Hello everyone
I've recently undergone my second cochlear implant and am in my third week of switch on. While my second implant hasn't reached the hearing level of my first (which is pretty much normal hearing) I am understanding speech, even hearing on a phone! And music! I can hear harmonies again. Amazing.

I can only say having a first implant was LIFE CHANGING, but having a second implant is WOW! I DIDN'T REALISE HOW MUCH I WAS MISSING. Over the next few weeks I will be examining some of the decisions, processes and outcomes of the journey from totally deaf to almost full normal hearing.

Here's the latest article from the Deafness site at BellaOnline.com.

Cochlear implant decision
When I examined why it takes someone so long to make the decision to have a cochlear implant I expected fear or surgery, fear of failure and so on was the main reason. I was therefore surprised to realise there are far deeper reasons, often ones we don't recognise which makes this decision so hard.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art66134.asp

Please visit deafness.bellaonline.com for even more great content about Deafness.

To participate in free, fun online discussions, this site has a community forum all about Deafness located here -

http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=207

I hope to hear from you sometime soon, either in the forum or in response to this email message. I thrive on your feedback!

Have fun passing this message along to family and friends, because we all love free knowledge!

Felicity Bleckly, Deafness Editor
http://deafness.bellaonline.com

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