Sorry, Dr Seuss!

OK, so everyone says that listening to children's books is a great way of training yourself with your CI, right? So, given that I'm itching to move ahead with this whole thing, I decide that I should fill in these last two weeks before the surgery with a new project: collecting some aural activities (in this case, audiobooks) so they're all ready to go for me after switch-on.

My husband raises one eyebrow at me (kills me how he can do that, I'm so jealous!) ... surely there's no hurry to do this now, his look suggests. I'll have plenty of time for this after the surgery.

Yes, well I'm IMPATIENT! ("You married me!") And here's where my apology to Dr Seuss comes in.
Because I stumbled across a book called 'Oh, The Places You'll Go', seemingly about Life's Great Balancing Act. Well this one attracted me right away, you see, because the word 'balancing' in there has all sorts of overlap with my hearing imbalance (can only hear from one side at the moment) and because of my actual balance issues (perfected the Drunken Stagger a long time ago now).

It really made me giggle and I discovered that this is a truly wonderful book. There's a great message in this story and I think, for a lot of us, it sums up our cochlear implant journey in a lot of ways. ("You'll come down from the Lurch with an unpleasant bump. And the chances are then that you'll be in a Slump.")

So why am I apologising? It's because it seems that I have found my way into The Waiting Place. Dr Seuss, I am completely stuck in that "most useless place": The Waiting Place.

I'm waiting for my surgery. Waiting for some sleep-filled nights again. Waiting for switch-on. Waiting for the day I start understanding speech. Waiting for life to pick-up where it stopped, three years ago.

So I apologise, Dr Seuss. I am so deeply grounded in The Waiting Place that I don't know how to leave it at the moment. Worse, I don't even think I want to leave it!

Not until I've found the pathway to The Hearing Place. :-)

But I will definitely be listening to "Oh, The Places You'll Go!" for some clues.