Day #3 bought more surprises and more new things. I tried the smaller batteries since they are lighter but being the early riser I am, it conked out at 4:00PM meaning I got 9 hours out of it. Fortunately, I carried a second small battery so I should be good for the rest of the day.

Let me tell you…the album Timeless by Sergio Mendes and Black Eyed Peas never sounded so good! Instead of level 4 and all bass, I was at level 1 1/2 – 2 and got all kinds of highs….cymbals, bells, tamborini (or whatever the heck you call it), the piano…it was awesome! I am going to have to drag Steph or Dan along just so that I can learn which instrument is which. I almost didn’t want to get out of the truck in the parking lot at work. Now I gotta get me one of those monster iPod and start loading it up since the CI has a jack which will allow me to plug one in directly. Neat being able to plug an iPod directly to the brain, huh!?!

Anyway, a couple of new sounds today including the first “talking behind my back”. Congratulations John for being the first one caught! John is one of those cheery dudes who like to tap me on the shoulder to get my attention so he could say “good morning”. This morning, and I didn’t even notice, but he walked by and said “good morning Sam” without tapping me on the shoulder and I immediately knew who it was. Now, how is that for progress!

Other sounds I heard were the ruffling of women’s high heels on the carpet. Up-close conversations were easier than with the hearing aid simply because vowels and syllables were more clearer due to the higher range of highs the implant gives me. And I was able to following conversations at a meeting much more easier wearing both the implant and hearing aid. This represented an improvement over day 2 where I found the hearing aid and implant were competing with each other.

Anyway, today was mapping session #2 with Michelle. I think she was surprised with the progress I’ve made especially when I told her I could hear the pilot light on the stove, Steph’s chopping onions on the cutting board, the click of keyboards, and music. She did advocate that I should wear the hearing aid with the implant so long as the implant is predominate. I think I’ll take that advice when it comes to meetings at work but other than that, I am going to give the implant “most favorable” treatment. We also did talk about the tinnitus I am experiencing and decided that we would work with masking it. Three programs were devised…a slightly louder version of the P program I started with (#1), a much more louder version (#2), and a “noisy” environment version (#3). For the next couple of weeks, I am to work with switching between #1 and #2 and once in a while, #3.

Right now I am using #2 and I am listening to music off the computer. I just asked Steph who is in the kitchen if it was too loud and she said no. She said she can hardly hear it!! WOW! And it sounds so clear and crisp even on crappy harmon-kardon speakers that somehow survived Dan’s rap and hip-hop music. No longer am I feeling the speaker just to find the beat. WOW…AWESOME!!

Thus far, the only concerns I have are the tinnitus and difficulty in following conversations in a large room. But based on the progress I’ve made so far, I am sure these will be overcome eventually. So, in terms of overall performance and based on the responses from Michelle, I would have to think I am ahead of where I would expect to be for someone 3 days “turned on”.

Tomorrow, I go for a Meningitis vaccination just to be on the safe side since there was an incident about 4 years ago where implant patients were coming down with it. I don’t want to raise fears since it is a non-issue but it never hurts to err on the side of caution.