CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN

Free Neckloop From Clarity If Attending HLAA Convention
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN :)
Fri, Jun 12 2009

Why Did I Choose Advanced Bionics?
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN I decided to do a little spring cleaning to my inbox and I noticed that my sent folder was overflowing with emails answering why I picked Advanced Bionics for my cochlear implant. It seems that after a 100 or so emails, I have unknowingly created this wonderful base for this blog. :)There are several reasons I chose AB. I wanted to be able to hear better in noise. I ...
Mon, Jun 01 2009
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Binaural HINT Scores.
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Hi!The following blog is brought to you by:Without it, there isn't anything getting done around this blog here. But through the miraculous powers of the coffee plant, I was able to devise this rather inspiring little chart of all my HINT (Hearing In Noise Test) scores.Click here to make it bigger.You will notice that my left ear before I was implanted was 0% across th...
Thu, May 14 2009

Binural HINT Scores.
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Hi!The following blog is brought to you by:Without it, there isn't anything getting done around this blog here. But through the miraculous powers of the coffee plant, I was able to devise this rather inspiring little chart of all my HINT (Hearing In Noise Test) scores.Click here to make it bigger.You will notice that my left ear before I was implanted was 0% across th...
Thu, May 14 2009

Northeast Cochlear Implant Convention 2009
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN I will be attending the Northeast Cochlear Implant Convention 2009 on July 10 - 12, 2009 at the Sturbridge Host Hotel & Conference Center in Sturbridge, MA where none other Josh Swiller who is not only pretty easy on the eyes but the author of “The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness and Africa.”, will be the keynote speaker.You can take a look at the 2007 convention pi...
Thu, May 14 2009

HLAA Convention - June 18-21st
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Hearing Loss Association of America is holding its annual convention AND celebrating its 30th birthday in Nashville, Tennessee at the monolithic Gaylord Hotel on June 18th to the 21st. You can check out the convention registration package and rates here. Hurry though, the rooms at the hotel are at 98% capacity and registration ends on May 24th. So, break out your h...
Thu, Apr 30 2009

First Bilateral Mapping...
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN This week has proven not be superfluous but surprisingly productive towards the end. The first couple of days, I would be sprawled out on my recliner, cupping my chin in my hand and staring into space wondering why in the HELL everything was plinking. People plinked. My dog plinked. She was plinking all over the house. I was ready to take her plinking fuzzy butt ...
Sun, Apr 12 2009

Bilateral Activation
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN My new ear was activated yesterday and the results were very promising. When my audiologist plugged me into the computer, I could have sworn I heard something – a surge of electricity but at that point my audiologist didn’t even touch the volume control. As my audiologist gradually turned up the volume, I watched her lips emit an artificially high-pitched voice. Wh...
Fri, Apr 03 2009

Recovery From Going Bilateral...
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN I have been awful about updating my blog but I'm a busy bilateral bee. I got my stitches taken out on Saint Patty’s Day at some gosh awful time of 7:45 in the morning. The doctor said everything looks great. As I mentioned in my other post that when I was in the recovery room, the doctor said something about a hole in my head but I was a little preoccupied with org...
Thu, Mar 26 2009

Officially Bilateral!!!
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Today is day four of my recovery from my second cochlear implant and you will never guess where I am - I’m sitting at my desk at work, sipping on a cup of copper flavored coffee skillfully prepared by the professional coffee artisan across the street. I’m visually picturing you – my loyal readers – jaws dropping right about now.But I am not kidding you.I have been to...
Thu, Mar 12 2009

Bilateral Surgery Date...
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN I know it has been a while since I have brought good tidings to my blog. I have been poked, prodded and even had a sheep thrown at me as means to inquire into my whereabouts. The sheep did me in. But first, I like to take the time to thank the highly anticipated gazillion snowflakes that I will have to shovel and then risk life and limb to drive to work tomorrow fo...
Mon, Mar 02 2009

Music Video Featuring Sign Language
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Every morning before I begin to assemble myself, I read Perez Hilton as well as CNN news. I happened to notice that the Perez posted a video by an Aussie pop singer named Sia who uses Sign Language in her latest video, "Soon We'll Be Found". I fell in love with the song, the video, the psychedelic utopia of trippy colors and decided to caption it.If you cannot view ...
Sun, Jan 04 2009

Update on the MRI Mix Up
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Last year is now a form of the yesterday.This year is now a form of tomorrow.And with this new tomorrow, delivers answers that yesterday couldn’t provide.Deep, right?:)Seriously, with the new year, comes new answers. The short version is that I do have Enlarged Vestibular Aqueduct Syndrome (EVAS) as confirmed by the CT Scan. If you have absolutely no idea what I am ...
Fri, Jan 02 2009

