Hello from Jeff S.

[Guest guest]

> Hi Jeff

> I noticed that you now live in Minnesota...I don't see many minnesotans on the

forum so that caught my eye.Where in Mn do you live?Perhaps you would be

interested in meeting some people with implants..if so just contact me and I

will put you in touch.

>

> Dora Weber

> Nucleus Volunteer Advocate

Hello Dora,

We actually met at the CI Group lecture in Judd auditorium at Mayo

Clinic. I'm in Rochester, MN. I did miss the CI picnic which sounded

like a great opportunity to meet, but I was already booked for a trip

that week. I'm sure we'll have more opportunities in the future!

Since I have not yet posted a bio here, I am 40 and married with 2

girls. I was not born deaf, but had nerve degeneration all my life. I

started HA's at age 5, stopped at age 25, 10 years fully deaf, and now

have a CI as of 1999. Definitely made my life fuller and richer, and

less exhausted!

My CI was done in Syracuse University Hospital by a Dr. Wood,

and my first audiologist was Deb Lightfoot. I've had my CI BTE

processor changed 3 times so far for various problems (housing split,

non-functioning toggle switch, etc.). I don't think I ever acheived the

same ability to hear with the BTE as I did with the body processor, but

I find the BTE far to convenient to give up.

I work for IBM as a programmer and had a job transfer from NY to MN, so

I now live in Rochester, MN. A very nice growing town, that is also in

desperate need of some decent Italian restaurants. My wife caught on

with the Mayo Clinic as a counselor in the Nicotine Dependence center (a

" quit smoking " group, in laymans terms).

I now go to Mayo for my audiology needs (means I don't have to drive

over an hour anymore to see one like in NY) and I've seen various

audiologists there to date, the most experienced being Ann .

I used to be an avid soccer nut until I damaged my ankle cartilage and

was told last year it's never going to be the same. I just bought Tony

Little's Gazelle exercise machine on HSN because it's a low impact

workout (hope it " works out " too!).

A hilarious CI story about me: At work I returned from my CI mapping

session and was sitting in a meeting. Unbeknownst to me, my co-workers

had decided to play a joke on me and " pretend " to talk while in reality

just move their lips and make up words. So, I'm sitting in there

lip-reading all this garbage and wondering what's going on, and I spot

the worst actor in the bunch and realized the jokes on me!

You can see a picture of me at:

http://webpages.charter.net/jeff1132/

I am happy to receive personal mail as well.

Sincerely,

Jeff

--

s (jeff1132@...) AIM: jeff1132

Wireless E-mail: jeffstevens@... or call 800.644.WYND