§ ¶An audience
During a recent visit, my parents accompanied me to a therapy session. Believe it or not, no one has ever come with me in the almost two years that I've been going! I warned them that I might not perform as well with them there, and joked with Erika that she should give me the same exercises so I could really impress them. Erika actually tried some new things, but I needn't have worried. I did just fine. I had to try not to look at my parents, because one time when I did, I could see tears in their eyes. Dad said afterward that he didn't expect me to do this well with my CI. He also said that during the session, he was thinking about how my three deceased grandparents would have loved it. Reva commented that some of the things I did in this session we wouldn't have even attempted at the beginning, much less a year ago.A couple recent incidents worth recounting:
• I was in the car with two friends, and was able to pick out a sentence from each of them. That was cool!
• Aaron and I went out for dinner last week with his cousin and her husband. As we waited to enter the restaurant, Aaron asked if I'd brought my CI battery. I realized with dismay that I'd left it at home, having been too focused on other things. I forgot that I'd be out during the time that it normally dies. Sure enough, shortly after we got there, my world was suddenly a lot quieter. I realized just how much I've come to depend on it; in the loud restaurant, it was often hard to follow the conversation.
