Lucille Green

​‘Life better now Lucille can hear clearly’

Port Lincoln woman Lucille Green will enjoy the sounds of Christmas this year after suffering from poor hearing since 2005.

Mrs Green, 75, is looking forward to a proper hearing Christmas this year thanks to the cochlear implant she received in September.

She started to lose her hearing in 2005 but in February this year it became acute, and in desperation she contacted the South Australian Cochlear Implant Centre to enquire about getting a cochlear implant.

“I rang them and said ‘please help me’,” Mrs Green said.

“I am a social person and enjoy golf and lawn bowls and my hearing had become so bad that I knew I was missing much of what was going on around me.

“During my weekly card game, I really didn’t have a clue what was being said.”

Mrs Green had her operation in August and her implant was switched on a month later.

Since then she has been happier and more relaxed and she said her friends and family could not believe the difference in her personality since the implant.

“I am now more outgoing and relaxed, like I was before all my hearing issues began,” Mrs Green said.

“The best thing is being able to talk and communicate in small groups of people.”

“I’ve been told I look a lot happier, I know I certainly feel a lot happier,” she said.

Mrs Green is looking forward to playing golf next year, but her bowls is already more enjoyable because she can better interact with other players.

The sounds of nature are also a welcome change.

“I can now hear thunder and rain on the roof, dogs barking, people at bowls talking around me and to me, and best of all, birds singing and the sounds of nature.

“All these sounds most take for granted, but when you haven’t heard them for many years, to hear them again is indescribably wonderful.”

Watching television was also like watching a silent movie but now she can watch television at normal hearing levels.

She will enjoy her first Christmas since getting an implant with her daughter in Queensland.

Mrs Green said last Christmas her hearing was poor but this year she was looking forward to taking part in all the fun and banter around the table at Christmas lunch.

“And not missing a thing,” she said.

She praised the work of the SA Cochlear Implant Centre.

Mrs Green said the staff there were supportive and patient, and made her feel relaxed about the whole process.

“I can’t speak highly enough of them,”she said.

Story and photo courtesy of the Port Lincoln Times, December 13, 2012