Bilateral Surgery Tomorrow! :)

January 31, 2006

Hi everyone,

As many of you know, my bilateral surgery is scheduled for tomorrow.

I'm so excited !! I've been struggling with the use of an analog and digital

hearing aid in my nonimplanted ear for the past 11 months. My surgeon, audi,

family and friends are all excited about what this will mean for my personal

safety and ability to travel safely.

Surgery is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. which means I need to be at the hospital

by 6:30 a.m. My sister will be driving me to the hospital.

I learned that a friend of mine who served as my tactile

interpreter on the day of my first CI activation will be there tomorrow. I

received an e-mail from her yesterday telling me how excited she was to be

able to share this experience with me.

A camera crew from a national news station will be present during surgery to

film part of the surgery for a feature they are doing about my second CI.

Someone who used to work at my local CI center now works for a national news

station out of state. She expressed interest in doing a story about my first

CI, but due to issues concerning patient confidentiality, she couldn't

discuss this with me, my surgeon or audiologist. She and I have been

communicating by e-mail over the past several months. When she asked if I

would be interested in sharing my story with others, I gladly welcomed the

opportunity! I will be interviewed in April or May once I've had time to

recover from surgery. My surgeon, audi, news reporters and I are all very

excited about the opportunity to share information about this amazing

technology with others who may not be aware of its existence.

I will be staying at the hospital overnight, so I may not post until Friday

or Saturday.

Good luck to those of you scheduled for surgery and activation!! The journey

you are about to embark on is one you'll never forget!! <smile>

Janet, if I remember correctly, you will also be having surgery on

Wednesday. Good luck! Here's wishing you a smooth recovery.

, behave yourself and don't cause any trouble on the list while I'm

gone. LOL!

Left ear - Nucleus 24 Contour Advance with 3G

Implanted: 12/22/04 Activated: 1/18/05

Right ear - Nucleus Freedom

Surgery date: 2/1/06 Activation date: 3/1/06

Deafblind/Postlingual

Severe-profound hearing loss since 1995

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