Cochlear Implant-Part 4

WOOHOO!! I can hear!!! Robin took me to the House Ear Institute today to get my speech processor mapped & hooked up.

Here I am by the 30' ear holding my suitcase of supplies that go with the CI kit. It includes TV/Hi-Fi cords, an extra speech processor, a drying machine, battery re-charger, etc.

Here I am giving hand signals of how many beeps I am hearing at each of the 22 electrodes. My doctor, Dawna Mills explained that though I have 24 electrodes in my implant, only 22 are programmed and the other 2 are grounds.

Dawna is looking at the screen of her computer which is hooked up to my speech processor & implant. The whole process only took about 90 minutes! Since my left ear is still so sore from the surgery, she hung the contraption on my right ear and brought the cord & magnet around the back of my head to the magnet IN my head. She said I could start reprogramming my brain, then switch it over when it doesn't hurt as much.

When I took out my right hearing aid, she then started talking to me with only the implant working. At first there was lots of static, and her voice sounded like Donald Duck. She held a paper in front of her face so I couldn't lipread and said numbers & colors. I had to repeat each one. She was very excited that I was able to get 90% of them correct. :-)
Robin & I went to Phillipe's for lunch. I kept my hearing aid in for that and part of the way home.Then I took out my hearing aid and was able to carry on a conversation (& lipread) all the way home!! Yahoo! People still sound like Donald Duck or someone talking while holding their nose.

In the short video below I am concentrating & telling the doctor when each sound becomes painful. That will be the maximum volume for that sound. Tonight she wants me to try all 4 programs and write down what I liked about each one. Then tomorrow she will fine tune them. She gave me a DVD that I need to use 2-3 hours a day to retrain by brain. I guess this will be my "job" for the month of August. :-)
I am so excited & hopeful! PTL!
Thanks, too for all of your prayers, concern & help during this transition.

P&A's Property -Part 3 Fixing it Up/Scroll Down for Part 1

The pocket door is almost finished. They are using the space in the wall for recessed shelving. It will be used like a nightstand for the bedroom. They have renters for the front house! Grace EVFree in LaMirada is renting it for 6 months for a missionary family on furlough. PTL!

Almost done!

Today Kirk & Philip installed a pocket door in the studio bathroom. Philip drywalled over the other doorway. This will give them more floorspace in the bathroom & the bedroom.

Mina has gone up almost every day to help Abby paint. :-) Here they are painting the 2nd bedroom in the apt.

The plumber tossed all of Philip's shirt into a pile on a chair, so Abby asked me if I wanted to come up & iron all his shirts. Since I taught Philip how to iron, this was a favor for him. I ironed for 3 hours-21 shirts! I also did some laundry & dishes so Abby could keep painting.

This is the back porch area of the 3-bedroom house. It is shady & has a nice breeze. This is off the master bedroom.

Here is a sketch of the future kitchen corner of the studio apt. They are getting modules from Home Depot.

Here's the corner with the drawings.
Abby is so handy!! Here she is putting one of the locks back into the door. They had all the locks on the property re-keyed, so each unit has only one key. Makes sense, huh?

Mina (Abby's mom) & I washed the mini blinds in the master bedroom and re-hung them.

Here Philip is prying off the tiles from the former bathroom floor. This is the corner of the downstairs studio where the future kitchen will go.

This hole was made in the ceiling for the future spiral staircase. After this picture was taken the 2 boards were removed and the hole was "boxed" in.

Here are P&A in the future kitchen corner.

The water heater was moved to outside the garage. Here you can see the stairs going up to the 2-bedroom apt. The bottom door will be the front door of the studio apt.

Heather & Abby cleaned the kitchen of the front house so they could temporarily live there while working on the other 2 units.

P&V's Property -Part 2 Moving Day

Ben Burke & Luke taking a lunch break on Moving Day

Aunt Teri, Juleigh Burke, Abby, Philip & Jeff on the front porch of the 3-bedroom house.

Since the move was only 2 blocks away, they put the mattress and bed springs on the roof of the car and just held it in place!

Here's the garage with lots of their stuff stored in it.

Here comes Abby with chips & cherries for the hard workers.

Heather & Jeff came to help P&A move. P&A moved over the 4th of July weekend.

Here Fred is helping Philip climb through the 2nd story window. See Philip's feet in the air?

Kirk is working on the lock to the 2-bedroom apt. Abby realized too late that they were not given keys to the door locks, only the dead bolts. :-(

Here is lots of paint to freshen up the 2-bedroom apt. P&A will be living in it while they build out the studio apt.

Philip & Abby's Property in Progress-Part I

Here are Philip, Kirk & Fred (Abby's dad) in the 2 bedroom apt. above the 4-car garage. It was built in the 80's and is very nice.

