Need Approval

Dr. Nedzelski told me I should go to my own audiologist in theBurlington area and get powerful hearing aids. I went to the Hearing Aid Clinic in Burlington Mall and saw a woman named Ruth. She told me I could get ear molds made now and come back at the end of August. I went back to try the ear molds with the powerful hearing aids, but they didn't work for me. She suggested I come back again on October 1st to try the most powerful hearing aids. I went back to try them but they really annoyed me and I gave it up. I asked her to please write a letter to Dr. Nedzelski to explain that I can't wear the most powerful hearing aids and I need a Cochlear Implant. She wrote a letter and mailed it to Dr. Nedzelski and send a copy to me too. I got it on Friday October 19. I saw my family Dr. Arani, and he referred me to the London CI clinic but then London denied me too. I was so depressed, and wanted to find an answer. I know that I couldn't do all my own fund raising, it is too much work and too long a proccess. I decided to post on my 3 different CI e-mail lists to ask for an idea as to how I can get my CI approval. In September a lady from the Milton area came up and told me she is having the same problem for her 16 years old daughter, and had been fighting for a CI for 2 years. She told me what to do next and I followed her steps, which were very helpful. She suggested I go back to see Dr. Arani and have him refer me to Dr. Wade, who would sign an OHIP form called Full Payment Outside Of Province and also to get a rejection letter from Sunnybrook CI clinic and London CI clinic. At the Sunnybrook CI clinic the audiologist named David Shipp mailed me a rejection letter. The London CI clinic audiologist named Kim Zimmerman told me it wasn't necessary to mail me a rejection letter. I e-mailed Kim to explain how important it was for me to have that letter and she told me that David Shipp faxed the evaluation results to her. She told me that the results showed that I have low English skills, lack of lip-reading, lack of hearing aids, and use tactile sign language. I was so stunned to hear that the results showed that I have low English skills lack of lip-reading, because it isn't true. I explained to Kim that I did have very good English skills and very good lip-reading skills until I was 30 years old, then my vision started to decrease and so did my lip-reading. She wasn't aware of it so I e-mailed her an article that showed Deaf-Blind people did benefit from Cochlear Implant. She was interested in it and needed my letter from the hearing aids clinic because it has an excellent explanation about why I need a Cochlear Implant. She asked me to fax it to her, and I did. My hope was that she might change her mind and get my CI to be approved as soon as possible. I finally received an e-mail from the London CI clinic on Tuesday November 27, and they denied me which wasn't good news for me. The last step is the Buffalo CI clinic, my last hope. I finally got an e-mail from the Cochlear Implant Center in Buffalo on Monday December 10 asking me to fax more information to them so I faxed them on Friday December 14. I hope to hear from them as soon as possible, I can't wait. On Monday December, 17, I went to see Dr. Wade to see if he could sign an OHIP form called Payment Outside Of Province. It didn't go well because of my history of deafness. I tried my best to explain the many reasons why I need a CI with my low vision. It didn't go well so I was very disappointed again. I went home to e-mail Advanced Bionic and let them know that I had bad news. Advanced Bionic suggested that I go to the Media, such as newspaper, and try to get funding raised to pay for my CI. It wasn't a successful year for me. On Friday December 21, I finally got an e-mail from the Buffalo CI clinic which stated that I need some more testing there. However they called the Ottawa CI clinic in Canada to discuss about me having the implant in Canada. The Ottawa CI clinic the audiologist named Christiane Seguin, M. S.(A) and she wanted me to fax all the evaluations to her. She said that there is a strong possibility I could have the CI implant in Canada. I called Ottawa CI clinic but they were closed till January 7. I can't wait to find out what she will say to me. On Monday January 7, in the late afternoon Christiane e-mailed me to let me know that I will see the CI surgeon in late spring, around April or May. She told me that she discussed me with her team and agreed to let me have the surgery in Ottawa hospital. I am so excited. I am really looking forward to it. On Monday March 4, I got an e mail from Christiane and I have an appointment at the Ottawa CI Clinic to have few more tests, see the Audiologist, and the CI surgeon on May 27 for 4 days. On Sunday May 26, I arrived in Ottawa in the late afternoon to stay at Ottawa Civil hospital until Thursday May 30th. On Monday morning I went to see Christiane, the audiologist to fill out papers to explain why I want Cochlear Implants. On Tuesday morning and afternoon I saw Christiane again to fill out more paperwork. We tested my lip reading and discussed the plan of what we would do the next day. On Wednesday morning I saw Christiane to discuss everything that I had written, and what we would do in the late afternoon. To have the Promontory Stimulation, Dr. Schramm put freezing in my left ear first then a put needle through my eardrum. Christiane used various sounds to test what I could hear. These sounds were very confusing. When this happened I could hear something that wasn't there. The pressure was great because of the needle sitting on my eardrum. The same problem happens in my right ear, so Dr. Schramm decided to have me come back in the fall to have Promontory Stimulation in the surgery room. Dr. Schramm did tell me he has never done this procedure before. I told him that I thought it was a great idea. I went back to the campus and went to bed, because I was very tired. