Hi Sharon,

Thanks for your update which I was so glad to read.

I'm probably too sleepy right now to comment in real terms, except to say 
you're much loved and I'm sure you and Dad can work on another communication 
which doesn't require too many words ...

He loves you and you love him, and that's the all important!  What's more, 
you love the One who makes love perfected.

More later ...

Love:

--
Carol
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sharon Hooley" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 12:59 AM
Subject: Third Sound Mapping, and Silence


> All right, guys,
>
> I've been waiting for someone in my family to review this special update, 
> but I guess they can correct me if I'm wrong on any point.  So here it is:
>
> Third Sound Mapping, and Silence
>
> Posted February 6, 2008
>
>
>
> Well folks,
>
>
>
> On January 17, my niece took me to see Jenna again for my third
>
> sound mapping. As we were walking toward the clinic, the mother of the 
> deaf
>
> little boy that Judy and I had befriended greeted us, telling us that he 
> did
>
> well on his activation! Jenna gave me even more sound to work with, and
>
> created the four programs to send alternative kinds of stimuli, rather 
> than
>
> to be progressive in the same type. Number 1 is what we thought was my
>
> favorite setting so far. Number 2 is an automated sensitivity adjuster 
> that
>
> changes according to my environmental needs. Number 3 is called adro, 
> which
>
> is an alternative setting to try in any situation. And number 4 has a lot
>
> of low pitches which, so far, I don't like. I'll have to play around with 
> the others to see which ones I like best for a given environment.
>
>
>
> I can now communicate more without using my regular hearing aid, and I 
> find
>
> that I'm able to recognize some sounds, and hear some voices beneath the 
> bells and whistles, which often seems to be decreased, and vary more 
> widely with the added stimulation I've been given! I also realize now that 
> voices do indeed sound cartoonish, as some have described them. Voices 
> that I would otherwise recognize can sound distorted. Since the settings 
> are not perfect,
>
> or my brain isn't fully adjusted, I hear some things in what I can best
>
> describe as a bad machine language accent. If I ask how you're doing, and
>
> you say, "I'm doing okay," it can sound somewhat like, "I'm doing o kerr." 
> Although music is often not very recognizable yet, I can sometimes hear 
> the rhythmic jingling and tinkling as my system picks out the beat, etc. 
> It got me thinking of just how complex our technological minds are; 
> whatever it is that makes the music source play, and the things that make 
> my electrodes stimulate to tap out the rhythm!
>
>
>
> When I first turn it on in the morning, the sounds are an awakening 
> shocker, sort of like when you sleepily walk into the bathroom and douse 
> your face in cold water. Otherwise, I don't remember any sounds driving me 
> really crazy, though I did feel tired, at least once. The most annoying 
> ones I can think of are when I've heard myself speaking high-pitched 
> consonants that I hadn't heard much of in a long time, like, "Thisss 
> nexxxt Sssattturrday" and the "er" sound when others speak. But I gladly 
> welcome the high pitches, which give me the ability to hear speech, and 
> the world, more clearly, and I aint goin back!
>
>
>
> I still often use my microphone system with my hearing aid I'd been using 
> before, but for part of the time, I turn my microphone off and leave my 
> hearing aid in the mode that only picks up sounds from that, and nothing 
> else. That way, my brain gets more of a workout with the processor.
>
>
>
> I don't have to go in for another mapping session until next month, 
> hopefully February 14, if I can get
>
> a ride. I hope we'll play around some more.
>
>
>
> After I finished my mapping session, my niece and I went to the hospital
>
> where my dad lay in the ICU ward, unable to speak. He'd gone in to have 
> his
>
> second carotid artery cleaned out, but the doctors discovered a hematoma
>
> near the surgery site, so he went back under the scalpel to get part of it
>
> removed. As a result, he swelled up so much that he could not breathe
>
> entirely on his own. Thus he was languishing on a ventilator, with a tube
>
> down his throat and toward his airways. It was the next day when we 
> dropped
>
> by, and I later returned home with Judy, and my mom, who has been staying 
> at
>
> her house at night.
>
> I appreciate the fact that I am capable of choosing how I view any given 
> circumstances. I see an inspirational, yet funny picture with the positive 
> and negative events that have occurred simultaneously: Me getting my 
> hearing improved so I can listen, as part of the communication process, 
> and my dad being unable to speak to me, the other side of the 
> communication process. It is crucial that we talk, and listen actively, to 
> one another, in order to boost our sense of well-being, and to keep any 
> kind of relationship alive and burning brightly!
>
> And that's the news for today.
>
> Sharon
>