Apricot Dumplings again....

Because of the easy making dough, I made apricot dumplings again and freezed them for the future. I know that my parents have a sweet mouth and the dumplings will vanish very quickly then, so I re-stocked up them.

The weather is still strange: yesterday very warm and humid, today dark and rainy. It´s giving me a headache and I have enough of these rollercoaster weathers which are up one day and down the next day.
No Aspirin is helping so I try to keep my mind off with cooking.

The third step in the AKH...

Another day in the AKH (General Hospital of Vienna), this time with a logopedic. She informed me about the time after the surgery and that I will need a lot of patience!
Usually I have a short temper, but this time I have to keep myself at a short lash and have patience. My friend Patricia will help me because she is a perfect reminder about it. If I feel impatient, she always reminds me to calm down and take a deep breath (or two).

Today was also the day in which I had to choose the colour of the processor of the CI. It will be black because it should match my hair. Sadly there was no dark brown colour which would be perfect but black is also less an eye-catcher.
My favourite colour baby pink is also available but it´s mostly used by little girls and I am an adult already.

At 19th September I will receive the processor and then a new way of hearing will start. I hope everything will go smoothly.

The second package of Junko´s wonderful Lady Oscar Project arrived!

Tomorrow is Saturday - weeeeeeeekeeeeeeend!!!!!! Horray!
I will enjoy the second book of "The Rose of Versailles" and I will have my dictionary out of the shelf if there are some words in Japanese, I don´t know or forgot.
The drawing of this manga is really wonderful. The mangaka really captured the pompous life of Versailles during the time of Marie Antoinette!

It keeps my mind off the surgery which haunts my dreams in the night already!

What a thunderstorm today evening! It was short and furious.
Gladly I returned from work without getting wet because I saw the dark brooding clouds and hurried home.
Few minutes later, the sky was opening its dam and a strong rainpour came down so the gutter at the neighbour´s house was overfilled with water.

I only could hear the rolling thunder when it followed one second after the flash. My mother always tell me if I hear the thunder, but nothing. This means, the hearing aids are a poor aid!
How will it be with a CI?
People I met, told me that they really can hear a thunder like all other people without a hearing handicap. Now I am curious how it will be with me.
All my life, I only could feel the thunder on the glass window - the vibration can be felt. This is my only definition of "hearing" the thunder.

How will I hear the thunder in future?

Marillenknödel! Apricot dumplings!
I tried a recipe from Lucy for the dumpling in which I can cover the apricots and at first I imagined that there was one egg too much, because it became smeary and sticky so I had to add more flour.
Then it became perfect and even during the cooking in the hot water, the dumplings didn´t loose their shape!
And the taste - unbelieveable! Far more better than any bought sweet fruit dumpings from the supermarket!

Oh gosh, it´s 22:14 PM and I became hungry only by looking at the picts. But I have to keep my own shape!

The Countdown is running....

In 6 weeks, I will have surgery in the General Hospital of Vienna. Scary...
This means, I still have 6 weeks in my old life. On the paper for entry for surgery I have to enter hospital one day before surgery - gosh, the pains will start with the infusion needle (is the Spanish Inquisition really over?).
Then my old life will be over. It would be nice if it would be over like a nice shower of flowers like in drama movies, but mine would be very realistic: under narcotics! How pathetic!

How should I spend these 6 weeks? Like as usual? Get up in the morning, wash my faces, have breakfast, rush to work, have lunch, rush to home, watch some nice movies and go to bed again?
Or should I do something crazy? Like bungee-jumping? Kiss a stranger? Join a rock band? Go to the Sahara desert with a camel treck? And get troubles with some bandits?

No, I will spend the usual 6 weeks without any excitements. My friends are enough for me. They are standing up with me and I am afraid that they will rush my hospital room for visiting. For most friends, I am the first who will undergo surgery for CI. Hope, they won´t stuck their noses into my ear to see how it looks after surgery.
Perhaps I should have exciting days with making a schedule for everybody and then I will tape it on my hospital door like a school dorm bed plan.

