From methos@dreamwell.com Fri Aug 31 14:34:14 2001
Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2001 14:22:09 -0600 (MDT)
From: Ali Zimmerman 
To: Everyone 
Subject: Re: an update...

Forgive the impersonal nature of this email.  This is a summary written by
my mom about what is going on.  I will answer individual questions as I
can.  I am unsure about things like work and theatre at the moment...they
are details to be worked out.  I will be in contact with those things as
soon as I have a plan.  

Thanks to all of you for your support and thoughts,
Ali
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Update on Ali's hearing Wednesday, August 22, 2001

Monday and Tuesday Ali had tests at the Otolaryngology Clinic at the
University of Iowa Hospitals and met with Dr. Bruce Gantz.

We learned that she has profound hearing loss in her right ear (as she has
had for two years) and severe hearing loss in her left ear.  Dr. Gantz
recommended that she remain on prednisone for another 3-4 weeks and have
another hearing test to determine the stability of hearing in her left
ear.  

Assuming the hearing does not improve in that ear, she will then be a
candidate for cochlear implants in both ears (known as bilateral
implants.)  We do not know whether her insurance will cover this in Iowa
or if she will have it done in Colorado.

The situation is that the hair cells in the inner ear are damaged.  (This
also causes a constant ringing sound because the brain interprets lack of
input from hair cells as a ringing sound.)  An implant provides electrodes
to fill the function of the hair cells.  She would have a device under the
skin about two inches behind each ear.  A wire would run from those
devices to the inner ear and to little receivers behind each ear (looks
like regular hearing aids).

We talked with a woman who had bilateral implants and was quite happy with
them.  At first everyone sounds like a robot, but the brain imposes
remembered voice sounds and it seems more like normal voice sounds.  We're
not sure about music yet.  The "hook up" is a process of programming the
electrodes and occurs about one month after surgery.

At this point, Dr. Gantz anticipates that she would have surgery in
November or December.  There would be several follow-up appointments for
hook-up and programming the devices.

For more information about implants, see the Advanced Bionics web site
http://www.cochlearimplants.com.  There's also an online FAQ at
http://www.cici.org (The Cochlear Implant Association, Inc.)

Ali plans to do a web site explaining her personal experiences with
hearing loss and implants.  Stay tuned.
 
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Ali Zimmerman                  http://www.dreamwell.com
ali@dreamwell.com              http://www.dreamwell.com/ali/
"Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The 
moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely 
knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark."
                                      -Agnes de Mille
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