I’m understanding more with the implant. I am continuing to stream audio books to it, and I stopped bothering with ones I’ve read before, because I can understand enough that I don’t need them to be ones I know. Though I still have the print in front of me, most of the time I’m keeping my eyes closed; I only have to look at the text when they use an unfamiliar word or odd syntax. And when we watched the most recent John Oliver last night, I found that understanding it was easier with the implant (connected to a microphone near the TV) than with my other ear and its hearing aid, so I took the HA out and just used the implant.

I also downloaded the Angel Sound app. It basically has different voices saying words, and you have to choose the word they’re saying from a list of choices. I can consistently score anywhere from the high 80s to 100%.

All that said, understanding normal conversation is still a ways off. But I knew from the start that it would not be instantaneous.

Tomorrow I have another followup with the ENT, and supposedly I should also find out whether the insurance will cover the hyperbaric treatments. If not, I then have to decide whether I want to continue them, knowing I’ll be paying out-of-pocket. I probably will, because I feel like if there’s something that might help, I should pursue it.

Meanwhile, the weird (and longer) schedule I’ve had to adopt in order to fit the hyperbaric treatments into my work day is definitely taking its toll: I woke up this morning and immediately panicked because it was 7:30, an hour and a half past the time I should be up. Then Ray reminded me that it was Sunday.