For the most part music is just sound, pleasant sound but nothing distinguishable. Playing my clarinet is always an interesting challenge. I don't hear the sound correctly. So if I'm supposed to be playing softly I don't hear it at all. It's a very odd feeling to be honest. I can feel the air moving out of me and I know I'm pressing the keys but there's no sound to me.
I've had to completely relearn how to play music. My teacher has also had to completely change how she teaches. At the beginning of the semester she would still bring her clarinet to class. She would play hers thinking I would be able to hear the difference between her playing and mine. After a few weeks she realized it wasn't working at all and stopped. She's changed from snapping the rhythm with her fingers to tapping it on my leg so I can feel what I can't hear. Now I regulate my volume by my breath control not the sound. Also I use a metronome that uses a light and an app that shows me how loud I'm playing.
At the beginning of the semester my music class was probably my biggest frustration. It was hard to have to relearn how to be a musician. But now I really enjoy going to my class. While it's a challenge it's an enjoyable challenge. Also the biggest surprise is that I'm actually pretty good. I have a recital coming up in which I'm going to be playing a few Christmas songs. My teacher thought Christmas music would be easiest because I've heard it before, I'm excited to show my family how well I've done this year. I'll make sure to post a video of the recital!
Going to the Deaf Ward
Sorry I haven't posted in a while, things got really hectic and I let it slide. I'm trying to work on it so here is a brand new post. Hopefully I'll have another one up sometime today, so I can start getting caught up.
So as everyone knows I'm a Mormon (if you didn't ummm, wow this is awkward. How did you miss that one?). My Church is a world wide church so our congregations (or as we call them wards and branches) are based on geography and sometimes language. In my local area there is a ward for the Deaf. I've been trying it out and it has been absolutely wonderful! It's a family ward so there are members of all ages. There's also a nice mix of people. Not everyone who goes to the ward is Deaf. Some people are Deaf, others are hard of hearing, and we even have several hearing people. There are people with hearing aids, without any aids, with cochlear implants or other implant devices. It just depends on the person.
It's also nice to see such a mix. Sometimes the person with the hearing loss is the child in the family or the parents or for couples only one of the spouses is Deaf. Before going to the Deaf ward Church was starting to become something I absolutely dreaded. I didn't want to go and sit for three hours completely unaware of what was being said. Also while my Relief Society tried a little but they never found a way to include me or to make me feel welcome.
Now when I go to Church people aren't staring at me if I sign a hymn and I don't sit lost during the service. I understand what's going on and I'm even starting to make some friends. It's really helped that my ASL teacher and her husband go to that ward. Trisha and Brandon have helped so much in smoothing this transition. They've kept an open office policy so if I ever have questions or need to talk I'm welcome to drop by at school. Also as silly as it is, it's nice to have at least one person happy to see you on Sunday! I'm excited for another Sunday in my new ward!
So as everyone knows I'm a Mormon (if you didn't ummm, wow this is awkward. How did you miss that one?). My Church is a world wide church so our congregations (or as we call them wards and branches) are based on geography and sometimes language. In my local area there is a ward for the Deaf. I've been trying it out and it has been absolutely wonderful! It's a family ward so there are members of all ages. There's also a nice mix of people. Not everyone who goes to the ward is Deaf. Some people are Deaf, others are hard of hearing, and we even have several hearing people. There are people with hearing aids, without any aids, with cochlear implants or other implant devices. It just depends on the person.
It's also nice to see such a mix. Sometimes the person with the hearing loss is the child in the family or the parents or for couples only one of the spouses is Deaf. Before going to the Deaf ward Church was starting to become something I absolutely dreaded. I didn't want to go and sit for three hours completely unaware of what was being said. Also while my Relief Society tried a little but they never found a way to include me or to make me feel welcome.
Now when I go to Church people aren't staring at me if I sign a hymn and I don't sit lost during the service. I understand what's going on and I'm even starting to make some friends. It's really helped that my ASL teacher and her husband go to that ward. Trisha and Brandon have helped so much in smoothing this transition. They've kept an open office policy so if I ever have questions or need to talk I'm welcome to drop by at school. Also as silly as it is, it's nice to have at least one person happy to see you on Sunday! I'm excited for another Sunday in my new ward!
Friday, September 16, 2011
Intro Time!
Introduction Time
So the whole point of this post is to introduce the blog and what I'm going to be writing about. I wanted to do this blog to give family and friends a chance to know how things are going. I get a lot of questions and since I don't really use the phone anymore this seemed like the best way to keep everyone up to date. Also I think blogging about it will help get everything out there, well at least out of my head. Let's tackle the title first, shall we. The title is living in a world going silent, the reason for it is that recently I lost a lot of my hearing.
