SUBSEQUENT TRIP REQUEST: 16th & 17th Angel flight.

Fourty-five year old Leonie has a young family from Merimbula NSW, and has recently had a cochlear implant. She needs regular reviews by specialists in Sydney to fine tune the device as her hearing gradually increases. This Angel flight was for one of those trips.

Read about a previous mission for Leonie (M745)

Shaun Aisen - Pilot

Robyn McBride - Earth Angel
(Robyn's 34th & 35th Angel flight)

Angel flight 1 & 2 by Shaun Aisen
This is Shaun's 30th & 31st Angel flight
Previous mission for Shaun - M785 AF2.

Comment by Shaun

"All good. Though on the way back to Essendon, the weather was awful. Wonderful people, just delightful. Mission(s) accomplished."

Cochlear success

Hi everyone,

Thought you might be interested in hearing about my latest trip to Sydney and the Cochlear Implant Centre.

We woke up to rain and completely overcast conditions and some wind.

It had cleared only slightly by 9.00am, our departure time. Carly and I were at the airport by 8.50am and Shaun, our pilot, was there to meet us. We climbed in the Cirrus SR 20, which was only two years old and flew away. Conditions all the way to Sydney completely overcast and visibility very limited but the flight was smooth and seemingly effortless for both plane and Shaun.

We landed at Bankstown at 10.30 on the dot and were met by the charming and ever friendly, Robyn, a true angel who transported us to the Cochlear Imlant Centre where we had time for a cuppa before Rachel was ready to see us.

Rachel put me through the usual level tests, seeing if my abililty to hear different sounds had increased or decreased since the last time then tested my hearing by saying different sounds such as ee, sh, ss at the same time as covering her mouth so I couldn't lip read. I got them all correct this time. We then went onto the day, date and month with Rachel covering her mouth again and again, I got them all right.

She tried something harder, sentences but only short ones and I got them all right except for two which Rachel didn't expect I'd be able to get but she gave me a second go at them and I even got those right.

Rachel then gave me another program for my speech processor as at the moment I only have two programs. The first program is for normal everyday listening. The second program is for in noisey situtations, like shops or in the car and my new program is for party's or group situtations as it allows me to beam in on one person and shuts out alot of other background noises. Should be most helpful for when we have visitors or when we go to the Fishing Club. Can't wait to try it out.

Rachel was finally able to give me my Bodyworn Controller which comes with two shoes and cables, both of varying lengths, one 30cm and the other 80cm. Now to explain that all in english, I was given a compact device which uses rechargeable batteries and attaches to my speech processor via the shoe and the cable therefore relieving the need for disposible batteries of which I presently use about one per day. Initially Rachel had been able to give me the pouch for the bodyworn controller and the recharger but nothing else so now I have all of it, which is great. The bodyworn controller fits snuggly into the pouch which I can then clip onto my clothing, wherever I find it most comfortable, hence having the varying lengths of cable as I might like it up high or lower, down near my waist. I shall have to experiment. It will be a financial saver to be sure.

Rachel then wanted to test my hearing with the loaner hearing aid, the ones Rachel had leant to me months ago so off to the sound proof booth we went and I had to sit and listen and press the buzzer when I heard a beep. This didn't take long, then we were finished.

We discussed our next couple of sessions and swiped the medicare card yet again and we departed only to sit outside and ring Robyn as we were finished early and I was concerned that we'd keep Shaun waiting if we waited for Robyn until 1.30 as it took just under 3/4 of an hour to drive from Bankstown to the Cochlear Implant Centre. As it turned out Robyn was on her way to pick us up anyway so that worked out just fine.

Shaun wanted us to meet him at the mobil depot near to where we were dropped off but as we had some time to spare Robyn thought she'd grab some lunch at a coffee shop so Carly and I had a cuppacino and a milkshake but before I could do anything Robyn had paid for our drinks as well as her lunch. I scolded her and told her she was naughty, she pulled a face at me and smiled!

We drove to the Mobil depot and had to be let in by a gentleman there as the gate was paddlocked and it was raining again. We scurried into the building and made ourselves comfortable there in their kitchen and proceeded to enjoy our lunch. Shaun showed up and was on the phone after talking to us. Robyn said, " It was a good thing your mother didn't hear that." Robyn was referring to something Shaun had said and of-course I asked, " What did he say". Shaun was on the phone and had said, " Well I suppose we'll just head south and hope we find Merimbula." I love people with a sense of humour.

The weather had worsened, it was really raining with low cloud.

Shaun said it was time to go so off we went. We said our thanks and farewells to Robyn and made a mad dash of a couple of hundred metres in the now pouring rain, jumping puddles to the aircraft. We all jumped in as quickly as possible but we and the inside of the plane got wet. I pulled a t-shirt of Carly's out of our bag and wiped down the planes seats and some of Shaun's navigational books and whatever else looked damp. Shaun got the wettest as he was last in.

I was amazed we were able to take-off but take-off we did. The visibility was very poor. All the way home, all we could see was cloud and it was only until we got very close to Merimbula that the sun made an appearance and we landed safely and on time.

Carly had sat in the front and chatted to Shaun all the way there and all the way back so I can only assume that Shaun has passed on some of his navigational expertise to her and she'll be that much more informed than when she left home.

We said a grateful and heartfelt thanks to Shaun after taking a couple of photo's and headed for home.