VIP for an Afternoon

Liz had a wonderful birthday on my second day of Christchurch. The weather was so miserable that my camera didn't end up coming out of the bag. However, we managed to fill up the day, shopping (highlight was a pair of woollen witches britches, and a pair of leather boots!), lunching with Liz's friends for a birthday lunch, and then a birthday dinner - Vietnamese Steamboat that Pat cooked up. Boy can Pat cook up a storm. It was the best meal I have ever had.

The following day Liz took Pat and I to the netball. She had been given VIP tickets, which meant we had wonderful seats courtside, and were able to drink wine and champagne, and were served food throughout the game. We were up one end of the goal and so I took a few photos...

Tactix - warming up (Christchurch team was Tactix so that is the team I supported - just as well they weren't playing Auckland!)



The start of the game with the team supporting each other..



Defence - look they're all legs and arms!



Julie Seymour is still in prime fitness, even though she's had two children and is now in her 30's. She's always a joy to watch on the court - and Centre is such a demanding position.



Oooooooo - cat fight...



This is why Tactix won...



And while this game was going on we were scoffing these..



Washed down with this...




It felt funny eating in front of so many people.. And everytime there was a goal the crowds went wild...



All in all - a wonderful afternoon - not bad being a VIP once in a while!

A New Zealand break

At the beginning of the year, when I was still down and out, morose, upset, and struggling with total hearing loss, Air New Zealand Grab-a-Seat advertised flights to Christchurch for $10 each way. I grabbed them, and was booked to go to Christchurch 21st May, coming back on 2nd June. You can't sneeze at these prices.

I emailed my step-sister Liz and asked if I could come and stay. The trip just happened to co-incide with her 30th birthday so that was all good. At the time I was still waiting to see if I would have a cochlear implant by then, so warned her that I could still be totally deaf. It didn't seem to faze her at all. Luckily for all, I was well and truly up and running with my new implant by the time I got onto that flight which was meant the holiday was very smooth communication wise. Made it much less tiring for me too.

Naturally, as it always happens, (ie Minus 31 in Montreal, and 40C in Sacramento), I happened to go south just as a polar blast blew up from the Antarctica in a roaring southerly, leaving bad weather and snow for me to arrive in. I'm not so worried about the snow - I love snow and I'm a good shot when it comes to snowballs.

Liz picked me up from the airport, and then after lunch I suggested we go up the road to the snow, seeing the Port Hills were covered. We then spent the afternoon driving around the Port Hills with Liz being a wonderful tour guide, and me getting my snowball throwing arm back into practise....



There wasn't a huge amount of snow - but just enough to satisfly the Aucklander who lives where it never snows. The views were breathtaking... this is looking over to Lyttelton Harbour...



then turn 180 degrees and you look across Christchurch and over to the Southern Alps where Mt Hutt is (great skiing place which I have yet to visit one day).



This was the only photograph I got of the alps, as the southerly then took over again and gave me rain and low cloud for the rest of the time I was in Christchurch. It blanketed everything so not many photos were actually taken in Christchurch.

We kept on following this road up on the Port Hills..



And came to this memorial which is very old that commemorates the early settlers arriving in Lyttelton harbour and trekking over the hill to settle in Christchurch...



Here's Lyttelton harbour showing the actual Port...



Up the road a bit and we got extensive views over Christchurch and the lovely long but cold beach. I'm not sure how anyone swims in that water in summer - it's mighty cold to me :)



Then around some more to sweeping views of Godley Head...



Eventually the road ended around the entrance of Lyttelton Harbour...



And those hardy enough to have a picnic, had a perfect picnic spot with beautiful views. I guess it would be slightly warmer in summer!!



By this time the late afternoon sun was coming out giving everything a golden look, the perfect time of the day for taking photos.



Especailly when the sun hits the tussock grass...



On our way home now, and a last parting shot of Lyttelton Harbour from the top, while it was still in the sun...



And when that tussock grass is lit up by the late afternoon golden light, AND it's surrounded in white sparkly snow - well - that's just magic to this snowless Aucklander!

Cochlear Implant Update

I keep getting little messages in my inbox asking...

'How's the hearing?' and
'We haven't heard you talk about your CI - trust it's going well...?'

...and I keep meaning to give an update but keep ending up being sidetracked. First my gorgeous burmese cat went missing, so I was too busy delivering flyers and trying to find her, so the updates went by the by. Then I took off for two weeks holiday to stay with family and friends in the South Island. I went because I got a $10 airfare to Christchurch, and I am a person that simply can't pass up bargains like that. I got back last night to find yet another query in my inbox asking about my hearing.

So - I now feel I should let you know that....

Yes- I'm hearing. It's really exciting, and I'm doing extremely well.

The week I left to go the the South Island I had my one Month post switch on mapping. The results were....