Finally, an Answer to Why I'm Deaf or a Total Medical Screw...
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN I took a trip out to University of Pennsylvania Hospital today with my CT Scan and MRI results in tow to start the process to have my right ear implanted. My right ear was a candidate last year but I still have to go through the whole process again minus all the tests. I don't have to redo the CT Scan, MRI or the balance tests. I don't need to have any audiological...
Wed, Dec 24 2008

MRIs and Cochlear Implants
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Let's talk MRIs.When I went to Chicago for the ALDA convention, I met several people that didn't want to get a cochlear implant because they need an MRI every six months. I will admit when I first started researching cochlear implants, MRIs was not a major concern of mine but now I realize how much it means to others that suffer from other illnesses where they requir...
Wed, Dec 03 2008

ALDA Highlights - Karaoke Party
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Time is just seeping into unknown crevices and leaving me with little or no time to do much of anything. Priorities are rearranged and some of them are put on the back burner like this blog. It has been a month to the day that marked the end of the ALDA Convention and I wanted to share some highlights that everyone wants to know about - the Karaoke Party.But first, ...
Mon, Dec 01 2008

Cogan's Syndrome
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN There are many reasons a person can lose their hearing. Some people lose it gradually and some loss is sudden. My inbox is littered with people that go from one extreme to the other - perfect hearing to sudden deafness. Many personal tales have words like Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease, Meniere's disease and Meningitis are duplicated several times over. I've seen the...
Fri, Nov 07 2008

I. King Jordan at ALDA
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Glancing through the ALDA program book, I came across a familiar name that was going to be giving a speech at a luncheon. I found myself wondering, "Who is I. King Jordan?" because I hadn't the faintest idea of what he has accomplished. With a little Googling here and there and chit chatting amongst others, I found out that he became the first deaf president of Gal...
Tue, Nov 04 2008

TV in a Hotel Room with No CC?!
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Ever go to a hotel room where they have a television with no closed captioning? To make things even worse, the hotel has a special remote control with a menu that just gives you options to buy porn.So you wander over to the front of the television and all it has is super simple buttons to change the volume and change the channels? All of us know that we need a MENU bu...
Fri, Oct 31 2008

ALDA's President's Lunchon
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN My first night in Chicago involved the Magnificent Mile that is like the Fifth Avenue of New York City. We went to the Big Bowl where I had well, a big bowl of Chicken Pad Thai and for desert, a pretzel dipped in multi-grain mustard. We were adopted by the veterans of ALDA with no problems. I met the man who co-founded ALDA in 1987, BIll Graham. I was forewarned b...
Thu, Oct 30 2008

Newcomers Orientation!
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN I have arrived in Chicago and I am sitting next to LaRonda Zupp of Ear of my Heart and Jennifer Thorpe of Surround Sound.
Wed, Oct 29 2008

Alex comes to visit!!!
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN A few weeks ago, I invited a fellow blogger Alex of Life of the Hard of Hearing to come walk with me for the Garden State Walk 4 Hearing. I first met Alex on Seek Geo's site in his chat room and we just clicked. Our upbringings were very similar except for the fact that he used Cued Speech to learn how to speak and I learned through speech therapy, five years of it....
Wed, Oct 29 2008

En Route to ALDA!
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Guess where I’m going tomorrow thanks to all of you!? Chicago for the ALDA Convention! I have managed to raise $800 to date which is a phenomenal amount, far more then I anticipated. As the tide of luck would turn, I was fortunate enough to be able to obtain a scholarship that covers the cost of registration and hotel. Many people, both friends and strangers, h...
Tue, Oct 28 2008

Garden State Walk 4 Hearing
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Greetings from Mercer County State Park! Alex and I are at the Garden State Walk for Hearing walking in this invigorating frigid fall weather for 5k.Donning the quintessential scarf, our blood circulation is flowing, the hamstrings are burning and deafness is in the air. Over a hundred and twenty people showed up all ages and different sizes have trekked their way t...
Sat, Oct 18 2008

ALDA Convention Fundraiser Update!!!
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Well! I am dubiously impressed with all you folks out there!THANK YOU!!!!I have managed to raise $685 TOTAL in just ten days! I want to thank you all for your support! Even though I didn't reach my goal, I have raised enough money to cover the air fare and hotel which is a feat in itself! So thank you all, thank you for having faith in me! The support means the wor...
Mon, Oct 13 2008

Halfway mark reached for ALDA Convention!
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN I am SO stoked! As you know, I am trying to raise a $1,000 dollars in ten days to attend the Association of the Late-Deafened Convention in Chicago from October 29th to November 2nd because I want to learn and educate myself on the different needs of those that are late-deafened. This past Saturday, I posted a blog asking for help and many thanks to your support, yo...
Wed, Oct 08 2008

