Playing football with you C.I

Playing football with my cochlear implant wouldn't be a good idea for me as there to much contact along with another player and of course your implant would be flying everywhere or the ball would be hitting your implant side. I bet that would hurt if it did!


so, since I don't wear the implant on my match days. I do tend to wear them in training ONLY, well, it was the first time I actually wore it the other day!

In training we don't have to much contact while playing. It just footworks and fitness training. It was good to wear it in training as I can hear my team mates 'shouting' but dont have a clue where it's coming from untill I look up before I pass to them but least I can hear them :-D I even heard my coach blow his whistle. It was loud as he was just standing right behind me.


Before I started to wear the implant during football training I decided to buy some thin head band that I could wear that would stop the implant falling to the ground as I do have a slight problem with my implant falling off because I have small ears, and guess what the head band worked well for me. It didn't it come off at all. Here a picture of me with the headband - you could see that I placed the headband on top of the the wire that connect to the processor to the coil

The thin headband would be a good idea to wear in any sports. You can get these band from a shop called 'claires' or ebay (here the links)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ADIDAS-HAIR-BAND-SPORT-HEADBANDS-RARE-AUTHENTIC-NEW_W0QQitemZ350101291955QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item350101291955&_trkparms=72%3A1301%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14 (You can buy them in different colours)


:-) I actually enjoyed hearing my team mates and it was something I never been able to do before.


Anyway, that's it for me now. I better get my things ready for uni tomorrow morning. check out for the next post which will be about the 6 months mapping which I have this thursday. I certainly can't wait to see my result :-D

First week at University!

My first week at university has been great! Even though it's only Wednesday and still not yet completed my first week. It's just soooooooo different. It's big and yeah, there is loads and loads of people! I can't belive we'd our first homework already!

When I first went into my class and met the rest of my course mates. Everyone seems nice but I was a bit uncomfortable while i were in the lesson, because alot of my classmates were staring at it as if they don't know what it is or they haven't seen it before. I do like to wear my hair up in sports and yep, I wore the implant where everyone could see it.

So, after two days in university. Yesterday, we had a study skill session and our homework was to make a small presentation about any topic we like! I ended up making a small presentation about my Cochlear implant and explain to the rest of my class what it was and why I got it! Today I did the presentation out to the class and it went well. It did make me feel alot better as they all now know what it is and there were less staring. So, that one peice off my mind.


Anyway, Since i've passed my test. I have now got a car (Vaxuhall Corsa) and I've learnt a few sounds while I were driving round to places:

*Indicators
* Horn - I pressed it on purposes to hear it. :-P
* The window wipers.
* The engine running.
* Sirens (ambulance)
* The Radio but didn't understand a word , lol but loved my music on :D

So, it's good to listen to more NEW things

Another good news, last week I went to Pride Park for a presentation for the 2008 East Midlands Sports Award. At the sports award I won 'Sportwomen of the year award ' for my commitment, motivation and performance during my football talent. which was great :-D

So, that's it for me now. I'm off to my 3rd speech therapy session tomorrow which i'll be posting a new update on that and on the 2nd Oct I'm due for my 6months mapping. :-D

My new target!

Hey,

It's been a short while since I have last posted! Anyway, I'm still around and actually busy hunting for a new car for myself since I have not long passed, woop! first time :-D.



I also been getting ready for universtiy, woop! I am due to start next week and I actually can't wait. I have been at university this week but it was only a 'fresher week' where I get to meet my lectures etc. They all seem nice, so that's a relief!

Anyway i've been chating to alot of people that is used to hearing sounds, I realised that I have still got alot to learnt.

There somethings on my list that i'm waiting to hear at the moment:

*Fireworks (bonfire night) "I can't wait for that"
*Christmas bells
* Big Ben Clock (i'm visiting london in a few weeks, hopefully i'll hear it)
*My sister son (my 1st nephew)
*My uncle parrot (Every time I see him, he talks alot and I never hear it)
* Football fans that are in the stadiam chanting away (I'll be watching that next week)

Anyway, not only I am waiting to see if i can hear them.

I have learnt 2 things over the past 2 days!

I didn't realised that sirens to police, ambulance and fireengine all have a different sound. Not untill my friend told me that and now I'm gonna listen out for that and see If I can remenber the sound and then try and identify them without looking at them.

