Quails and updates

Over all, my CI journey has reached a standstill. There will not be much else to say about it unless I'm a victim of malfunctioning or some random ailment as a result of the surgery or implant (which is all unlikely). Or perhaps if I get a new processor or get to participate in a study... or have a kid or find a job... all, which is unlikely for at least 2-4 years.

As I was pulling weeds in our backyard all week, I was hearing this whining sound that made me think of a dog that is crying. But it was tough to imagine there would actually be a crying dog outside nearly every single day, several hours a day. So when Thomas came out one day and I heard the sound again, I asked him what it was. He says it's a quail. Which is odd because I have yet to even see a quail out here... but for the time being, I guess quails sound like crying dogs. Sad.

I do have another CI mapping in a week; my first one in 3 months. Then I won't have another one until mid August, I think. My CI has absolutely had no "growth" towards hearing low pitch. Everyone told me it would eventually adjust, but it's not seeming that way. I think I once read that the electrodes often don't reach those very deep areas of the cochlea where low pitch nerves reside, so if that's the case, that might be way I'm not hearing any. The only burden is it's tough to actually hear most music the way it should sound. But then again, since my non-implanted ear pretty much only hears low pitch, I seem to have some balance in sounds between the two ears. The only singers I am able to enjoy these days it's people like Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. It's all about the vocals and who can carry some pitch. My past taste of alternative rock has gone out the door cause none it sounds the same anymore. Totally bummed.

On the other hand, my ability to grasp high frequencies is still a challenge. I've had one setting on my processor for 3 months now and I have not been able to increase the volume on it by any means... which would have allowed me to hear even more high frequency sounds. So I expect a 5 point increase in high frequencies on my mapping next week and nothing else. But maybe the preset volume is just too high? I'll have to mention it.

My speech comprehension should be better than it was three months ago, despite the lack of practice over the entire 7 months. I have not been able to find any pre-set sentence programs online to practice with, and my husband seems to just always be too busy with something to practice with me. But at the same time, when we practiced for 5 minutes a few weeks ago, I was bombing the word distinctions in a predictable way, likely due to the high frequency settings still being set on the low side, making it hard for me to tell apart similar sounds.

There's news going around that there is a new AB processor that has been developed and is being used (I think) in Europe. It's called Neptune and it's suppose to be small enough to be worn while swimming. Not that I'd ever care about wearing a hearing device while I'm underwater, but IT IS SMALLER! If it spreads to the United States, I might be able to upgrade to it in about 5 years... unless I wanna pay chunks of bucks for it out of my pocket (naw). But my ear will be so excited!