Its a quiet weekend with some beautiful “top10” weather…sunny and in the high 60s. Being a proud member of Checkers AC does have its side benefits for a CI perspective.

Yesterday, after a nice hearty breakfast at the Original Pancake House in Williamsville, younger son Dan and I headed out to UB where instead of a typical 5K race, we volunteered at the UB Open Track and Field event. We served as “hammer chasers” in the hammer throw event where after the competitor threw the hammer (I have no clue why its called a hammer since its more of a ball on chain contraption!), we dug it out of the ground and returned it. We did the same thing in the javelin throw. It made for some good bonding time, something that is a rarity these days between a teenager and parent.

What was even better…the sounds I heard with the CI. Its truly amazing considering I couldn’t hear the same sounds with the hearing aid even in my “better” ear. I could hear the gun going off on the other side of the stadium, the tape measurer reading reading of the results, somebody’s boom-box in the background, the cars whizzing by on the highway, the cheering, etc. It was truly amazing.

Therapy continues to progress. I am in the middle of H.G. Wells The Time Machine. Its easy to follow along but when I try without the book, I still get lost. Don’t forget, I am only 2 1/2 months post activation. In essence, that is how old the auditory part of my brain is. I continue to make progress every day. Big words or those with 3 or more syllables are getting easier to understand while 1 syllable words are still the toughest.

This coming Friday will mark mapping session #6. But most importantly, I have been twitch-free since the last session almost a month ago. I do want to try to get more volume since I am maxed out on my current levels. I also want to fine tune the sensitivity levels since I do have a bit of difficulty in meetings; it seems there is an echo with sound bouncing off of the walls when the meeting is in the conference room.

Next Saturday is the FAMA (Friends and Alumni for Maryvale Athletics) 5K in Cheektowaga. We’ve never done this race before but its a nice flat course which will obviously be a break from the hills of the past 2 races.