Time to tackle a really big question: what happened? To be completely honest I don't know. I woke up one day and I could barely hear anything. You would think a day like would be amazingly eventful right, yeah not so much. I got up and at first didn't really notice that much of a difference. The first time I really noticed was when I stepped into our bedroom. I came out a few minutes late to an annoyed husband. Alex asked me, "Didn't you hear me calling your name?" I shook my head no, I hadn't heard anything. I did notice I was having difficulty making out what he was saying. I shrugged it off and we headed to the pool. After swimming for a while I remember getting out of the water and noticing how quiet everything was.
It wasn't long before Alex noticed something was off. He kept complaining when I asked him to repeat himself over and over again. He made me get an appointment with an audiologist for that Wednesday. I was a little nervous going into see the audiologist. The audiologist ran a comprehensive hearing test. I remember sitting in the chair starting to worry. I could see the audiologist flipping the switch and it felt like an eternity before I could hear the sound. The audiologist suggested drops and using something to remove a serious buildup of ear wax. He said that until my ear was completely clean there was no way to get an accurate hearing test.
We went home and gave the ear drops a go. When we went back in, I was worried. The audiologist gave my ears a look and gave the all clear for another hearing test. He ran the comprehensive hearing test again. I knew at times how loud the sound must have been by the pained look on Alex's face. It was clear that something was wrong by the look on the audiologist's face. He then ran a bone conduction test, which sends the sound straight through the bones behind my ear. This test is used to determine if the problem is with the inner ear or the middle ear.
The bone conduction test was almost identical to the comprehensive test. The audiologist told me the news, I had auditory nerve damage. He said there was no real way to know what had caused it. He said that I had severe hearing loss and would need hearing aids. That was one of those moments in life where you feel like the entire world has frozen.
So now I'm learning to deal with my hearing loss. For the most part I have a positive attitude. I know that there is no known way to bring my hearing back (no hearing aids don't make you hear again). So I feel no need to dwell on it. I want to focus on what I CAN do not what I CAN'T hear! I'm also learning ASL and lip reading but more about all of that another day. So this blog is just going to be about hearing loss and living with it, basically how my life is going. It's intended for family and friends. I'll try to post semi often, maybe once a week or so.
So the whole point of this post is to introduce the blog and what I'm going to be writing about. I wanted to do this blog to give family and friends a chance to know how things are going. I get a lot of questions and since I don't really use the phone anymore this seemed like the best way to keep everyone up to date. Also I think blogging about it will help get everything out there, well at least out of my head. Let's tackle the title first, shall we. The title is living in a world going silent, the reason for it is that recently I lost a lot of my hearing.
Time to tackle a really big question: what happened? To be completely honest I don't know. I woke up one day and I could barely hear anything. You would think a day like would be amazingly eventful right, yeah not so much. I got up and at first didn't really notice that much of a difference. The first time I really noticed was when I stepped into our bedroom. I came out a few minutes late to an annoyed husband. Alex asked me, "Didn't you hear me calling your name?" I shook my head no, I hadn't heard anything. I did notice I was having difficulty making out what he was saying. I shrugged it off and we headed to the pool. After swimming for a while I remember getting out of the water and noticing how quiet everything was.
It wasn't long before Alex noticed something was off. He kept complaining when I asked him to repeat himself over and over again. He made me get an appointment with an audiologist for that Wednesday. I was a little nervous going into see the audiologist. The audiologist ran a comprehensive hearing test. I remember sitting in the chair starting to worry. I could see the audiologist flipping the switch and it felt like an eternity before I could hear the sound. The audiologist suggested drops and using something to remove a serious buildup of ear wax. He said that until my ear was completely clean there was no way to get an accurate hearing test.
We went home and gave the ear drops a go. When we went back in, I was worried. The audiologist gave my ears a look and gave the all clear for another hearing test. He ran the comprehensive hearing test again. I knew at times how loud the sound must have been by the pained look on Alex's face. It was clear that something was wrong by the look on the audiologist's face. He then ran a bone conduction test, which sends the sound straight through the bones behind my ear. This test is used to determine if the problem is with the inner ear or the middle ear.
The bone conduction test was almost identical to the comprehensive test. The audiologist told me the news, I had auditory nerve damage. He said there was no real way to know what had caused it. He said that I had severe hearing loss and would need hearing aids. That was one of those moments in life where you feel like the entire world has frozen.
So now I'm learning to deal with my hearing loss. For the most part I have a positive attitude. I know that there is no known way to bring my hearing back (no hearing aids don't make you hear again). So I feel no need to dwell on it. I want to focus on what I CAN do not what I CAN'T hear! I'm also learning ASL and lip reading but more about all of that another day. So this blog is just going to be about hearing loss and living with it, basically how my life is going. It's intended for family and friends. I'll try to post semi often, maybe once a week or so.
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