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling a lot of pressure in both ears so I took 2 Tylenol to avoid the pain. I fell asleep very soon after. Thursday morning I went to see Christiane and Dr. Schramm, he checked both of my ears and gave me eardrops to use to prevent from ear infections. I wasn't feeling well in the morning, both of my ears were under a lot of pressure and that bothered me a lot. The bus ride home was 6 hours. When I arrived home, I threw up and went to bed at 9:00pm. I felt much better when I woke up in the morning at 11:00am. On Sunday September 15 I went back to Ottawa again to stay there until Wednesday September 18. On Monday morning I went to see a nurse to get Pre-admission tests for surgery. I had to fill out all the health information before the procedure. After that I went to another hospital not far from Ottawa Civil hospital to have a MRI test in the late morning. On Tuesday I was admitted to the hospital for the promontory stimulation with Ball Electrode. In the late morning I was in the surgery room where Dr. Schramm did make sure I was drowsy enough, before he froze my ear. Dr. Schramm cut behind my right eardrum to open it, to put the wire onto the cochlear. Christiane turned on the various sounds for an hour or so. Dr. Schramm did ask me if I wanted to do the procedure on my left ear. I told him no, because I knew I will be sick on my long way home. I would rather wait until my next trip. I went back to the campus to go to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night without feeling dizzy at all. I was doing okay this time, I fell back to sleep until the morning. On Wednesday morning I went to see Christiane and Dr. Schramm. Dr. Schramm checked my right ear; he gave me eardrops for it and said it looked good. On the way home my ear did feel funny, but I did not get sick. I made the right choice to do only one ear, it was the best thing to avoid pressure in my ears. I am thinking of going back next year maybe in the fall of 2003.


	Success To Hear \| home About Me \| Need Approval \| Tactaid \| Difference Between Deaf Culture And Cochlear Implant \| Cochlear Implant Found To Help Deaf-Blind Patients \| Deaf-Blind Shown To Benefit From Cochlear Implant \| Favorite Links \| Other Links \| Contact Me Need Approval (I am waitng for something to happen) Dr. Nedzelski told me I should go to my own audiologist in theBurlington area and get powerful hearing aids. I went to the Hearing Aid Clinic in Burlington Mall and saw a woman named Ruth. She told me I could get ear molds made now and come back at the end of August. I went back to try the ear molds with the powerful hearing aids, but they didn't work for me. She suggested I come back again on October 1st to try the most powerful hearing aids. I went back to try them but they really annoyed me and I gave it up. I asked her to please write a letter to Dr. Nedzelski to explain that I can't wear the most powerful hearing aids and I need a Cochlear Implant. She wrote a letter and mailed it to Dr. Nedzelski and send a copy to me too. I got it on Friday October 19. I saw my family Dr. Arani, and he referred me to the London CI clinic but then London denied me too. I was so depressed, and wanted to find an answer. I know that I couldn't do all my own fund raising, it is too much work and too long a proccess. I decided to post on my 3 different CI e-mail lists to ask for an idea as to how I can get my CI approval. In September a lady from the Milton area came up and told me she is having the same problem for her 16 years old daughter, and had been fighting for a CI for 2 years. She told me what to do next and I followed her steps, which were very helpful. She suggested I go back to see Dr. Arani and have him refer me to Dr. Wade, who would sign an OHIP form called Full Payment Outside Of Province and also to get a rejection letter from Sunnybrook CI clinic and London CI clinic. At the Sunnybrook CI clinic the audiologist named David Shipp mailed me a rejection letter. The London CI clinic audiologist named Kim Zimmerman told me it wasn't necessary to mail me a rejection letter. I e-mailed Kim to explain how important it was for me to have that letter and she told me that David Shipp faxed the evaluation results to her. She told me that the results showed that I have low English skills, lack of lip-reading, lack of hearing aids, and use tactile sign language. I was so stunned to hear that the results showed that I have low English skills lack of lip-reading, because it isn't true. I explained to Kim that I did have very good English skills and very good lip-reading skills until I was 30 years old, then my vision started to decrease and so did my lip-reading. She wasn't aware of it so I e-mailed her an article that showed Deaf-Blind people did benefit from Cochlear Implant. She was interested in it and needed my letter