This blog will be very incomplete without mention of the CI team that accompanied me all the way during the past ten years.
Prof Johannes Swart was the team Leader when I had the first implant in 1999. I got to know him as the most caring and compassionate surgeon that you could wish for. Also that he is regarded as one of the best CI surgeons in the world and that is not only ME saying so! However it is his personality and the old time-real interest in his patients that puts him ahead of others.
Prof Swart also did my second implant. He is still part of the team but has now retired from his position as Head of the Ear Nose and Throat Department at the Medical School of the University of Pretoria. His assistant Dr Elnemarie Burden is also still with the team and has the same compassion and caring for her patients than Prof Swart. To both of them my sincere thanks for all the love and support and interest in my wellbeing over the past ten years.
Prof Johannes Swart was the team Leader when I had the first implant in 1999. I got to know him as the most caring and compassionate surgeon that you could wish for. Also that he is regarded as one of the best CI surgeons in the world and that is not only ME saying so! However it is his personality and the old time-real interest in his patients that puts him ahead of others.
Prof Swart also did my second implant. He is still part of the team but has now retired from his position as Head of the Ear Nose and Throat Department at the Medical School of the University of Pretoria. His assistant Dr Elnemarie Burden is also still with the team and has the same compassion and caring for her patients than Prof Swart. To both of them my sincere thanks for all the love and support and interest in my wellbeing over the past ten years.
As you know the surgeons are important but the audiologists are the people that put you on the road to hearing and stays with you throughout good and bad times. I can write a book about my experiences with the audiologists on our team - we had our disagreements but the good times are better remembered. In hindsight I can only say that they did a marvellous job all along. If I now look objectively at their very high work load and the stress that is part of their day I have to admire them all the way. I think in the past - and especially in the beginning - I was so tied up in my own distress that I often missed their true dedication. There were a few of them...
The first audiologist that I met at Pretoria University was Esti Nel. She did the evaluation for my first CI and was also the person to "hook me up" to my first implant. I can still vividly remember her astonishment about my ability to lip read at the time of the first evaluation. She did not believe that I was deaf until she realised that my hearing was "off the charts". Esti immigrated to Australia shortly after my first implant and I did not have any further contact with her after that time.
Ronel Chester Browne was the second audiologist that I met when she had to explain the CI procedure to me and show me the "hardware". At the same time she arranged for me to meet other patients with CI's and the first one I met was Pat Jones from Zimbabwe. I can still remember very well having tea and cakes with them at the old ENT hospital in Pretoria. When we met Ronel was expecting her first child and this little baby girl attended my hook up! Today she is of course almost a teenager and has a little sister as well.
Of all the audiologists throughout the years Ronel (Photo on the left) is still on the CI team and still does my maps! As you can well imagine we are "old" friends by now. The audiologists are also still regarding me as their "most-often-mapped" patient. I am not sure but I think I had close to 200 mappings over the past ten years. It may even be more. I definitely made sure that they got to know me (smile)
In between there was Nicci – another darling woman that did a lot of maps for me at the time when I really battled numerous hearing problems and when we simply could not find solutions for all the weird sounds and such. I was sad when Nicci also left to live and work in England.
At present Dr Cathy van Dyk is doing most of my maps. Catherine joined the team a few years ago. I do have a wonderful relationship as a patient with this dedicated professional with the excellent sense of humour. May we have the opportunity to know each other for a long time to come.
Apart from the audiologists there is also Elna Schoeman – the psychiatrist that I had to see at the time of my first implant. Elna also became a good friend after I again met up with her at the time of my mother’s demise and after a terrible high jack/burglary at our house a few years ago. I got to know Elna as THE person that you could consult whenever things became tough and you felt as if you were losing the battle against depression.
Well this is just a short introduction and I am sure the names of these people will surface again as I revive further memories. To all of them a hearty THANK YOU and a TIGHT HUG for being there for me throughout the years.
The first audiologist that I met at Pretoria University was Esti Nel. She did the evaluation for my first CI and was also the person to "hook me up" to my first implant. I can still vividly remember her astonishment about my ability to lip read at the time of the first evaluation. She did not believe that I was deaf until she realised that my hearing was "off the charts". Esti immigrated to Australia shortly after my first implant and I did not have any further contact with her after that time.Ronel Chester Browne was the second audiologist that I met when she had to explain the CI procedure to me and show me the "hardware". At the same time she arranged for me to meet other patients with CI's and the first one I met was Pat Jones from Zimbabwe. I can still remember very well having tea and cakes with them at the old ENT hospital in Pretoria. When we met Ronel was expecting her first child and this little baby girl attended my hook up! Today she is of course almost a teenager and has a little sister as well.
Of all the audiologists throughout the years Ronel (Photo on the left) is still on the CI team and still does my maps! As you can well imagine we are "old" friends by now. The audiologists are also still regarding me as their "most-often-mapped" patient. I am not sure but I think I had close to 200 mappings over the past ten years. It may even be more. I definitely made sure that they got to know me (smile)In between there was Nicci – another darling woman that did a lot of maps for me at the time when I really battled numerous hearing problems and when we simply could not find solutions for all the weird sounds and such. I was sad when Nicci also left to live and work in England.
At present Dr Cathy van Dyk is doing most of my maps. Catherine joined the team a few years ago. I do have a wonderful relationship as a patient with this dedicated professional with the excellent sense of humour. May we have the opportunity to know each other for a long time to come.
Apart from the audiologists there is also Elna Schoeman – the psychiatrist that I had to see at the time of my first implant. Elna also became a good friend after I again met up with her at the time of my mother’s demise and after a terrible high jack/burglary at our house a few years ago. I got to know Elna as THE person that you could consult whenever things became tough and you felt as if you were losing the battle against depression.Well this is just a short introduction and I am sure the names of these people will surface again as I revive further memories. To all of them a hearty THANK YOU and a TIGHT HUG for being there for me throughout the years.
