I have worked in sales and sales management most of my life for large and small companies. Among them are: IBM, Comcast Metrophone, Xerox, Verizon, and others.. Like many of us, I couldn't wait for retirement. When that time came, I realized that I enjoyed working more than being retired. I had met some great people and made some fantastic friendships during my working years and very much missed the opportunity to continue to do so.I now have a new challenge. I had been hard of hearing for some time, but learned to manage it. Recently it got much worse and I now better understand what the 48 million Americans with severe hearing loss face daily. I started to avoid being with people because it was embarrassing to not be able to understand conversation,and withdrew within myself. At the urging of my family and close friends, I decided to become a candidate for a cochlear implant to try to regain some of my hearing. I had the surgery at the beginning of the month and am now hearing and making daily progress. I can't tell you how good it is to hear friend's voices again!I now rely very much on LinkedIn, email, and face to face meetings to help me to help people.I also use captioned phone technology to help me to more clearly understand phone conversations and voice-mail messages. I will return to be a productive member of society and I will find ways to use my skills along with the experience I have gained over the years to continue to find ways to help to make the awareness of hearing loss an issue of national concern.