29 August 2006

Tick TOCK Tick TOCK

Everyone (almost anyway) knows that I got a cochlear implant in my head/left ear the week before last - for those caring to understand the details click here and for general reading pleasure you can go to COCHLEAR.

So I got "activated" last week. This means they gave me the speech processor, attached it to my head with a magnet, and programmed it at the basic level - testing my ability to hear little beeps and things. Then they actually let me hear environmental sounds, which in this case were Charlotte and Darcy (the audiologist/Wizard) talking. And they sounded just like they should.

This was astounding to me and the Wizard, because normally when they activate someone, everyone sounds the same at first and much like Mickey Mouse at that. So my success here is very, very good news. But it can take up to 18 months to get the full value of the implant.

Still, one thing I learned pretty quickly is that the world is very noisy - though the Wizard has me set on a very low volume level, and will adjust it upwards 4 times over the next four weeks.

When I got home from the activation, I was so tired of all the noise that I wanted to stand somewhere where there was no ambient sound at all. So I went into our basement, which is carpeted. The furnace is off. I also held my breath for a moment. At last all the noise vanished. Except for an insistent little noise. A tiny little noise that I heard very clearly. At first I thought it was my heart, but my heart doesn't go

tick - TOCK.

I turned on the light, and realized there was a little bedside-sized clock on the bookshelf across the room - ticking. I'd never heard this before and now I can. There are of course many kinds of clocks in the world, and this mechanical clock may be the easiest one to hear.

As my friend Stan put it, there is there is always a clock in the corner of wherever we are, even if we are on top of Mt. Everest. It's just that some days we hear it and some days we don't.

It's an odd clock in that even though its ticking is always present, we can only hear it when we are fully present.

Listen to your life.

tick-TOCK.


Namaste.

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am thrilled to read of your adventures in hearing. How wonderful it is that you can hear the small, quiet sounds again. And you remind me of how blessed we all are. We are blessed by hearing itself, and by all of our senses. We are blessed by continuing progress in medicine and science. We are doubly blessed when we stop to notice these things.

Heather said...

This is just so amazing. I was wondering how things were going for you. I was thinking about what you are going through yesterday as I have a really bad cold that has settled in my ears and I can't hear very well right now. I cannot imagine what it must be like to live like that every day.

Heather said...

This is just so amazing. I was wondering how things were going for you. I was thinking about what you are going through yesterday as I have a really bad cold that has settled in my ears and I can't hear very well right now. I cannot imagine what it must be like to live like that every day.

Anonymous said...

It is very interesting what you write about hearing. Most of the times the ears have to do something. This must be tiring for them. When I think about it, I think they need more quite times.

I wish you beautiful noises. In our last hotel room was a clock who was too loud as well. We took off the battery. And there was a refrigerater who went on and off. We unplugged it as well. Then we finally could fall asleep.

All the best for youl

Anonymous said...

Wonderful post.

Lot's of luck with your CI