Picked up tickets

I picked up my tickets yesterday, we fly to Manchester on Thursday evening return on Sunday morning, so it's a flying visit.

We should pick up my CT Scan tomorrow.

Tension

Now that we finally have a date, things are a bit more real for us and it's getting quite tense. We're both tired to cap it all - both due to work and also because Maria's been waking up nights recently as she's been teething and has a cold, to cap it all.

We finally have a date, but every day is an age. I've suddenly been overcome by fears, not of the implant itself, or the operation, or that it will be successful - but that I will be refused or found not suitable. There's no reason why I shouldn't, God knows I'm as deaf as a post and my cochleas aren't deformed, but I'm still getting sleepless nights thinking about this. I just can't wait to get it over and done with.

I pray God I can do the implant in my right ear. I have some residual hearing in my left ear (not much) and would like to keep that.

Addendum

Further to my goat obtaining comment that can be seen here, read this article which has more of the points that I discussed. The tone is a little bit angry (I think that the person who wrote it was the recipient of a few of these comments) but it is quite detailed. I am not qualified to judge whether the comments described originate from ASL Interpreters as discussed by the writer, but certainly, I know that interpreters in Malta are not the kind of people that would purposefully mislead people for their own benefit, as they really care for deaf people and are amongst my circle of friends (hi Noel, Maria!!).

Finally, we're on the move!

We finally have a confirmed date to look forward to and have received the information pack from Manchester, apparently they only do Cochlear and Med-El implants so it's not much to deliberate about, although I will wait until they explain the details of both implants before making a final decision. The booklet they inserted was a nice touch though, quite informative if a little dated - it makes no reference to the Cochlear Freedom implant which is now available at Manchester.

We are to report at the Humanities Building, University of Manchester at Devas Street in Manchester for the intial session on January 6th at 1030 AM, then go to the ENT Department at the Manchester Royal Infirmary for an appointment at 2pm.

We have booked our flights tentatively (and they cost a bomb due to the outbound travel being in the Christmas period) and are confirming accomodation today or tomorrow.

MANCHESTER HERE WE COME!

As I have been doing in the recent past, this morning I was eagerly awaiting for the postman....for two reasons.

1) I have ordered a Christmas Barney DVD for my niece from play.com; and more, much more importantly, we were still waiting for the very important hospital papers for Ivan's assessment appointment. I spotted our post woman from my kitchen windows, and I just went down the stairs to greet her:) Lately our house' s name has been broken, and I am all the time worrying that we might loose mail that way as the postman wouldn't know the house's name. So I also went down to make sure the temporary written name didn't fly away in yesterday's storm. The post woman cheerfully said 'good morning’ and handed me a brown envelope. When I looked at it, I saw the University of Manchester stamp, I thanked the post woman and ran up the stairs to send a text message to Ivan.

And also called him on his mobile to draw attention to his text message (just in case he did not hear the message alert tone). I quickly told him what the papers said, namely that we have an appointment date on the sixth of January. Ivan was, needless to say, very happy about this! He immediately started looking into flights, I attempted to call Ivan’s dad, but did not reach anyone at their house. I informed my mum, who will be looking after our baby peanut while we are away for those days and therefore needs to book time off work. I also told my bestest friend Victoria, who was also very happy for us, and told me she was going to get in touch with Ivan straightaway. Now that we have the date, we will try to put this whole CI thing at the back of our minds until the 6th, and enjoy the festive season:)

Things that get my goat....

There are people who form part of the anti-cochlear implant brigade, who feed other people a load of bovine excrement about cochlear implants. Motives range from ignorance, to maintaining the status quo, to ulterior motives (as in financial ones). This leads to disappointment in some people seeking implantation and in some cases leads to people discounting the operation.

I don't think there's anything wrong with people having an opinion - positive or otherwise - but

it's not fair to influence people with statements that are factually incorrect, as well as subjective.

These are some of the myths that go around cochlear implants:

Myth 1) Cochlear implants involve implantation into the brain
Truth: The implant does not come anywhere near the brain. The electrodes are implanted into the cochlea which contains the auditory nerve. At no time is the brain ever exposed or touched.

Myth 2) Someone told me someone died after having an implant
Truth: Nobody has ever died from a cochlear implantation. There have been some cases of bacterial meningitis in implantees but this can be avoided through the appropriate vaccination prior to surgery, and the use of prophylactic antibiotics post surgery. There is also no clear evidence that these infections occurred BECAUSE of the implant.