Also, I didn't know that guinea pig make few sounds, well I have never heard that before. I heard it Wheeking because it wanted his dinner. I thought it was funny how loud they did it. They also purring. I obvously thought cats only do that. So, wow! I learnt 2 new things :D Isn't that just amazing!

Anyway, i better get going I'm going on a car hunt :-D

Before and After!

Before the implant there were some things I can't do, and now I can and loving it...

I thought i'll list the TOP 5 improvements

*Before I have been implanted I couldn't :

- hear people voices/ not even my own voice.
- listen to music
- use the phone
- hear alot of everyday sounds.
- do things on my own without an interpreter!

* After I have been activated I can:

-Hear people voices and of course hear mine too
- listen to music on my ipod
- use the phone (a little bit)
-hear alot of everyday sound " It gets better and better"
- go to some places without an interpreter " I went to speech therapy yesterday without an interpreter, woop"

so, that how much I have improved so far in 5 months and still learning.

so, a tips for new implantee:

"Keep wearing it as the more you wear it the better it gets, and don't give up!"

That what i got told from other implantees and I tried my best to keep it on and look where I am now. :-D Trust me you'll love it one day!
-

Speech Therapy (session 2)

Today I went for my 2nd speech therapy with Dyan. It went well and I've made some improvements. Since the last session my voice was pretty quiet and today my voice is a little louder which she was impressed and it was enough to talk one to one in a quiet envouriement, but still need to raise the volume a bit.

After talking about the loudness we then moved onto ending words like 's'. Dyan gaved me a list of words like cats, bats, mice, nurse. Each word had a 's' in . the list had sometihng like 20 word per row and I had to say them all.

When we first went through them I did missed out on some of the 'S' but after going through them again, she then challenge me to try and say the word the first time without missing 'S' or saying the word twice. So, went through it again and only did 2 mistake and the 3 rd there was only 1. So, that was good and now I can say them more natural and of course I can hear the words alot more than what I could before!

When we did the list. Dyan moved on and had to say a sentences like: "I hate cats" I had to repeat what shes say but include the name 'Sam' and 'too'. so, I would say "sam hates cats too" So, this was to make sure I don't miss the 's' while I saying the full sentences. So, we did a few sentences and did well. Now i've homework - to work on the 'K' and 'T' and say some sentences with the ending words like book, week, bat etc. So, next week when I have another session Dyan will test me.

So, i'm impress with what I did today and I'm becoming more confidents in using my voice as I do have a good voice but sometimes I refuses to use as it does sound quiet.

Anyway, last night I heard another new sound. I was on sitting at my laptop. Richard fell asleep next to me and whille I was on the laptop I was in a quiet room and I heard this noise which took me a while to figure out what it was and guess what it was? Richard was Snoring! It was so loud and it sounded like some pigs. lol, (that's the only way i could describe it)

I'm so glad I am completely deaf during the night when I take my processor off as it would be so annoying to hear someone snores! I don't know how hearing people would put up with that. I guess us deaf peeps are lucky to have a silent sleep without any sounds disturbing us.

I heard a new sound!

Since the weather has been SO AWFUL in the uk over the past few weeks, and that the rain has never give up! After hearing the rain alot over the past few weeks.

Today I heard a new sound, which I have never heard before. I was out feeding my rabbit (flopsty) and as I was feed her I saw a big flash that happen to be lightening which i've seen plenty of time before.

As it flashes a few second later I heard a loud THUNDER, to me it sounded like someone hitting a drum . It was the first time I heard thunder, I have never heard thunder before. It didn't realise it could be that loud! No wonder my sister scared of them, she doesn't like the noise. The sound did scare me at first but after a few more thunder I actually liked it for some reason. So, today another day with a new sound :-D

Camp America

Can't you belive how fast this year Summer Hoildays has gone, mind you - UK didn't have a very good summer due to the weather, it has been raining almost everyday and this summer it looks like we have only had a week of sunshine.

Well, now summer is over - I've already made my plans for next year and booked it.

Next year I will be jetting of with one of my C.I friend to USA for 12 weeks. While we are there we will be working for 9 weeks at one of the camps (not yet decided which camp) as a "counsellors" (nothing to do with psychology, psychiatry or therapy of any description) I will have to ensure that the kids get to enjoy all their activity sessions safely and of course take part in many activities.


This camp should be an amazing experince for me. I'm doing it to increase my confidence in working with more people, gain more expeince in working with children ready for my future job.