12% Reached on ALDA Donations in TWO days!
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN In just two days, I have managed to reach 12% of my goal! I am just amazed at the amount of support that I am receiving. I want to share with you some of the comments and blogs spreading the word:David, a newly late-deafened adult over at Five String Guitar wrote this post that truly made my day. Nine days from surgery. I am optimistic of course, as always. Failure...
Mon, Oct 06 2008

Would you send me to ALDA?
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Would you help me attend the Association of the Late-Deafened Adults Convention (ALDACon) in Chicago on Oct 29-Nov 2. I am trying to aim for $1,000 dollars in ten days and during the course of that time I will keep you all updated! The majority of the hard of hearing, hearing impaired and deaf people in the United States developed a hearing loss later on in life. ...
Sat, Oct 04 2008

A Year in Review - CI Scores
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN There, I was today at the Audiology Department of the Hospital University of Pennsylvania, sitting cross legged in the same chair that I sat in 364 days ago when I had my cochlear implant activated. Time is a funny conundrum of sorts because some people claim it is relative, others absolute but the fact of the matter is that it just – flies. My temperament was flick...
Mon, Sep 15 2008

The Sounds of Music...
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN As it would seem that the older I get; the more avant-garde my moments of lacking comprehension seem to get. Either my superb lip reading skills have diminished in the past year or my brain is becoming particularly innovative when watching the zygomatic motion play an intricate part of shaping the lips in such a fashion that I am supposed to comprehend. Even though ...
Tue, Sep 02 2008

Cochlear Implant Anniversary
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN I can’t believe a year ago I was sitting Indian style in a paper thin cotton gown surrounded by the ugliest drapes I ever set eyes on observing nurses in colorful scrubs decorated with the sweetest little creatures push metal carts all from patient to patient. I can’t believe just a year ago I was listening to a train like sound going around and around my head provid...
Wed, Aug 27 2008

Hearing the Ocean for the First Time
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Later that evening, Jen and I went to Point Pleasant Beach. I grew up with some strong nautical family ties to the ocean. I grew up with the beach at my doorstep. When I lost my hearing in February of 2007, I was still hoping that my hearing was going to come back any day. I realized that it wasn’t after I went on a vacation with a couple friends to Myrtle Beach a...
Thu, Aug 21 2008

My bionic belle comes to vist!
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Every hour of this past weekend felt happy hour because my wonderful friend, CI mentor, fellow blogger and mother of five adorable kiddies Jennifer flew in from Tennessee and stayed the weekend with me! When we met in Reno for the first time, it didn’t feel like it was the first time we met. We clicked, we really clicked. The fun does not falter between us. The th...
Thu, Aug 21 2008

Kim, Robyn, Tina and Clifford the Big Red Dog...
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN A couple weeks ago, I ran over to the Say What convention that was being held in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love to meet Kim from Living With Questions, Robyn from The Ambling Rambler and Tina Childress, an audiologist with Advanced Bionics and a bilateral cochlear implant recipient. Kim and I were texting the day before we were going to meet and the last te...
Tue, Aug 05 2008

A moment on the NYC Subway
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Here I am, completely placing my faith on mass transportation to dump me approximately an hour and a half north in one piece, right into the Big Apple. A city that I have navigated at least a hundred times before. A city full of seemingly possessed cabbies complete with a touch screen GPS for our viewing pleasure. A city where you can get a massage where they whack...
Sun, Jul 27 2008

Walk 4 Hearing Fundraiser
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN On October 18th of this year, I will be dusting my sneakers off to go walking 5k for the Garden State, Walk4Hearing sponsored by Hearing Loss Association of America, a non-profit corporation, whose mission is to open the world of communication to people with hearing loss through information, education, advocacy, and support. The Walk4Hearing purpose is to increase aw...
Mon, Jul 21 2008

Bluetooth Headset with your Cochlear Implant
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Did you know that you use can a Bluetooth wireless headset with your cochlear implant? You know those little things that people commonly mistake cochlear implants for? A bunch of idiots even steal cochlear implants off children because they look so much like Bluetooth headsets and that goes to say a lot about the caliber of our thieves in the US.Well, I never thought ...
Wed, Jul 16 2008

HLAA Convention Recap #3
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN With closing time approaching the Exhibit Hall, I managed to catch Laurie and Jennifer as they were just leaving the state leaders meeting and from the looks upon their face, nothing was accomplished. We started to gravitate to the opening session featuring the keynote speaker, Ollie Cantos. First glance, the Grand Ballroom featured the most coveted crystal chandeli...
Mon, Jul 07 2008