98% open set sentences without lipreading in quiet. (Now that's more like it - back to my original implant score before it failed!)

98% open set sentencces without lipreading in noise (+5db) Wow - that's incredible - I don't think I've ever got that score before, even with my old original implant which was good.

86% open set sentences without lipreading in noise (+10db). Still pretty good, and still better than my original implant before it failed.

66% single words only without lipreading. This is a score which has doubled, as only two weeks before it had been 33%. So the speech discrimination is improving daily.

Am I pleased? Heck yeah - I'm thrilled as after two years of struggling with failed equipment I finally feel that I'm getting somewhere again. I'm making phone calls again, still not with complete ease, but am able to hold my own and get most of the phone call is about.

I picked up my cat from the cattery this morning and she's spent the day wandering around the house meowing. I found I could hear her call from every room. And I noticed I can now hear when the washing machine finishes.

Just before I went away, I fired off an email to my surgeon to tell him the news, and facetiously asked if I should be aiming for 100% scores. His answer.....

'Why stop at 100%?'

Why indeed? !!

Of French Horns and Bomb Raid Sirens

This new implant is wonderful. I am now able to use the phone with confidence at long last. I was forced into it really as I have had to ring around all the vets to see if my old grey girl has been handed in. Unfortunately - she's still missing and i'ts now 9 days. Her poor mate sits at the top of the stairs every night waiting for her to come up. Sad.

Anyway, for the past two weeks I've been pleasantly listening to a kid practising his trumpet or french horn. I figured this kid must be in a band or orchestra gearing up for a concert as it would simply go for hours.

Bron came over yesterday and we were having a coffee and chatting when the trumpet or french horn started up again. The conversation went something like this...

Bron: "Can you hear that"

Me: "Yes - this kid has been practising for two weeks now - very dedicated budding musician obviously"

Bron: "It's a dog howling"

Me: "Rubbish - it's a french horn or something"

Bron: "no it's a dog - I can hear the voice breaking, but it is very low, and quite weird for a dog"

Me: "Really?"

Bron: "Yes - it sounds like a World War II bomb raid warning"

Me: "I guess my implant needs adjusting again!"

So gone are my visions of this dedicated budding musician practising for all he/she's worth, and instead I have the vision of my neighbour's lonely dog howling mournfully for company.

Live and learn :)

I'm not alone in 'mishearing' with a new cochlear implant. A friend wrote.

"The first time I went running with my second implant I kept stopping trying to figure out what the God awful noise was. I was running on a wooded trail and started to get freaked out thinking something was following me. Seriously it took me a good mile to figure out I was hearing myself gasp for air."

I have this vision of monsters breathing down her neck while on her run - I'd be freaked too, as I've heard my own footsteps echo at night and wondering if someone is following me too.

I guess it takes time for the brain adjust all over again, but in the meantime, I'm sure I'll end up laughing a lot at my ear mistakes!

Missing - Lost

Missing/Lost
Northcote/Hillcrest Area

Much Loved Family Pet, Burmese Blue, 13 years old

Healthy but slightly arthritic

Very Vocal, Likes cars, Nosy

May be locked in a little used shed/garage.

Answers to the name of Mika (Meeka)

Owner desperate to find her.

That's the flyer I have been delivering around my neighbourhood today. I've searched high and low, canvassed the neighbourhood, and put up flyers in the local businesses and shops, and all the vets in a 2km radius.

She's old, doesn't ever wander, and recently I bought a new bed complete with an electric blanket for her which she loved. I haven't seen her since Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday night was awful - she's slept on my bed for 13 years, and I really noticed she wasn't there. I keep hoping she'll walk in, demand food, then head to her new bed. But I have a sinking feeling she's not coming back.

We have a safe neighbourhood. There's nothing that's dangerous out there. No Snakes, Bears, wild animals. She doesn't go near the road as she doesn't like cars, in fact I've been scouring hte roadsides/verges in case there was a cat who has been knocked over, but there has been nothing. No sign of her at all. i suspect she got nosy, climbed in an open window nearby, or walked in the door, and got locked in without someone realising.

While my cochlear implant is fantastic, I doubt I will hear her meow over the other noises around, but it's the sound I most want to hear right now.

It's a Success...

It's now two weeks since I was switch-on with my new ear. These are the things I have been hearing...

Indian Mynah birds fighting on the neighbour's roof.

When someone talks to me from Facebook there's a quiet 'click' sound that alerts me to the fact they've messaged me on chat. I had no idea that it gave a sound at all.

Spider Solitaire - has the most wonderful sound when you move the cards. I can't stop playing it just to hear it.

You Tube - Susan Boyle. The implant still sounds a bit flat, but I know the song and could follow aong. I long for a more depth of sound, which I know will come over time. But it was nice to actually watch her vid when I had no sound, and then a week later when I did have sound. The difference was palpable!

