Sunday night we watched the Super bowl with our Community Group. I was standing in the kitchen putting a pizza in the oven when one of the girls asked me a question behind my back and I answered her without thinking. Since I totally was not expecting her to chat with me with my back turned, I was surprised that I got it. We did a victory dance right there in the middle of the kitchen! My family and close friends all should be paid big time for all the work they do in constantly testing my hearing!
Three things happened yesterday that were so encouraging:
First, I was over a friend's house for our bi-weekly workout program with the P90x video series. I was able to understand several things he was saying without looking at the video. It was cool to be able to relax a little bit without having to simultaneously coordinate my limbs and read lips.
The P90x series? Six degrees of painful. I forgot to check but surely it comes with a guarantee of having a body like Jillian Michael's in just three days.
Second, I just started the music appreciation component of Rehab and it has been tough, tough and tough. I have not even been able to move past Level 1. When I wore hearing aids I loved instrumental music and classical music because I could make out the different instruments. Now, they sound different. For instance, I am struggling to differentiate between the flute and clarinet. Yesterday, while driving in car, I put in Steve Green's Always: Songs of Worship and as I listened to Majesty and Indescribable, I was able to pick out a few instruments and understand a few words!
Thirdly, one of the things that my brain is learning is the art of masking. People with normal hearing naturally mask, which is the ability to ignore irrelevant noise to tune in to more relevant noise. For example, when I am at Bible study, I struggle to ignore the noise of heating unit running so that I can hear the speaker. The chicks in my group tell me although they hear they hear the unit, they just don't notice it. That is completely incomprehensible to me. How do they ignore something that is making me half crazy? So want to be there someday! Anyhoo, last night when my Hous arrived home, I was in the kitchen, standing next to boiling water and as he was climbing the stairs, he called out that he was home. I totally got it! Over the noise of boiling water!
The biggest encouragements of all has been the ability to chat on the phone daily with my family. For that alone, it is so worth the trials and hard work of this path.
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