But before it, there will be one incredible excitement: Lucy´s trying not to burn the potatoes in their foil over the grill. Last year, the potatoes became hollow and totally burned. It looked like as if they experienced the A-bomb of Hiroshima in 1945.

Hooooooooooooot! The hot days still last over Vienna and I became used to this weather. The sun is shining as strong as in the Sahara desert and gladly I spend the weekend with my parents in our summer house.
There we were happy for every small breeze or we would steam in the hot temperature - it was about 35 degrees and 70% humidity.
But today we experienced a fierce thunderstorm in the afternoon:

The black clouds were roaring toward us and dad told me that he could hear the thunders. Damn to these stupid hearing aids - I couldn´t hear nothing.
Then a heavy rain was pouring down and a cold breeze swooshed through the house.

There is a beautiful legend about a strong rain during sunshine which happened after the downpour: if rain is falling while the sun is shining, it is said that the foxes are having a marriage. It´s called 狐の嫁入り　(Kitsune no Yome-iri - it means: The Fox takes a Bride). There is a wonderful short sequence about it in Kurosawa Akira´s movie "Dreams":

It´s wonderful how Japanese legends are mostly connected with the nature.

My Japanese friend Junko had a touching idea. To keep my mind away from all worries and anxiousness she started the "Lady Oscar Project"! Such a rare friend is really touching the heart even if she is living in Japan, half the earth away from Austria! We met 2009 in Tokyo for first time.
I remember the anime serie "Lady Oscar" when I was in Junior High School and I never forgot the gripling story around Marie Antoinette, daughter of the empress Maria Theresia of Austria.
Junko sent me the first volume of the Manga with the title "La Rose de Versailles".
Glaaaaaaadly the Japanese letters (Kanji) are accompanied by Furigana so I don´t need to think too much about how to translate Kanji letters. For a long time I didn´t read Japanese but happily I will refresh my memory.

It´s still waiting time for the exact date of surgery... I am little impatient.
Thanks to Junko I will always know, I have to keep my mind away of it.

Friends like Junko are rare and we should treasure such friends.

It started...!

Today was the first day of pre-surgery examination. It was a long MRT and a short CT which lasted about 2 hours in sum with waiting hours.
Two times I have to tell the nurse that I absolutely don´t want any contrast medium because I know that hospitals are doing it without thinking about the usefulness. Perhaps they want to cash the money from the health insurance!
And I have a total phobia against needles - needless to tell that vaccinations and the drip/infusion is a total horror for me. I need to be brave for the surgery, but not now!
Strangely I got a wristband with my name on it as if I would sleep in the hospital already. Again a waste of money because no-one was looking at the band!

Back at home, I got a letter from Prof. Gstoettner that the arranged date of 9th July has to be delayed to the 11th July! Two days more! Not a good omen! Or?

I had a crisis today! I came home totally down! And frustrated!
Because of the last Morbus Meniére attack, my right ear became different than usual and somehow sensitive. I always hear the humming of the PC, the air ventilation system, the howling of the wind and all others as a deep monotonous humming. It´s driving me crazy!
The new hearing aids (Oticon Chili) is a total failure! One year old and I am not satisfied and frustrated. When watching TV, playing keyboard or chatting, I always use my old hearing aid (Oticon Sumo) because it still has a clear sound.
Oticon Chili is monotonous but I didn´t have much choice one year ago - only two hearing aids.

left: old - right: new

I am really eager to start with a CI because I am afraid to be driven crazy by the humming and the monotonous sound.

I visited the shop where I bought both hearing aids and tried to get help. The shopkeeper only made a helpless gesture and a face which said Sorry, I cannot do anything. It´s the company which made this hearing aid.

What? This means, that digital craps are a backdraw to the Stone Age where men lived in caves and hunted with stone weapons?

Crap!

Instead of getting a help, I got frustrated and I will urge Dr. Gestoettner with an early-as-possible date for the surgery!

I have to wait till 9th July!