Toni's Story

I received an e-mail from an elderly woman who recently received her CI. I find her story very encouraging for those who became deafened late in life because, in spite of her other health issues, her CI surgery went very well. She is a real trooper! Here is Toni’s Story:

Hello, Rachel! Had a look at your website and was so impressed with your resume! You are one enterprising young lady!What a future, and such an encouragement for us older ones.Read your life story with 2 disappointments in surgery and the eventual favourable outcome! I take my hat off to you!

I have not much of a story to tell you yet, but I may be an encouragement for other elderly folk. I am living in South Africa, Cape town and emigrated from plundered wartorn Holland in 1952 as a 29 year old with my husband and a young daughter of 4. We later had another daughter and 2 sons.I am now nearly 85 and have been a widow for the last 23 years.I feel very blessed with 4 loving and supportive children and 12 delightful grandchildren, one great granddaughter so far but hoping for more!.

Over the last 10 years or so I got increasingly deaf, until it was near impossible to communicate, despite getting stronger and stronger hearing aids (Digital Phonak).Although I am by nature outgoing, a “people’s person” I turned into my shell and avoided contact, shielding myself from hurt and humiliation.When you are old and very deaf, like me,some people automatically assume you are also senile.Talk over your head as if you are not there, patronise you and in general show their impatience. Some are even openly rude, rolling their eyes when you ask them to write down their answers. I resigned from clubs, stopped going to Bible Study and Church,refused invitations, which came fewer and fewer anyway.Thank God for my children and their sweet families who never excluded me and tried to make up for what I missed.

When my eldest daughter accompanied me as my “interpreter” to The Ear Institute (Phonak) in a last effort to have my hearing aids adjusted as they had become virtually useless,one audiologist expressed his sorrow for not being able to improve my hearing.He said there was really nothing he could change in my Hearing Aids and I must resign myself to the fact that this was it.Pressing him to declare that there was really NOTHING I could do he quite hesitatingly said:”well….. unless you would consider an operation!” I jumped! “Anything!! I will do ANYTHING!!” “But Mrs. Leijte, how old are you?” “What’s that got to do with the price of eggs?!This is no LIFE I am living, I just exist!”

He then told us about a Cochlear Implant but added right away that he doubted very much wether that would be an option for me. I was very old, had had heart surgery,a pacemaker. (he did not even know about my diabetes, hipreplacement,Glaucoma operation,cateracts, and I was not going to tell him either). I pressed him to make an appointment for me at a local hospital which had a special Cochlear department. Just to get rid of me, he did! I was determined to hear from the experts if I was a candidate or not. Wanted to “hear” it from their own mouths. Hope sprang up in my bosom!I began to pray earnestly and asked my family and friends to also pray for an answer.

I lived between hope and fear before I was seen by the Audiologist at Tygerberg Hospital.I started by saying:”Look, I am 84 and I do have some health problems, but I just wanted to be 100% sure that NOTHING can be done before I give in.” To my utter delight this young woman declared straight away :”Just your age is NO HINDRANCE. We have other recipients in their eighties here!”

It’s quite a long story from there as you well know yourself, Rachel.Tests, tests, Xrays (I could not have an MRI because of the pacemaker) examinations by the ENT surgeon(who also was very encouraging!),evaluation by an anaesthetist(who painted a risky picture),approval from my cardiologist(who was all in favour), from my neurologist (I had a mild stroke 2 years ago, and he pointed out the risk of a possible stroke and was painting a rather gloomy picture).But there was no stopping me!! In fact I became more and more convinced that it was well worth a try, considering the alternative. I asked God to please make it clear to me if He did not agree.No such conviction came. In fact, I felt such peace at my decision.My children were a bit reluctant at first simply because they could not contemplate my death.But seeing my intense longing, they supported me eventually. My children and I visited some implanted people, some also old though not as old as I am, and came back with such glowing reports and urges to go ahead.

To my great disappointment, my Med. Aid only paid for the hospital and surgery and a small percentage of the Implant. I had to take a great part of my life savings to pay for the Freedom 24 , which is still the newest implant,and was offered a refurbished ESPrit 3G as I cannot afford the new Freedom processor.But so far it is doing fine!

To cut a long story short, I had the implant on the 28th January 2008.I experienced such peace, no nerves!Was in ICU for one night only as a safety measure, one night in the ward and it was just straight sailing from there on.I was quite dizzy for a week but otherwise felt fine.My daughter moved into my cottage to look after me for that first week.After that I was quite OK. Could not wait till the Activation on the 18th February, now just 6 days ago. I knew, and warned myself, that I should not expect to hear much if anything.My 2 daughters accompanied me.Can you believe it! My audi said:”Toni, can you hear me?” I was so flabbergasted I did not answer at first! Then I stammered:”Yes, Gill, you asked me if I could hear you! I DO!!” “WOW!”, was all she could say! Then I even heard my daughters saying to each other;”SHE CAN HEAR!! ISN’T IT WONDERFUL?!” and I did not even look at them!

On the way home I could hear my daughter who was driving (I now drive myself again) speaking. looking at her sideways.Discovered that traffic is very noisy and heard passing cars. The indicators make a ticking sound!(thought they were just lights).We stopped at a restaurant for lunch and could converse!(but it was a quiet Mondaymorning and no music) Could even tell the waitress my order and discuss it! I heard my children’s voices quite clearly but they had an echo and sounded tinny. My own voice was loud and awful! Especially my laugh! That has improved much although speech sounds quite artificial, not natural. But hey! It is only 6 days!! I even can make out the TV News announcer saying the headlines if I know the subject.Can’t follow anything else yet and the telephone is out, don’t hear the voice,just a warbling sound. But my daughter lives on the seafront and standing on her balcony I can hear the sea and the seagulls!! What a wonderful world!!Thank you for MY NEW LIFE, Lord!!