Summer Adventure 2013
Thursday, August 8, 2013
In May I wrote about my cousin, Ann, who was going on a Summer Adventure. I compared how what each of us would be doing during the summer of 2013, would be an adventure and they had some things in common. Ann is just a little younger than I am. In case you are new to the blog or have forgotten, Ann's adventure was to bike across America! That is bicycle, not motor bike!
Ann's adventure started on the east coast May 19,when she dipped the front wheel of her bike in the Atlantic Ocean in Yorktown, Virginia. Yesterday, August 7, she completed her adventure when she dipped the front wheel of her bike in the Pacific Ocean at Beachside State Park near Florence, Oregon, after riding over 4,000 miles. Can you believe it? I am amazed! The planned trip with a group of 15 strangers, was to be just over 4,100 miles. Ann added a few by getting lost a couple of times, but she has accomplished an amazing feat!
How can I compare what we have been through? For each of us this summer has been an ADVENTURE! Back in May I wrote about how Ann and I were each stepping into the unknown on our adventures. We had each studied about what we were doing and were convinced it was what we wanted to do. We each have learned a lot and met a lot of new people this summer. Neither of us lost any weight! Ha, ha! That is because Ann was in excellent shape at the start of her trip and I haven't lost any because it has been an inactive summer for me (a lot of sitting and a lot of naps; no mowing the lawn; no going to the gym). Ann's group of 15, collectively lost over 160 pounds! We each determined to do our best and to not give up. In honesty, we each had days where we wondered what we had gotten ourselves into. We have both had hills and valleys: hers were more literal and my were more figurative. We have both had mountain top experiences: hers was as she biked to an elevation of over 11,500 feet and my mountain top experience was when the Cochlear Implant was activated and I scored 100% on the first hearing test of repeating sentences that were read to me. Practice has been a major necessity for both of us. Ann's was done before her adventure and mine is being done after mine. We both had difficulty communicating with our loved ones. She was often out of cell phone range, I just couldn't hear mine.
There are a lot of differences: She has spent most of her summer out in the open air. I have spent most of mine inside in the air-conditioning. She saw a lot of the beauty and sometimes simplicity of rural America. I saw the amazing technology and what it could do to make a deaf person hear again. Her route avoided the big cities. Mine took me to a big city often - Houston. Out of the 15 in their group, there were only 2 injuries: one dog bite and one spill. Neither was Ann. I had one injury: a fall where I broke my elbow. For both of us it has been a summer we will never forget. Congratulations, Ann! I am so proud of your accomplishment!
Today started with Physical Therapy. The arm was stiff today and I mentioned it to the therapist. He said the weather is going to change and from now on I will be able to predict the weather better than the weatherman. I am not sure that is something new, but I was not pleased with his answer except that I guess it is better that it is a temporary thing and not a major set back. My therapist, Carlos, seemed to be a little tired this morning. I teased him that he needed a cup of coffee after he started me on the exercise bike and set the timer for 15 minutes, but didn't start the countdown. I had been going 2 or 3 minutes before I noticed I was still at 15 minutes. There were no new exercises today; just the same ones except for a longer time on the bike. Until now it has been either 10 or 12 minutes, but today was 17-18 since he was late starting the timer.
At the office, I did a lot of reading on the Cochlear website and learned a few things that might help in noisy situations. I will let you know if it helps. Again Ron was out of the office a lot. I asked him why I am the one who loves the beach and yet he is the one who keeps going to South Padre Island so often. He said I could go fix the broken lock down there today. I don't think that would work. So he went to the beach and I stayed at the office.
I have kept promising to show photos of me wearing the sound processor and coil. The first photo is how it should be with my hair mostly covering. The dark patch behind my ear is the bottom tip of the sound processor. The second photo is of the coil which is being help to my head by a magnet, to the internal device. What the magnet is holding on to is beneath the skin (the implanted portion).
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