Posted on 12/20/2001 1:40:49 PM PST by Pokey78
House Ear Clinic/House Ear Institute Public Statement
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Antonio De la Cruz, M.D., of the House Ear Clinic/House Ear Institute in Los Angeles, performed Rush Limbaugh's cochlear implant surgery yesterday. Dr. De la Cruz and Jennifer Derebery, M.D., have been treating Mr. Limbaugh for hearing loss as a result of Auto- Immune Inner Ear Disease (AIED). After a period of treatment with medication in an effort to save his residual hearing, Mr. Limbaugh and his physicians decided to proceed with a cochlear implant to restore his hearing. Mr. Limbaugh was moving around easily after several hours of post-surgery bed rest at St. Vincent Medical Center yesterday, where Dr. De la Cruz performed his cochlear implant surgery as an outpatient.
"I feel great!" said Rush Limbaugh. "The surgery went smoothly and I'm looking forward to enjoying the holidays and returning to the air in early January."
"Mr. Limbaugh's cochlear implant surgery at the House Ear Clinic yesterday went very well," said Antonio De la Cruz, M.D., House Ear Clinic/House Ear Institute. "As we expected, Mr. Limbaugh responded very well to the surgery, which lasted about two hours, and he was sent home this morning. Rush has the approval of his physicians at the House Ear Clinic to return to work in early January."
"Mr. Limbaugh won't be ready to use his cochlear implant until a recovery period of several weeks is completed," said Antonio De la Cruz, M.D., House Ear Clinic/House Ear Institute. "Mr. Limbaugh will be able to work and resume his other activities during the post-surgery recovery period while his incision is healing."
Rush Limbaugh will return to the House Ear Clinic in a few weeks to be fitted with the external unit for his cochlear implant. At the Clinic, Mr. Limbaugh's cochlear implant use will be activated in an initial stimulation and mapping session with his audiologist. He will hear sound for the first time since he lost his residual hearing.
"This cochlear implant will reconnect Mr. Limbaugh to his environment, and that is an important benefit to his quality of life," said Antonio De la Cruz, M.D., House Ear Clinic/House Ear Institute.
Two components make up the external unit worn behind the ear by cochlear implant users -- a microphone, which receives environmental sounds and transmits them to a speech processor, where mechanical sounds are then converted into a processed electrical signal. This processed signal is sent to the brain via the implanted electrodes within the inner ear. The quality of sound received through a cochlear implant is different from the quality of sound processed through a natural ear, but with time and training, most implant users learn to converse easily.
Bless you Rush; Merry Christmas!
I do however hope Rush ordered the implant that has the ability to lock out certain voices, kind of like the lock out on your cable.
Let's see, how would my life be improved if I never had to listen to their voices again........Hillary, Eleanor Clift, Ratner, Boxer, Maxine, Little Tommy, Little Dickie.....sorry I better save some band width, I'll write them down on a legal pad(s).
God Bless you Rush.
In any case, I'm glad to hear about the cochlear implant surgery, and I hope he discusses it on the air--I'd be fascinated to hear how he perceives sound with it (is it blatantly different; is it like those glasses that turn everything upside down or swap left and right, so that if you wear them all the time your brain adapts and then everything looks back to normal?)--since he had his hearing before, he'll have an interesting perspective on it.
Ya know - I never really noticed a difference ...
Now - she sounds like my Mom (very Michigan-ish)!
So, the short answer is, her speech doesn't seem to have changed very much at all (she is still my 'goofy' younger sister to boot!).
I LOVED those timber updates! I've got one or two of those captured as WAV files somewhere ...
God Bless and Merry Christmas.
Hope to hear you again soon!
LVM
Lol! That's Bill Handel, of KFI in Los Angeles. A real prize, isn't he? Sure you don't want to take him off our hands?
My mom used to work at House; she was the first audiologist to rehabilitate cochlear implant patients. What Rush will be gaining, and what he most misses, is FEEDBACK from his surroundings. That will help him in conversations, golfing, everything. It will bring him closer to his world again. He will have LOTS of work to do, retraining himself to "hear" using completely different information than that which he was used to receiving from his ears. He will STILL need to lipread, but he can get good at that with the feedback the implant provides. He may have underestimated the amount of work, and the profound psychological impact this will have on him, but my mom has listened to him long enough and knows he has the character to tough it out and make it a success! Of course he will!
All the best to you, Rush, if you are reading this. Merry Christmas!
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