Myth 3) People who have a cochlear implant are not deaf as it restores normal hearing
Truth: Just like a person who wears spectacles is always short sighted, wearing the cochlear implant does not make a person less deaf (if anything, any residual hearing tends to be destroyed). What the implant does is that it reduces the effect of deafness.

Myth 4) Medical people have financial motives for suggesting a person for an implant
Truth: In some cases, it works against the doctor or an audiologist to suggest a person for an implant, either because they will have to refer the deaf person to someone else, or possibly through loss of custom in hearing aids, batteries etc.

Myth 5) Implantees are not permitted to swim
Truth Like hearing aid wearer's, you have to remove your device before you swim. But you can still have showers, swim etc.

Myth 6) New and improved technology require additional surgeries to be availed of
In reality, the implanted unit is designed to last forever, the external part, on the other hand, can be upgraded as new technology and software becomes available.

In addition, I have heard comments about parents trying to fix a child because they do not accept him or her because s/he is deaf. I find this a totally spurious comment, because, logically, a parent who has a short-sighted child should not buy spectacles for their child as they do not accept them

as they are. So, what is the logic behind this statement, as it is fallacious to me?

I have also heard that Implantees become emarginalised, forming part of neither the deaf world, neither the hearing. But, many of implantees do not desire to form part of the deaf world as they never formed part of it. Others feel that the deaf world is hostile to them because they have been implanted, so they have no real choice.

I realise that some of these statements are pretty strong (enter hate mail from people who don't agree with me :( ) but I feel equally strong about this and believe that people should be given choice. If a person decides not to get an implant, that's fine, nobody is battering doors down to force people to get implants, but on the other hand people shouldn't stay whining if they find difficulties later in life that could have been overcome, partially or fully, by getting an implant.

Maria

Maria is my little girl - she had her second birthday a couple of weeks ago. She's one of the main reasons why I'm going for this implant. Something that made me feel very guilty and upset yesterday may explain why.

It was Maria's bedtime yesterday so after her obligatory 'cuddles' with me before she goes to sleep, I took her to her bedroom, and put her in her cot. She immediately started crying and raising a fuss. I thought she was throwing a tantrum - she was screaming and crying and throwing her 'blankie' out of the cot in frustration, not a good sign. I thought that Barney would be a good assistant as Maria's quite fond of him. She duly threw him out. Uh-oh, not a good sign, to see her friends being chucked out of the cot (and to the corner that makes it difficult for me to reach into, to boot). I told her that I was going to sit next to her until she slept. Maria was screaming and screaming and I was getting angry. I scolded her, and told her to behave herself and that it was past her bedtime. This only caused her to become hysterical.

I started getting really frustrated, and I went to look for Mandy to ask her for some help. She told me, she just wants some milk to drink. I told Mandy, why didn't she tell me? And Mandy told me, she did. And at that point I felt like crying, I felt so guilty and upset - I felt I'd let my little girl down, she was asking me for something and instead of understanding her, I was getting angry with her. I genuinely didn't understand her, I didn't even realise she was telling me something. I duly prepared her beaker with chocolate milk, and gave it to Maria. She immediately shut up, took the drink and drank it all down. When she was finished, she turned to me with a big smile on her face, and, waving, she said, 'Bye papa' and promptly went to sleep.

Even now when I think about it I get upset. Mandy accepts me as I am, she knew about my hearing loss before we got married so she knew what she was in for, but I want to be the best dad for my little girl and I felt like I let her down when I didn't understand her.

Another Recipe - Royal Chicken.

Something different - gets boring talking about one thing all the time.

For those who know me, I'm an afficionado of cooking, with my favourites being Italian and Indian. These two cuisine styles couldn't be more different. I love the variety of flavours, spices, textures that make Indian food so tasty, at the same time I enjoy the simplicity of Italian food, where a few ingredients thrown together end up with something miraculously tasty. I enjoy watching TV cookery shows, for Indian food I enjoy watching the slightly camp TV chef, Reza Mahammad, as for Italian, Jamie Oliver happens to be my favourite Chef - he's got a fantastic series going on, on TV, called Jamie's Great Italian Escape. Fascinating.

Ok it can be relatively fattening with its lashings of ghee and cream but on the other hand it can also be healthy, using lots of pulses in dishes known as dhals.

For whoever is interested, my other recipes online are Chicken Tikka Masala and here Maltese Octopus.

