Sunday 19th October 2008 - My CI centre support group

This afternoon we met up in the CI centre for our get together. All the staff were there including my CI surgeon who had retired this Summer. It was great for all of us together and to catch up and meet new people and chat in a informal setting. The staff and the leader of our group has provided drinks and cakes for us. Whilst I was there, I was shocked to see one of my Deaf friends there who I know quite well for a few years. I hadn't seen him for a while, but I know last time we met, I was still undergoing my CI assessment and he had been assessed and was suitable but wanted to put it on one side for a while. So I was wondering why he was at our social. My friend saw me and we both said Hi (he is a BSL user too and we were the only BSL users there) and embraced each other in front of our retired CI surgeon and our CI audiologist. Our retired surgeon and our CI audiologist were watching us as we greeted each other and asked each other why we were both there. We both turned to show each other our cochlear implants, I was shocked that he has one and he was shocked that I had one. We both didn't know that each other had actually gone for the op. Our CI audiologist and retired CI surgeon (who operated on both of us) asked us if we knew each other and we both said yes, we know each other quite well. Then my friend and I started talking to our CI audiologist and comparing notes of our experience at switch on. Our CI audiologist had switched us both on, and we both compared notes of our switch on experience and our experience since. It was a very interesting chat and we had similar experiences. My friend like me, is also profoundly deaf from birth hence our similar experiences in our cochlear implant journeys. Our CI audiologist found this very interesting to hear.