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!

As passionated cook I received an amazing cookbook of the traditional and authentic recipes of the Emirates! It was written in 1995 and rather old and worn out, but the recipes are totally traditional which are lost in today´s up-to-date and always-modern UAE. It´s a pity, because traditions are so important.

I tried one recipe and it turned out delicious! My parents ate it in a swift. No leftovers for the lunches in my office....  :-(
This is the cookbook:

 When I read the first words in the book, that it was dedicated to His Highness, Sheikh Rashid bin Said al Maktoum of Dubai, my gaze wandered to the framed invitation letter my father got from His Highness in 1984. It´s a coincidence! This is why I will keep this cookbook as a true treasure. The invitation letter on special paper with embossed letters were for the inaugural of the power plant of Jebel Ali which were still under construction when I stayed in Jumeirah. It´s a warming memory for me, thinking back of Jumeirah.

This is the CI which will be implanted on the bones of my skull. For first time in my life, I had the opportunity to touch the CI and get a real idea of becoming "Bionic" as the English speaking world calls the people with an implantat.
The picture of the ear belongs to a brochure of MED-EL and it shows how the really thin and flexible cable (not really visible on the photo) will be put into the inner ear.

Today I met two wonderful and amazing ladies at afternoon who already have a CI. Malvina and Brigitte were helping me so much with their personal experience of being Bionic, especially Brigitte with her past stories of Morbus Meniére. I also suffer from Morbus Meniére and there is always a kind of scary thoughts, for example if I have to stand at the cashier at a supermarket for a long time, I feel something strange crawling up my spine  - it´s always a warning of a forthcoming dizzyness attack in where I will fell down without any help.
It´s scary.

Brigitte had surgery and since it her Morbus Meniére didn´t come back. What a relief!
Thus I am curious what will happens with my Morbus Meniére when having a CI? A very important question and I intend to ask Prof. Gstoettner about it at 10th July.
At this day, everything will be decided for the future. A long way is ahead...
But with my friends at my side, I am confident.

I visited my old kindergarten! Back to my childhood...
Usually nobody visits the kindergarten, but mine was a special one. Because of my HOH-handicap I visited a special kindergarten for deaf and HOH-children and got a special education.
Thanks to aunty Ilse I was able to learn how to speak and to use the power of the language with my hearing aids. I entered kindergarten with 2 years and experienced the "old" and the "new" kindergarten. The old one was in a 100-years old building which became a school then. The new one was some hundred meters far and the building was erected in the 70ies.
Today I also visited the new kindergarten and my aunty Ilse.
It was fun to see all these low furnitures the colorful paintings from children on the wall and aunty in her usual energy. Nothing changed.

The only one who changed was me. And I returned to kindergarten because I wanted to see how children with CI are living. Aunty Ilse gave me the opportunity to meet the sweet and cute children and took an old photo with me when I was 3 years old (about 1979).

The kids looked at the photo, then at me and one girl said:"You are old now!".
Gosh - kids are too honest!
But another girl hugged me at my waist and said:"No, she is not old. She is big."
Geeez! Another honesty, but better than the "old" one ;-)
But the sweet hug from the cute girl was worth to be "insulted" humourously.
It was good to be back in kindergarten again.
This is the last photo - nothing changed to today´s photo (at the top):

The same windows, the same wooden floor... (I am in the gray dress).