HLAA Convention Recap #2
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN *I N H A L E S**E X H A L E S*As the sun rose from the east, the rogue Nevada rays found their way through my wafer thin eyelids somewhere around six in the morning. I bobbed up out of my bed within five seconds because I wanted to waste not a moment here! Laurie was practically ready by the time I tore the sheets off. Jennifer was still trying to find out which wa...
Mon, Jul 07 2008

HLAA Convention Recap #1
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN The hotel shuttle bus whisked me away from the landing field of hell to the magnificent Grand Sierra Hotel in Reno, Nevada. On the way to the hotel, I was trying to text to Jennifer, Laurie, Mike and Phyliss all the while trying to hold a verbal conversation. It is a miracle in itself in how I remained intelligible through my texting. At first glance of the hotel, ...
Sun, Jun 22 2008

Pandora's Box of Flying
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Wow, I had an amazing time in Reno and you can bet your bottom dollar that a recap is coming. I met the Jennifer, Laurie, Mike, Gloria, Tina, Kim, Sheila and so many others! I need some time to try wrap my head around everything that happened there. But first, I wanted to tell you all how I did with my first, second, third, forth flight :) Hold on to skivvies kids,...
Wed, Jun 18 2008

Deafread, you want full disclosure?!
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Well, this afternoon I got a little surprise in my email from a fellow blogger name Rachel Chaikof of Cochlear Implant Online informing me that DeafRead editors have removed her blog from their aggregator website. Before I continue let me give you a little background information. In 1989, when she was just two years old, Rachel became one of the first children to re...
Wed, Jun 04 2008

Cochlear Transplant?
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN This is just my luck to get sick for the first time in over a year a WEEK before my vacation. Now of all times, my immune system decides to take a break and roll out the red carpet to the little ghosties and beasties to invade my body causing it to wreck havoc. My throat is resonating with a teenage boy going through puberty and my nose is working overtime excreting...
Tue, Jun 03 2008

Children's Cochlear Implant Books
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN There has been a recent surge lately when it comes to children's books that talk about cochlear implants. I am digging the title of the first one for some reason and no I had nothing to do with this book. You can order the books by clicking on the pictures and the best part is that they all cost less then a 1/4 of a tank of gas. :)Abby Gets A Cochlear ImplantWritte...
Tue, May 27 2008

Auditory High of Activation
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Reminiscing over the past seven and half months, I realized how wet I was behind the ears as I was learning how to hear with a cochlear implant. Now still in reminiscent mode, I find it hysterical but I didn’t then. When this super uber technology was turned on into my dormant yet primitive ear, I realized that six trillion months of researching wouldn’t have helped...
Sun, May 04 2008

Download my HLAA Magazine Article.
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN As I mentioned here, I have written an article for the May/June issue of the Hearing Loss Magazine which is now available to download! You can click on the picture to go to Cindy Dyer's blog to download the PDF file. This is my first published article and I am so excited to share this with you all! I can't wait to hear your thoughts!
Tue, Apr 29 2008

Calling all my bionic buddies!
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN Rally around the table, everyone! If you all would go over to Brianna's Journey, Brianna's mom created this blog because Brianna is having her first cochlear implant surgery this coming Tuesday and she needs support, especially from moms that have been there. Would you mind popping over there and dropping a few words of wisdom? I would really totally appreciate it!...
Thu, Apr 24 2008

My Hearing History
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN This post is going to right back to the beginning of time – my time at least. I am going to answer the ever-popular question about my hearing history. It has come to my attention that I have been vague about my hearing loss history and that is going to be cleared up... right now!*slaps hand on desk* :) My little hearing biography starts in the womb. My mother wa...
Thu, Apr 24 2008

DBC Rally at the AGB Convention in California
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN In this post you can see that I strongly disapprove Alexander Graham Bell oral only perspective. I believe in offering different methods of communication, the more the merrier I say. Thanks to Linda Slavick, she provided us with a video of the DBC (Deaf Bilingual Coalition) Rally in Milpitas, CA, the same one that Michael Chorost and Josh Swiller attended. There is...
Tue, Apr 15 2008

Cover Girl for Hearing Loss Magazine
CHRONICLES OF A BIONIC WOMAN I'm going to pull my hair out if I don't tell someone! I can’t keep this a secret anymore! I am going to blow a fuse if I do!The HLAA’s (Hearing Loss Association of America) magazine, Hearing Loss is going to feature yours truly! This is going to be my first cover shot AND my first article published!! It will be coming out around May!I feel much better now that I ...
Mon, Apr 07 2008