The last 3 weeks, me and my friend will be going on a misson to go round some parts of USA to :

*Visit different places in USA
*see what American lifestyle is like
* See what the female soccer is like
* found out about the USA Deaf Culture
* Meet some C.I users (if they not hiding from me)
* Visit and take a tour at Advanced Bionic (hopefully)

"so, implantee in USA watch out for me, I might bite!" :-P

Right now, I am going to learn "ASL" even though I do know the odd signs, I am going to buy a book with ASL handshapes for me to learn with my friend before we set off there. When I come back from america, hopefully I won't be getting mixed up with ASL n BSL!

Anyway, as I mention in my last post about a surprised phone call, I've decided to leave it for now and ring him on Christmas Day to make it extra specail. I can't belive it ain't long till I gotta start my xmas shopping. Christmas is good, but shopping can be HARD WORK when you don't know what to buy for your family and friends.

The Best C.I moment!

It's nearly 5 months since i've had the Cochlear Implant. I can't belive how quick it has gone. I've learnt alot over the past 5 months and everyday the sounds just gets better and better. I've worked so hard on my listening skills. After working so hard I've decide to try something that I have never been able to do before, is to talk to my grandad over the phone.

My grandad lives in Scarbrough which is about 3 hours away from where we live. So, every weekend my grandad and my parents take it in turn to ring each other up

Every time he rings he always get a chance to talk to my little hearing brother and sister.
The only problem was, I coudn't talk to him over the phone because I couldn't hear what he will say, the only way I could talk to him if my mum was to interpet what he says..

Somehow today, while my grandad was on the phone to my brother. I asked my mum if I could try using the phone to see if I could hear grandad and talk to my grandad by myself.

So, there mum on the phone again talking to grandad saying " Katie-Louise would like to talk to you" When she pass the phone over to me.

I held the phone right up to my ears where the microphone is and said "Hello Grandad" My grandad then said "hello" back. When he said hello, I could hear him but it was a bit quiet so my mum raise the volume on the telephone. He said "hello" again, this time I could hear alot better now the volume turn up. While I was talking to my Grandad my mum was next to the phone just incase I didn't understand what he says.

So during our convonsation grandad was asking me some small question, like "how are you, what have you been upto, have I been training hard in football, How's the Cochlear Implant and am I looking forward to Universtiy etc." While I was talking to him I was able to understand some of the question he said, my mum only help me a little bit.

I felt so happy that I was to be able to talk to grandad most of the time by myself, It was a big acheivement for me and it all I ever wanted to do.

My grandad got so emotional because he was so happy to talk to me over the phone for the very first time, he was he pleased that I used my voice becaue everytime I see him I tend to switch off and use sign language as I wasn't that confident in using it, but now i'm alot confident I did well.

My grandad hasn't seen me yet with the cochlear implant, but he has been looking up on my blogs seening how i am getting on and of course talking to me on MSN. So, i'm looking forward to talk to him on the phone next week and my next target is to try and talk to my other grandad in wales, but this time I will ring him up as a Suprise!

so, that's it for me now, better get to the gym and do my workout!

speak soon x

New Appointment!

Postman Pat has arrived this morning and posted an appointment letter for wednesday the 10th sept, ekk - guess what it is?

Speech Therapy!

I suppose I better start doing my "homework" even though I have been talking alot but not yet manage to see if i missed the ending words. The good thing is, i've worked on my volume of my voice though, especially last night at football training . During my training session I've been "shouting" to get their attention while having a small friendly match. Luckly I wokeup this morning without a sore throat.

So, I'm looking forward to see if there any improvements.


me in action at a game

I got caught!

On the first week of my summer hoilday with my family, the weather hasn't been so good.

One afternoon, I went to take my dog out, Oscar. That afternoon it poured it down with rain and it was very windy. so I ended up taking my umberella with me because I didn't fancy getting wet.

When I took him out I was trying to control both of them at the same time by holding the umberella in one hand and oscar lead in the other. It didn't work very well because oscar is so young and not yet fully trained, he does like to pull and of course go in any direction.

So, it was hard to control both because the wind kept pulling my umberella and of course the coil keeps sticking to the umberella pole too.

so, guess what. I got caught by Richard and he recorded it. I thought i'll post up a video and share it with you all, then i'm going to think of a way to get my own back on Ricahrd :-D

have fun watching the video

I'm on TV tomorrow

Since I have won the bronzes medal in the 1st Deaf world Cup in Greece.

A tv programme called 'See Hear' will be back on air tomrrow at 1pm on BBC2. They will be showing a small news clip of the tourement which I and my team mates played in.

