It's been 2 months...Where have I been??

I have realized in the past 2 months that I am a TERRIBLE blogger. It's been over 2 months since I've updated my blog. Just Terrible! I hate to blame anyone or anything but since I last wrote on May 2nd, I have accomplished or been in the process or accomplishing the following:

1) completed my clinical externship, which ended May 20th.

2) graduated from Washington University School of Medicine with a Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.) degree on May 21st.

3) moved from Dallas, TX back home to sweet home Belleville, IL over Memorial Day weekend.

4) have been busily applying and interviewing for jobs.

5) attended the HLAA convention in Milwaukee where I met wonderful people and learned many new things from a different perspective.

6) played catch up with family and friends.

This may not seem like much but during this time, my access to internet has decreased significantly and my traveling in the car has increased even more so. Some of you may understand that going from internet access 24/7 to whenever I can make it to someone else house is a very difficult adjustment. Therefore my blogging has also suffered.

I do have many many things to say though!

On May 12th, I had my last programming appointment UT Southwestern before I moved. My CI audiologist at UT put me in the booth and she measured the softest levels I could hear with my implant with each of my 4 programs. We didn't want me to get any response from my left ear so we tactifully took apart a pair of supra-aural earphones to fit my head and we also put a earplug. It was awkward-looking but it worked. She was impressed at the levels I was hearing with it at 1.5 month post-activation so she did not make any changes to it. I was not having any problems with it and was still getting used to the programming adjustments I had the week before, when I was at Washington University for a research appointment, so I was okay with it.

After that appointment, I had many other things on my mind, like graduation and moving (no big deal, I know). By the time June rolled around, I knew I really needed to be programmed. I was able to get my CI programmed on June 12. My CI audiologist at Washington University wasn't available so I saw a different audiologist who is just as good. Being an audiologist myself, it's interesting to see how other audiologists do things differently. I also had the pleasure of having one of my classmates, who is currently completing her externship with the Washington University Cochlear Implant Program, do the programming. She re-measured my T and C levels and balanced the levels across the different pitches and then gave me 4 new programs. Afterward, she put me in the booth to measure the softest levels I could hear in my main program, which has no special input processing algorithms. I was surprised that I was hearing between 20 and 35 dB HL across the frequencies! We didn't do any speech perception testing but at my next research appointment, I will be doing 3 hours of testing so we will see how that goes. That appointment is July 12. I'm kind of nervous becasue I haven't been doing any aural rehab since I have have moved. I have been trying to install the "Sound and WAY Beyond" dvd rehab program onto my computer but have been running to problem after problem. However, that is another story that I will spare you the details.

So unfortunately, with that problem and lack of internet access, I have not been very good about practicing with my CI. However, I have been wearing it each and everyday and I cannot tell a huge difference in my speech understanding when I wear it as opposed to only wearing my hearing aid, but my mother says she can definitely tell because I am responding more quickly in conversations and when someone is on my right side (CI side) I don't struggle to hear as much. One thing I do notice is that I can understand people better (with the help of lip reading, of course) when I am in a noisy restaurant or bar. And I am definitely hearing softer sounds that are higher pitched.

I am ready for Monday's research appointment because I can tell that I need my CI reprogrammed. Before, I had a program that had ADRO (which helps with hearing softer sounds) and could not stand it because every time I brushed my hair behind my head or I would touch it, it would be very loud. Now I prefer to be on my ADRO program or my Noise program (ADRO + AutoSensitivity) so I can hear more soft sounds!

I am now set up in a temporary location (thanks to my mom) so I can get things done more easily, so I should be updating more often. If I don't, I expect you to get on my case about it!