from the hearing aids clinic because it has an excellent explanation about why I need a Cochlear Implant. She asked me to fax it to her, and I did. My hope was that she might change her mind and get my CI to be approved as soon as possible. I finally received an e-mail from the London CI clinic on Tuesday November 27, and they denied me which wasn't good news for me. The last step is the Buffalo CI clinic, my last hope. I finally got an e-mail from the Cochlear Implant Center in Buffalo on Monday December 10 asking me to fax more information to them so I faxed them on Friday December 14. I hope to hear from them as soon as possible, I can't wait. On Monday December, 17, I went to see Dr. Wade to see if he could sign an OHIP form called Payment Outside Of Province. It didn't go well because of my history of deafness. I tried my best to explain the many reasons why I need a CI with my low vision. It didn't go well so I was very disappointed again. I went home to e-mail Advanced Bionic and let them know that I had bad news. Advanced Bionic suggested that I go to the Media, such as newspaper, and try to get funding raised to pay for my CI. It wasn't a successful year for me. On Friday December 21, I finally got an e-mail from the Buffalo CI clinic which stated that I need some more testing there. However they called the Ottawa CI clinic in Canada to discuss about me having the implant in Canada. The Ottawa CI clinic the audiologist named Christiane Seguin, M. S.(A) and she wanted me to fax all the evaluations to her. She said that there is a strong possibility I could have the CI implant in Canada. I called Ottawa CI clinic but they were closed till January 7. I can't wait to find out what she will say to me. On Monday January 7, in the late afternoon Christiane e-mailed me to let me know that I will see the CI surgeon in late spring, around April or May. She told me that she discussed me with her team and agreed to let me have the surgery in Ottawa hospital. I am so excited. I am really looking forward to it. On Monday March 4, I got an e mail from Christiane and I have an appointment at the Ottawa CI Clinic to have few more tests, see the Audiologist, and the CI surgeon on May 27 for 4 days. On Sunday May 26, I arrived in Ottawa in the late afternoon to stay at Ottawa Civil hospital until Thursday May 30th. On Monday morning I went to see Christiane, the audiologist to fill out papers to explain why I want Cochlear Implants. On Tuesday morning and afternoon I saw Christiane again to fill out more paperwork. We tested my lip reading and discussed the plan of what we would do the next day. On Wednesday morning I saw Christiane to discuss everything that I had written, and what we would do in the late afternoon. To have the Promontory Stimulation, Dr. Schramm put freezing in my left ear first then a put needle through my eardrum. Christiane used various sounds to test what I could hear. These sounds were very confusing. When this happened I could hear something that wasn't there. The pressure was great because of the needle sitting on my eardrum. The same problem happens in my right ear, so Dr. Schramm decided to have me come back in the fall to have Promontory Stimulation in the surgery room. Dr. Schramm did tell me he has never done this procedure before. I told him that I thought it was a great idea. I went back to the campus and went to bed, because I was very tired. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling a lot of pressure in both ears so I took 2 Tylenol to avoid the pain. I fell asleep very soon after. Thursday morning I went to see Christiane and Dr. Schramm, he checked both of my ears and gave me eardrops to use to prevent from ear infections. I wasn't feeling well in the morning, both of my ears were under a lot of pressure and that bothered me a lot. The bus ride home was 6 hours. When I arrived home, I threw up and went to bed at 9:00pm. I felt much better when I woke up in the morning at 11:00am. On Sunday September 15 I went back to Ottawa again to stay there until Wednesday September 18. On Monday morning I went to see a nurse to get Pre-admission tests for surgery. I had to fill out all the health information before the procedure. After that I went to another hospital not far from Ottawa Civil hospital to have a MRI test in the late morning. On Tuesday I was admitted to the hospital for the promontory stimulation with Ball Electrode. In the late morning I was in the surgery room where Dr. Schramm did make sure I was drowsy enough, before he froze my ear. Dr. Schramm cut behind my right eardrum to open it, to put the wire onto the cochlear. Christiane turned on the various sounds for an hour or so. Dr. Schramm did ask me if I wanted to do the procedure on my left ear. I told him no, because I knew I will be sick on my long way home. I would rather wait until my next trip. I went back to the campus to go to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night without feeling dizzy at all. I was doing okay this time, I fell back to sleep until the morning. On Wednesday morning I went to see Christiane and Dr. Schramm. Dr. Schramm checked my right ear; he gave me eardrops for it and said it looked good. On the way home my ear did feel funny, but I did not get sick. I made the right choice to do only one ear, it was the best thing to avoid pressure in my ears. I am thinking of going back next year maybe in the fall of 2003.