Unfortunately, AB is on a voluntary recall due to TWO failures. One here in the US and one in UK. The two patients are experiencing severe pain, loud sounds and shocking sensations within 8-10 days after being activated.

At least that AB is being honest and pulling it off the shelf before anyone else gets hurt like the other two people. Not naming any companies, other brands tend to sweep their recall under the rug and hide it from others that its not easily found online.

AB's number one priority is the recipient. Which shows me that they do CARE about their recipients!!!

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It was a great turn out... but we had some visitors there that we had to kick out since I had a permit to have the space for the entire day. They weren't too happy. Sorry!

We had Meredith - who has a rare kind of dwarfism called Morquio Syndrome that is thinking of getting an CI. Her only challenge is that she had a spinal fusion which means if you have surgery and get intubated, they can't tilt her neck at all.  We were told that Dr. Niparko from JHH has some surgeries as a local... eek!  I can't imagine that!

Of course, Carrie showed up just one day post-op. My BEA manager, Beth Anne called her a brave soul. She didn't come alone :) Her mom drove her and brought her down. I think she was in good spirits and well medicated for her pain management.

I was happy with today's outcome. Let's hope that the next one will be even bigger!!! Here are some photos!

Tom with AB's Directional Signs

Me with AB Balloons!!!

Carrie (blue shirt) with Me and Meredith (purple shirt)

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It's early in the AM!  Got so much prep work to do for the BEA's Picnic Gathering!  I got balloons to fill up, directional signs to put up too!

My fiancee is helping me a lot to do this!  We got people coming from Delaware and New Jersey!  And we have a gal that just had surgery yesterday that is coming to the picnic!  I know - already? She said that she really wants to go but I told her to take it easy.  I was able to go to her surgery yesterday since I had a mapping that morning.

Wish me luck! Hopefully it doesn't rain or get too hot.  We have a gazebo, so we should be in the shade all day!!!

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Bought a new SUV yesterday!  Got an 2010 Silver Santa Fe. The main goal of this SUV I picked out was to put one kennel in there without folding the seats down.

This SUV has so many bells and whistles. There is a cord that you can plug your iPhone or iPod on and play your music in the SUV.. thats pretty darn awesome. And this sucker has BLUETOOTH! Of course, who can live without power windows and power locks? And it also has heated windshield and mirrors... thats a nice bonus.

For the phone... right now, I'm not so sure how its gonna work for me. I tried using it with my mother in the truck. It kept saying Pardon Me? Grrrr. I tried to say the numbers and it wasn't coming up the way it was supposed to. The names were also difficult.. looks like its a new thing to train myself.. not the SUV!

I'll give it a few months and we will see if I can actually use the bluetooth.

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Today's the second mapping, I feel that I need more information on the new ear (left ear) which is good. I'm hoping Steve can make it better so I can be able to distinguish sounds that I need to hear.

I think I'm more excited about getting my new truck later today! Ive waited so long to get this since I am constantly adding oil and antifreeze everyday to the car. I am just afraid it will simply break down on its own without a warning.

Wish me luck!

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Yes, my favorite black Cavalier Z24 is going to heaven. It needs a new water pump and for all that labor, it wasn't worth fixing on a 9 year old car.  Looking into SUVs since I have two dogs and want to be able to have people in there plus the doggies.  The Cavalier didn't do it well.. the dogs took over the back seat and the front passenger seat was not usable since my 2 year old dog, Kaitu ate the seat belt on a road tip to my parents.

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Today's activation went well... it was different from the first one.  I didn't get the sensation as bad like I got with the first one.  Steve programmed me with Fidelity 120 instead of 90K since he knew that I would improve faster since I am already using Fidelity 120 in my right ear.

He had an assistant in the room and was teaching her how to use the AB's sound wave software on his computers.. I believe thats she is a teaching student at Johns Hopkins. I didn't ask many questions since I was more focused on getting activated :)

I could hear the sounds this time rather than feeling the sounds but it did sound very different.  But since this is my 'bad' ear, it may not jump as high with my 'good' ear. We will see next week and the upcoming mappings!

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