Bionic Travels: In the Kitchen

I love to cook and I love to eat. I also love the custom kitchen we created and have enjoyed for two years. We chose wood flooring and wood cabinets and large windows and high ceilings and granite counter tops. It’s really lovely, but a large room filled with hard surfaces is also a massive challenge for the hearing impaired. Hearing aids don’t compensate for all the sound literally bouncing off the walls!

Having friends over for meals (sometimes really large groups of friends!) is something we enjoy. For the past two years, however, I learned to be content to create a warm inviting context for others to come and connect around the table. I simply could not fully participate in conversations. That was really OK with my introvert side, as everyone else was plenty interesting and I did not need to contribute. I really wanted to ask questions of others, however, and resisted it most of the time because it was too trying to hear the responses. I didn’t feel it was fair for me to ask a question and then have to ask the responder to repeat everything two or three times. I learned to keep my curiosity to myself. This has been disappointing because people are interesting and to ask questions of others is one small way of honoring them. We all have stories to tell and the ability to listen to others’ stories is a great gift.

In my kitchen I have missed far too many of the stories that have been told. I’ve missed all the jokes that have been told. I’ve missed the snide comments of my children one to another and to me, spoken just softly enough for my ears to not be able to detect them. But, times they are a changing!

In my kitchen today I heard the timer on the stove. I jumped it was so loud. Even with my hearing aids in, when standing right AT the stove, I could not hear the timer when it went off.  Since I have been blessed with the gift of multi-tasking, I would often get involved in a new task while I had something baking in the oven. If no one else was in the house (two floors above me!) to tell me the timer was going off, I’d discover food well done. This has been the norm. Fortunately I haven’t had to thrown out more than a few cookies, but my new way of hearing means I will be a better cook!

I have also been able to join in conversations around the wooden table, surrounded by large windows, under the high ceiling. Since my implant, we have yet to have more than five around the table and I’m sure when everyone talks at once I will retreat. But, being able to carry on conversations when it’s just three of us is wonderful. The fact that I can now hear people eating--chewing and crunching--not so much… but I’ll take it, yes I will.

Finally, in the kitchen, I have discovered that different dishes have different tonal chimes. Did you know this? I’m guessing it’s one of those sounds your brain has long shoved out of awareness. But, I’m hearing all manner of clinks and chimes when I cook and load the dishwasher. I also hear silverware scraping on plates and bowls. It is indeed, kitchen music to my ears.  

Bionic Travels: Day Six

I’m hoping the bulk of my hearing drama is over… oh, to be so lucky! I’m not exactly ‘settling in’ to this new device that will eventually feel like a part of me -- it’s more like tiptoeing around it, occasionally touching it to see if it’s real. I’m also touching it to relieve some of the pressure off the wee developing blister behind my ear. How weird is that? The processor isn’t really heavy, as heavy is generally described, but for one’s tender ear, it’s like a cheap pewter necklace would feel around one’s neck, only sitting on top of the ear. I guess small external issues come with the territory.  OK. This is can deal with. I’m not a wimp when it comes to pain, small though it is. The niggling constancy of it will eventually leave me. It did with hearing aids, so I’ve been there.

The processor (the thing on my ear) pushes my glasses against my head just below where they metal thing with the magnet is inserted under my scalp. I’m assured that will quit being sore eventually too.  Now that the swelling is mostly gone, I am surprised at how much of that metal thing I can feel.  Ask me if you want to touch it. (You creep…)

On to the small wonders of the world: In between all the swooshes and swells and swirls I hear, did you KNOW how LOUD the electronic starters on my stove gas burners are?  If they are this loud at level whatevertheheck I am on (LOW), then my neighbors must hear me every time I cook eggs!  Or how about those extra little noises coming from my iPhone? Siri is far more expressive than I ever guessed!  Birds can be noisy, but they certainly don’t sound like birds. Yet. My friends at an outdoor meeting helped me to identify all the clicks and swooshes as birds. They also assured me that the cicadas which started to sing their summer melodies all at once were as disturbing to them as it might have been to me. (Don’t you wonder where they hang out and why they all start that clattering at the same time?!) To me, the gas starter is louder than the cicadas, so I obviously have some hearing growth to do. This should not be.

My first thunderstorm was this afternoon. I have missed the sound of the rain on the roof. I stepped onto the porch to catch the new sounds of it. Nothing miraculous, but it was nice to at least hear it. I happen to LOVE our new front porch. It’s our first summer of porch sitting and waving hi to all the walkers out on the street. Dave talks to them (From the porch! Imagine that! They are actually saying something??) Let’s hope I will be more sociable as I eventually hear them too.

Wendy, my CI friend and mentor, ‘forced’ me to watch TV with her yesterday! For our viewing pleasure she chose an episode of Chopped on the Food Network. Between you and me, it was really fun, although it moved way too fast to be good hearing practice at this point. I’m not a TV watcher, but she says that using the closed captions and listening is good practice. So I’ve been prescribed TV. This is not easy for me. I can barely figure out how to get the thing on and then once on, there is nothing I know about that I’d want to watch. Moreover, I’d have to sit down for enough time to watch a whole show and, ick, commercials? Not my style. I’ll figure out a good way to practice without enduring ads for Celebrex and the new!! and improved!! Widget of The Week. I do not watch streaming stuff on my computer or iPad, but I know I can! Yes, I am open to suggestions. 

Stay tuned for Station Identification….