Turn your head to the left to see the bathroom in the studio apt. P&A are turning 2 rooms above & below each other into a studio apt. They will be putting in a spiral staircase to go between.

Here's the 3-bedroom "front house" that faces Comstock. It is on the block below Beverly Blvd.

This is a playhouse that Luke jokingly said he was willing to rent! They will turn this into a wash house for their washer & dryer.

This is the Franklin stove in the master bedroom of the front house. This room addition was build in 1976.

Our Pacific North West Cruise

We were invited on this cruise by Debbie & Steve Opfer to help celebrate their parents' 60th Wedding Anniversary. (Steve is on the left, with Dan (Debbie's twin) & wife in the center) There were 3 older couples and 9 of us "young ones!" Don Converse (at right), had liver cancer, so the family knew that this would probably be his last big vacation.
Our ship left the Port of Long Beach on Sunday afternoon, June 14 at 5:30 p.m.

Here are Kirk & I at the first "dress-up" night dinner. The food was delicious and our server, a Christian man from the Philippines, was excellent!

Betty Kimes & I worked out a few times in the on-board gym.

Here's Kirk as we got closer to the Astoria Bridge in Astoria, OR. I can't imagine trying to dock a ship that size! It would be like trying to park a city! We pulled in to Astoria at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday and were met my Vicki & Michael Sullivan.

Vicki was selling here handmade porcelain beads, necklaces, silver jewelry & other lovely pieces there on the dock. They moved to Astoria last year after living in Whittier for all of their lives. Michael graciously took us in his car and showed us around the town. First he took us to Fort Clatsop where Lewis & Clark wintered on their famous trek west from 1802-1804.
(If you live in the Portland area, Micahel IS a Santa Claus. I can connect you with him, if you want him to come to a party, etc.)

Here, Michael & Kirk are reading the scoop about the berries, fish & fresh water that L&C found in this area.

Here is the re-creation of Ft. Clatsop. Because L&C kept such detailed notes about their findings & surroundings, historians were easily able to rebuild this fort to their specifications.

Here is the outdoor cooking area.

Michael then drove us up to "The Column," a 125 foot tower at the top of the hill. Here is part of the expansive view from that hill. I believe this shot is looking toward the Columbia River.

Here is a sample canoe from L&C's time there.

Our room had a lovely balcony! We propped the door open everyday to get fresh air and to hear the sound of the ship swishing through the water. Here we are pulling into Victoria, BC.

Betty, Lynn Weber & I spent most of the day touring Victoria on the Big Bus. It has the roof off, so you can see easily the sites. Since we had all been there before, we didn't really want to walk all over. Kirk & others rented mo-peds and spent the day zooming around the city.

Here were are leaving Victoria, BC. We also did the Big Bus in Vancouver, BC. It's a great way to quickly see a city. Then you can go back to specific places, if you want.

We had a beautiful sunset as we left Vancouver. That night, Don was taken to the infirmary, as he was getting weaker each day. The doctor confirmed that his liver & kidneys had quit working and that it was a matter of time before he passed away. He boldly told the doctor that he was a Christian and was not afraid to die. He had no regrets and he knew he would go to heaven. The doctor was quite amazed at Don's attitude. Don went back to their room, where he died peacefully at 6:30 the next morning, Friday.
Friday was supposed to be the night we celebrated their anniversary, but of course we didn't. It was bittersweet. We were all glad to be there to support the family, yet it was sad for all of us. The ship employees took care of so many details and the Converse family are/were impressed with their care and respect for privacy.
We sailed for 2 more days, and arrived back to Long Beach on Sunday morning, June 21. Don's memorial service was on Kirk's birthday, June 25th. It was a happy occasion as we all remembered him as a man who loved to share Christ with others, who loved his Lord & his family.

Astoria on Dwellable

Cochlear Implant-Part III

Here's a picture of my surgeon, Eric P. Wilkinson M.D. Lynn Weber took me to my post-op appointment yesterday in Orange, CA. (Then we went our for a lovely lunch) The doctor said that my wound is healing well. The internal & external stitches dissolve on their own. He said there is blood behind my eardrum, which is normal. It will eventually work it's way out through my Eustachian tube. Kirk or Heather have to put salve on my scar twice a day for awhile. :-(
Yahoo, I got to take a shower & wash my hair today!!! Wow, that felt good. That is definitely a privilege that I take for granted!
I will now wait for 2 weeks to completely heal and to let the swelling go down. Then I will be fitted with the Sound Processor. Here is a link to the Mayo Clinic site that clearly explains how the CI works.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/cochlear-implants/procedure.html