HLAA Hearing Loss Magazine July/August 2010 - 12

I Am Simply Me

from page 11

explain my hearing loss to others. They had been through it. I didn’t need to feel embarrassment when asking someone to repeat themselves. After all, they asked me to repeat myself as well. If a battery died, it was understood that the conversation stopped so that nobody would miss out, and if it seemed like someone missed the punch line of a joke, someone filled them in so they wouldn’t be left out. We understood each other. No explanations were necessary. I felt like I had found my crowd at last…people that were just like me. Arriving back home, energized by my newfound friends, I threw myself into advocacy and volunteer work. In November of that year, I became a bilateral cochlear implant user with my right ear being implanted. Unlike my left ear with the implant, my right ear was an immediate success. Within two weeks I scored an amazing 97 percent on a comprehension test in my audiologist’s office. I had never scored that high before— ever. It fueled my fire. The world needed to know about this!

On a side note, the left side implant was still bothersome. I actually had it re-implanted in August of 2008 on the off chance that there was an implant issue or a surgical positioning issue. It turned out to be neither of those things. Instead, it is an issue of a brain that simply won’t wake up and work on that side. It happens sometimes. In addition to the lack of sound, wearing both implants actually caused severe balance issues for me. I suppose that’s another thing that my brain just couldn’t adapt to. Amazingly, as soon as I stopped wearing the left implant altogether, my balance issues went away. I still recommend bilateral implants to anyone who wants to try them. I have seen so many wonderful results from the cochlear implant community; it just didn’t work for me. However, I now hear better with the one implant than a lot of people hear with two implants. I can’t ever remember hearing with two ears, so not having two ears now has not broken my heart. I am very grateful for one!

The Thorpe kids signing “I love you” in ASL

Balancing Life
For the next couple of years, advocacy and the HLA-Nashville Chapter became my life. It energized me and built my confidence. I felt I had found my calling...helping others deal with their hearing loss. Somewhere along the way, however, I started feeling like I was losing touch with what was most important in my life—my family. I had replaced time for my children with volunteer work and time for my husband with meetings and webinars. Life wasn’t all about hearing loss. My husband’s and my communication was nearly nonexistent. The guilt I felt over not being there for my family started overtaking the pride I took in

my work. I had to sit down and re-evaluate where my priorities lay, and what I had to do to make my life what it needed to be. I’d love to be able to say that I immediately balanced my life out and everything was instantly smooth and perfect, but the truth of the matter is that the balancing act is a work in progress. My goals are to be a strong Christian, a great wife and mother, and to make time for everything else as needed. I still feel that there is a time and place for advocacy and volunteer work, and I love the occasional opportunity to share the story of my journey to acceptance with someone else. I have a hearing loss, but it does not define me. I am so much more than a person who doesn’t hear well. I am a Christian, a wife, a mother, a daughter, a friend, and an advocate. I am simply me. Jennifer Thorpe lives in Shelbyville, Tennessee, with her family. She can be reached at sweetpea1971@gmail.com.

Jennifer Thorpe and her husband, Dicky

We Want You!
Tell us about your experiences with hearing loss and be a part of Hearing Loss Magazine! Author submission guidelines can be found on our website at www.hearingloss.org. For more information, e-mail Editor Barbara Kelley at bkelley@hearingloss.org.
12 Hearing Loss Magazine

HLAA Hearing Loss Magazine July/August 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of HLAA Hearing Loss Magazine July/August 2010