You Tube - Sound of Music at Grand Central Station - Antwerp. Wow - to hear the music and and see the dancing as well. I've watched this 100 times already. Fortunately my friend showed me how to download it onto my HDD so I wouldn't use up all my internet alllowance!

The Cats - man - they're loud - have they always meowed this loud?

The Phone - am phoning lots of people and can even pick up the phone when it rings without breaking out in a sweat! I hadn't realised how nervous I had become of the phone in the last two years.

Skype - After much angst getting the microphone to work on my computer, I can now use skype and rang a friend I hadn't spoken to on the phone before. Talked for one hour without any difficulty at all.

Hired DVD - plugged my cable into my laptop and have been listening to movies with and without captions no problem at all.

Talking Books: - listening through my laptop a talking book. Can get about 90% without reading the book with it.

Just hearing the keyboard as I type is lovely.

I keep thinking there's something wrong with my car when I drive it - it's been so long since I've heard an engine, I'm not used to it - so I turn the implant off while driving to stop me wondering if the motor is about to fall out!

Talkback Radio - can follow along in the car and get 95% of what is happening, even those that phone in, where it's not as 'clear'!

Wow - I can't believe two years have gone by and I missed all these things so much. Most people would take all these for granted, but each new sound I hear gives me a thrill that I cannot explain.

I finally feel reconnected again. Long may this current cochlear implant live!

Wired for Sound once Again

The 22nd April took a long time to come. In fact I was emailing my implant team my countdown on a regular basis in the last week. I think my Facebook friends also got sick of it!

I didn't take anyone to my switch on this time around. I think the Novelty of being switched-on has worn off the third time around!

I arrived and the usual thing happened - just like last time. First I had to listen to the sound I could just hear to set my threshold levels, then I had to apply each electrode to 'medium' loudness for my comfort levels. A few sweeps to make sure I could hear each beep, and they were all even, and then I went live. This process would have take the best part of an hour.

Ellen did the usual thing and told me that I would not like the sound all over again. I did my nod - of course - I've been through all this before - of course!

And so Ellen and Gayle started talking to me.

This was the conversation...

Me: "Oh my god - Oh my god"

Ellen: "What - something wrong?"

Me: "There are no chipmunks this time - it sounds almost normal"

Gayle: "Yes - well - we shot them all before you arrived!"

I could not believe it. We sat and talked for half an hour, then my brain wanted more. Everything was becoming quiet after just half an hour. So we did another mapping right there and then and I got a lot more volume.

It was now lunchtime so I went up to the cafe and sat on my own eating my lunch and revelled in the noise, just hearing everyone talking around me at other tables. Chairs scraping, cutlery banging, the coffee machine brewing. It was bliss. These are sounds I had not heard for the six months I was totally utterly deaf. I once again felt 'connected' to the world and it's a really really nice feeling.

After I had finished eating, I thought about texting my friends and family to let them know of my success. But I was hearing so well that I decided to ring them. So then spent the rest of my lunch hour ringing up all my friends and family to tell them I could hear.

Wow - this is definitely not normal, and it's not something I could have done at my switch on day last year. A lot of family weren't home, but the people I did get hold off were amazed and thrilled, and very excited. I dread my phone bill!

I don't think it was something the Audiologists were expecting either! After lunch we did one more mapping, and I was itching to ring the surgeon to tell him and to organise a appointment with him to check my ear as it was still painful. However, Ellen did that while I went off and had a session of testing with Gayle. It was promising and I did well, but I was getting really tired.

I was surprised when I got into my car that the radio was on. It's probably been on the whole time I've had it and didn't know!!

Called into my surgeon, Robert Gunn on the way home. My ear had fluid behind the drum which caused the pain, but no infection (thank goodness) and a small course of anitbiotics to make sure it didn't turn into an infection got rid of it over the next few days. He looked very happy with the outcome this time around.

That night I sent an email to him and to Bill Baber who jointly operated on me in March, thanking them for placing the electrodes so perfectly, and that I realised that without their expertise, I would not be hearing so well.

By the end of the evening, I was not hearing as well again, so was thankful I had another day at the Implant clinic the next day.

Another mapping session, then a break, in which I caught up with Colin who was also there for a mapping session, then I went off to get tested again. By the end of the test, I once again had lost all volume and needed more. My brain is so greedy for sound after so long without it.

We broke for lunch and I spent the hour catching up with Colin and his wife Carmen, and their wonderful children I actually didn't want to part ways - the lunch hour was over far too soon. It's always nice to talk to people who have had many similar experiences who actually understand you, and understand where you are coming from.

I then went and had yet another mapping, and that was that. Off into the big world to learn to make sense of all this sound again.