Hi! My name is Lesley. I'm currently 16 years old and a sophomore in high school.  I was diagnosed with a moderate-severe hearing loss when I was three and a half years old. I've always been mainstreamed and wore hearing aids successfully right up until I was about twelve. My hearing dropped significantly, at which point I looked into getting a cochlear implant. In May 2007 Dr. Peters in Dallas implanted me with the Freedom CI in my right ear. I've discovered all sorts of new sounds, and in my opinion, there is no comparison between implants and hearing aids. Understanding speech became so much easier. I realized that just about everything makes a noise, from clocks ticking to birds chirping. This is why, less than two years later, in March 2009 I decided to go bilateral. Although recovery wasn't quite as easy the second time around, I have no regrets. Having two implants makes everything sound richer and fuller in general. I find it so much easier to hear and converse in background noise and at school.

While I hear wonderfully with my implants, I still sometimes have trouble with larger class discussions in some of  my larger classes. A long battle with the school district ensued to try to get CART or C-Print for just two of my classes. At the moment, I'd have to change schools to have access to CART, which isn't something I'm ready to do just yet.  

I love music- both listening to my iPod as well as playing the violin. I'm in my school's gifted program and I am a high-A student. I'm learning French, and have taken French class at my school for four years. While I could have accomplished this without my implants, being able to hear has made it much easier and al ot less stressful! If you're like I was and unsure about getting an implant because you're afraid that it won't work much better than the hearing you already have, trust me. It's so worth it!

Feel free to message me with any questions...

Also, please check out my blog!

www.CacophonyToSymphony.blogspot.com