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.