A New Mapping (3 weeks post surgery)

Today, I had another mapping. Kela (Miller, my audiologist at HELP) had to try a completely different program than the one she set last week because I was nauseous all the time, almost like morning sickness. (If you've ever had a baby, you'll understand my misery.) Fortunately, she was able to eliminate more of the background noises, so the Emergency Broadcast System isn't constantly playing in my head.

I almost didn't leave the house this morning because I was busy putting my head between my legs trying to overcome the nausea. But when I got home a couple of hours later, the nausea was gone. On the way home, we stopped by Walgreens and I walked over to the cosmetics area where two salespeople were talking and turned off my hearing aid. From 10 feet away, I was able to pick up their voices.

No, the sounds don't sound right yet. Speech doesn't sound like speech. It still sounds like "bells and whistles". But the important thing is that I'm actually hearing the sounds. Kela told me it was more important to find a comfort zone right now than to try to understand the sounds. I can tell the difference between male and female voices. The sounds aren't as loud as they were with my hearing aid, but if the processor is set any louder than now, I get sick to my stomach.

And because of these minor issues, I don't feel like I'm ready to go back to work. Charlie and I both think the best thing I can do is take the summer off and try for admission to OU Graduate School next January.

Another doctor visit this afternoon, this time to make sure my incision is healing properly. I bought a new tube of Aloe Vera that doesn't contain lidocaine or menthol. My incision feels very dry, almost like stitches are popping out of it.