This is a continuing of an email exchange that started at the end of May…

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Hi Sam…I am almost ready to commit…they all seem really good…I haven’t had my MRI yet and I am waiting to get the green light from our insurance company…hoping the surgery part of it isn’t that bad…how long did it take before you felt better?? It is the part after where you have to relearn to recognize words and speech…that is what I am concerned with…I hope I do have a Rip Van Winkle experience…that would be great…thanks for your concern…I see you are a runner…my daughter works in the Athletic dept. at UB and has done the corporate challenge in the past…she is an all around athlete and at age 31 got a gold medal in the Masters Womens Volleyball Division at the Empire State Games…right now she is sporting crutches…a result of a torn Quad muscle in her left leg…did it playing on a softball league…she loves sports of any kind…good luck in your upcoming race and have a great day…(name removed to protect the innocent)

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Good morning (name removed to protect the innocent),
Sorry for not getting back to you sooner but with summer here, it seems I have more of a reason to be outside and less, inside. And of course, I am looking forward to the Hearing Loss Association of America convention in Nashville, this Wednesday.

The surgery part is not as bad as one would expect. In some cases, Dr. (name removed to protect the innocent) does it at Windsong which is an ambulatory center in Williamsville. In others, he’ll do it at Sisters Hospital. I had my first surgery at Windsong and the second at Sisters. The first time around, I was good to go after about five days. The second time, believe it or not, I was actually outside running by the 3rd day! Everyone is different so it’s hard to say what your experience is but I generally hear five days is the norm. You might want to take advantage of that for pampering purposes!!

Since you were a teacher assistant, you probably understand how the brain works during the learning process. In your case, since you lost your hearing about 12 years ago, your brain will still recognize many of the words you have known over the years. It is really a matter of waking it up from its Rip Van Winkle state and I think most of that depends on your persistence, perseverance and patience. It will not be like in my case, a whole new learning experience where my auditory system is still in its infancy since I was born with a hearing loss.

You must be really proud of your daughter. I am sure she knows the coaches on my running club, Checkers AC. These would be (names removed to protect the innocent).

As for making your choice of devices, can you tell me what you deciding factors are now and which way you think you are leaning? I hope you’ll give me one last opportunity to tell you why the Advanced Bionic’s device is the superior choice. I would be willing to meet you for coffee if you would like to talk about this face to face.

Have a great Sunday and hope to hear from you again,
Sam