For today I will be making something Indian because I happen to keep a couple of tubs of plain Yoghurt in the fridge for such a purpose (makes a very good marinade!). Anyway - here it is, it serves 4 people :-

Ingredients

2 tbsp Olive Oil

600g chicken (I like to use a mixture of breast and boneless thighs for flavour)

2 thinly sliced onions

30g flaked almonds (although ground almonds are fine)

1 tsp coriander seeds

5 cardamom pods

3 small red chillies (can be omitted)

125ml water

300ml natural yogurt

salt and fresh ground black pepper

boiled rice and naan bread, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the chicken pieces in batches just until they turn white(don`t brown them), then remove from the pan and set them aside.

2. Add the onions to the pan and cook until softened. Add the almonds, coriander seed (you can crush these lightly first, cardamom pods and chilli and cook for about 3 minutes.

3. Place the onion mixture into a liquidiser and add the water. Whiz to blend and return the mixture to the pan. Add the yoghurt and return the chicken to the pan. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, cover and simmer for 45 minutes.

4. Turn off the heat and allow the dish to rest for 30 minutes.

5. Serve with rice and naan bread.

It's delicious! The next recipe will be Italian, I promise.

Finally, some good news!

We finally got some good news :) Looks like we have identified a milestone date for my Cochlear Implant process!

We called the UK this morning, and they gave me a tentative date of the 6th January for my initial assessment, which is a Friday (perfect for some nice January sales shopping :) ). On that day - which is yet to be confirmed but is a likely date - I should have my assessment as well as an information session. In the coming week or two I should receive information about the exact dates, and then it's off to Air Malta to book my tickets.

I'm so pleased that I finally got something to look forward to!

Still no news

Still no news, as yet, for the first appointment for my cochlear implant. Oh well. I guess every day that passes is one day closer to the date, which I don't know yet anyway!!

On a different slant, Malta is soon to host the CHOGM. This is a meeting held every 2 years for the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth, which is an organisation of the countries that were formerly British Colonies.

We should be seeing the Queen and Tony Blair over here, amongst other people - 53 Heads of State in all. I think this is the third, if not fourth, visit that the Queen made to Malta. It should be an exciting occasion for our country - I'm just hoping that no nasties use it to gain the world stage at our small country's expense.

Did you know...

Did you know that in Japan, deaf people are not permitted to drive? Well, now you do. This amazing statement in this day and age is feebly explained that "When you are at the wheel, you may need to judge traffic conditions by sirens and horns of speeding vehicles."

Haven't these people heard of human rights? I can accept a blind person not being able to drive, as much as a deaf person working as a telephone operator, but this is ridiculous, considering that 80 to 90 percent of the information one gets is visual. I have also read a study somewhere that deaf people are even safer drivers than hearing ones. I would say this is because they constantly pay attention for things that would normally be heard (such as an ambulance) and because deaf people cannot hold a conversation and drive at the same time, as they cannot lipread and look at the road concurrently.

121 Virtual Channel Implants?

It is amazing to see the progress in the technology behind cochlear Implants. The original implant had 1 channel of sound, as opposed to the natural human ear's 3,500. Today's implants have between 16 and 22, which do not compare with the natural capacity, but at the same time they are sufficient for perception of speech.

However, this is still not enough for the nuances that come with the appreciation of music, as has been seen from Chorost's article in Wired. Then again, as Chorost also states, the implant is not being used to its full capacity. "Five percent, maybe, Ten, tops." The new 121 Channel Strategy at Advanced Bionics might be the first step towards achieving better quality sound than that previously achieved though implants, and this is something that possible in the very near future.

Currently, research is being undertaken on fully implantable devices, but there is the drawback of the microphone and the battery, which will have to be rechargeable in one way or another.

Small update

We called the hospital in Malta today. Apparently, it is normal for some time to pass before I get the actual appointment date for my cochlear implant evaluation. I guess I've resigned myself to that wait, at least there's is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel - although it's quite a deep one!

I have also been told that it's likely that I will be told, there and then, whether I actually qualify for the implant, and an approximate date of the operation, if not the actual date in itself.

We'll see!

Disappointment

I've just heard, unofficially, that my assessment might take place in January. I'm crushed to say the very least as this is taking so long, just for an initial process. I'm now having serious doubts whether I'll ever reach the end of this tunnel. I know I shouldn't be complaining but knowing I have at least another two months just for my first appointment is sickeningly disappointing. It's very demoralising but I guess I have to chin up a bit. On the positive side I seem to have a date to look forward to, although it's not as close as I would like it.

I started this process in September of last year, so effectively to get anything close to the implant itself will have taken me 16 months. Bummer.