ONE YEAR!

Hello friends and family,

Today is the one year anniversary of new life with my cochlear implant. It truly has been an amazing year. Each season brought new sounds and experiences that I will forever cherish. Some of my favorite sounds were the leaves rustling, snow falling on my jacket, rain drops and birds chirping.

One of my biggest fears of getting the implant was that I would lose my identity in the Deaf world and not connect with my friends in that world anymore. I continue to stay involved with Deaf community events and keep close friendships. I greatly appreciate all of my friends, hearing, hard of hearing and deaf for their support along the way. I have learned an important lesson that my true friends will be there for me no matter what.

My life in the hearing world has become much easier. I feel that I am able to have more access to communication and able to follow everyday conversations. I do not feel like I am constantly missing information or working hard like I did before. Sometimes I catch myself being able to understand words in songs or on television without the support of captioning. This is still a very bizarre experience for me.

Lastly, I especially want to thank my loving family for their never ending support throughout this process. It has been a special experience to share with my brother Scotty. I couldn't have done this without you, especially my parents who were there on the day of my surgery and took care of me during my recovery.

Thanks for reading :)