I haven’t blogged for ages. I’m not sure why. I got out of sync I think. I forgot how to blog, I couldn’t be bothered. I also had a lot of other things taking up brain space.

I also found myself wanting to be private for a bit while I get used to my new hearing levels.

I’m not back to normal, but I am doing ok. Just OK.

The CI isn’t improving either – they even flew a guy from the USA out to try a few things with me, but as much as I felt awful saying, it didn’t make much difference.

In terms of my right ear, the one that went kaput, well, it slowly got better over a period of time. The tinnitus quietened down, the hearing got better. It’s not back to how it was, but I’m not complaining. What I have now is even more precious than I ever had before – and I’m scared it’ll go again. Those 2-3 months when I had nothing at all, scored extremely highly in the hardest weeks of my life.

But what I’m interested in gaining back now is not the rest of the hearing I had – it’s my confidence. In terms with dealing with the public, I’m still finding it very hard. The lack of clarity means I’m relying on lipreading so much more, and it’s exhausting. So many people have very hard lip patterns to follow.

My children are wonderful, my biggest one has been teaching my little one signs unprompted. It’s such a special thing to see. Sign language is a huge part of my life – it always was, but it’s even more prominent now.

I’ll try and write again sooner rather than later. I’ve missed blogging, it was always a good way to get things out of my system. So hopefully, The Deaf One is back x