If you missed this programme, you could always check out http://www.bbc.co.uk/seehear/

Also I appeared on a The FA Website http://www.thefa.com/England/DisabledTeams

Me 2nd on the left along with my england friends at Macclesfield Stadium

Summer Almost Over!

Well, summer has nearly come to an end to me. This summer the weather has been up and down. one minute it rains and the next minute the sun comes out to play, well , only when it want to.

Now, after spending 3 years at Derby College Studying : BTEC National Diploma in sports and science its now time for me to move up a level and study a physical Education degree at university this october and this course will take 4 years. (argh)

oh well, hopefully 4 years will fly by quick for me to be a fully qualified P.E teacher which I've always wanted to do and I am now saying goodbye to this uniform I had to wear at college for good!! (picture shown below) Finally at univeristy we're are allowed to wear what ever we like to wear. Woohoo!!

Deaf Camp Got Talents

After spending a week at Golden Sands. Every summer in Augest I do some volenteer work as a staff at Deaf Camp at Mablethorpe which is not far from where Golden Sands is. This year is my 3rd year.

At mablethorpe deaf camp they have 28 deaf children from all over the UK that are mild - profoundly Deaf at the age 6-14years. 7 of them were Cochlear Implant users plus there were me, Richard and lizze as staff too.

I spent a week organising games, sporting activties for them during week and of course take them out and visit different places.

This year was the first time I went with a Cochlear Implant. The past 2 years I either wore my H-aids or don't wear them at all. Untill this year with my implant I can't belive how noisey those deaf children ARE! I do remenber some of the hearing staff last year saying SHHH to some of the child. That time I didn't realise how noisey they were. This year I ended up saying "shhh" to them myself. I can't belive how much noise they make, all Icould hear was screaming, banging, etc. The good thing is, I didn't take the implant off while they were very noise!


Not only it was noise, the last day at camp there was a party and they had Deaf camp got talent. All staff have to do an act and of course some of the children did too. My friend Lizzie another C.I users (freedom) who has been implant at the age of 10 at the nottingham implant centre too came up with hip hop dance which we had to perform to the 3 evil judges and of course this kids.

The dance was great, Lizzie taught me how to do them because she had more experince in following music. which was a great achievement for me. So, check out these small pictures clip of us dancing and of course what we wore too. (sorry some of the are not clear) I'm in the red and lizzie wearing a black top!

Haven Hoilday!

Ever since I were little, my family and I always take a week camping at one of the British Haven Hoilday campsite.

Haven hoilday is a site for all ages but do have alot of activities throughout the day and of course entertainment during the evening. When I were little I used to take part in all the activites with my brother and sister such as football, basketball, treasure hunt that they have set up. I had no problem with all that as I knew what to do.

The only problem I had was the evening entertainment which had shows like Rory the Tiger and his zoo mates. I've always been a fan of Rory the Tiger when I were little and used to love watching him every time went. The only thing was that I wasn't able to hear him and it was all visual. I used to get picked to go on stage and take part in some of the activities but

when I were on stage I used to be quite and I didn't understand what to do untill my mum or any other of my family realise thatI was on stage. They used to come up and explain to the funstars that i'm deaf and my mum or my sister used to come on stage with me and interpet what they say. That the only way I could take part.

Now I've had this Cochlear Implant I went to one of his shows because we had a small menber of my family was with me that wanted to see Rory .

That evening I just sat there watching rory and able to hear him and could understand some word that he say, even though his lips not move. I was so happy that I could hear him which I have never been able to. I even brought his Cd which had loads of songs that was he often played such as the Tiger Club theme. (there apicture of me watching his show)

The next morning I ended up playing it and followed the lyric which was written at the back on the Cd case. The 2nd night we went back to watch another of his shows and guess what. I was able to understand the full lyrics that he played which was brilliant. After that the show ended it moved on to a funstars dance which I took part in and of course the adult game show which was a quiz, I was able to hear some of the question but did had to ask my mum for some help a bit

Not only there was an evenining entertainment, there was a beach there and it the first time for me to be able to hear the british "SEA" The waves were brillant. it did sounded low but I heard it. It wasn't just me that had fun listening to the sea. My 8 month old dog, Oscar enjoyed it too. It was his first time on the beach and he loved ever minute of it. We did have a hard time getting him clean again because he had long hair. ( here me on the beach drawing BIONIC in the sand)