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Marissa's fourth month

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I've been ill for a while with an ear infection. In fact, ill enough that I could not wear my hearing aids. Carina had new earpieces made two weeks ago and I am waiting anxiously to receive them. They should be arriving this week.

My hearing and speech therapy are both progressing well. The university is currently closed, but Marjan was prepared to carry on with speech therapy throughout the holidays, so that there would not be an interruption. I am very grateful to her for this.

An interesting thing recently happened. One of my friends, Patricia, received a cochlear implant. The apparatus was switched on for the first time last Monday and it was a very emotional moment for her. I chatted to her at a party on Friday night, because I am really interested in how she is benefiting and progressing. The reason for this is that I might consider going down that road if it is a great improvement.

According to what Patricia says, it sounds as if her experiences were similar to mine when my Widex hearing aids were switched on for the first time. She used to wear hearing aids, but did not really get much out of them, since she was born deaf and really didn't hear well at all – hearing aid or no hearing aid. It seems that she can hear more or less the same things that I can hear with the hearing aids. There is one difference, though – she can hear someone speaking on the telephone, whereas I cannot, as the hearing aids start whistling as I get near the phone.

Marjan, my speech therapist, says she uses the same methods as will be used for Patricia. It will be interesting to monitor her progress compared to mine. More about this next month.

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