CI Woes

I’m sorry I haven’t updated this in so long. My session with Jennifer2 on the 11th didn’t go so well, and I was too ashamed to write. :O( ... First, I was missing most of the sounds, so she did them for me three times without covering her lips so I could see what they were as I heard them. THEN I was able to identify them. Next, I was only able to identify 1/4 of the individual words and needed the paragraph broken down into individual sentences/groups of words. Jennifer2 told me I may need to go in and see my surgeon, Dr. Limb, to make sure nothing is going wrong with the implant site – esp. since Mom had pointed out that my balance seems to be getting worse, again. I told her I was extra tired that day, too, from spending the previous week with my parents, not getting enough sleep the night before, and an especially-long drive there and waiting period before. So we decided to wait until my next session, to see if I’d improve – and I’d try and practice more in the meantime ... and get more sleep.

The next week I tried to practice a bit more, and tried to catch up on my rest. It must have helped, because my session on the 18th was MUCH better! :O) ... I got almost all of the sounds right – but we noticed I’m having the most difficulty distinguishing the "M"-sound. Since it didn’t USED to be such a problem, Jenniger2 guessed that maybe something got messed up when Jennifer1 adjusted the program – so, I’ll talk with her about it and see if we can fix it when I see her again. I got 21 out of 25 of the individual words correct with no more than one repetition – and passed the list, so next time Jennifer2 will use a different word list! With the paragraph, I needed a lot of repetition at first, but got better towards the end. Jennifer2 gave me a cassette tape that she’d made up for me to practice with, containing similar-sounding word pairs, the individual words on the list I’d just passed, and a children’s story: "10 Little Rubber Ducks"! :O) ... I’ll have Pattie and my parents listen to it with me as well, so they can hear how SHE does it with me.

I fell much better, now, about not doing so well during that last session – I’m quite sure it was because I was just too tired. I HAVEN’T had any "CI Moments" for quite some time, though, and seem to be at a bit of a plateau in my rehab., as I haven’t noticed any changes in the way things sound for quite a while, either. It’s frustrating, but I’m not giving up hope! :O) ... My sessions the next four weeks will be on different days, so I’ll write an update when I can.