Reality Check

One of the things I need to remember as I adjust to this new reality (yes, even after 3 years with one and one year with two CI's, it's still "new") is what I'm comparing. My last post was about the loss of my orchestral experience. Yes, I have lost that. But it's not the least bit the fault of my cochlear implants. I lost orchestra music because I lost my hearing.

So I'm comparing my experience of music now to when I was a hearing person. It's a valid comparison, but not the only one. The other very important comparison is between what I hear with my cochlear implants and what I would hear *without* them. Which is nothing. Or at best a lot of very loud indistinct buzz if I were to continue wearing hearing aids.

I am now a deaf person. I had the choice between rapidly decreasing benefit from hearing aids, and getting a cochlear implant. Getting back the hearing I had the first 60% of my life was not, and is not, one of the options.

I was sitting in the prayer meeting at my church this evening, and I heard someone slip into the pew behind me. It was just a minute swish of her skirt against the fabric on the seat. Softer than a whisper. And I, with my electronic ears, heard it!

Not much short of a miracle. A good reminder of what I DO have rather than what I don't have.