Hearing aid and FM system update

I apologise for not adding to my blog sooner but boy i have been very busy and i wanted to post about my new hearing aids and new fm system and how i came to need these in the first place

About 6 weeks ago i went to my audiologist because there was a problem with my hearing aids they kept opening and closing and turning off and on again it was SO annoying. So anyway they sent them off interstate somewhere and i had to have a loan hearing aid only on one side without any BICROS - this means that there is a microphone transmitter hearing aid on my deaf left ear and it transfers to right one and then there is amplification and volume controls on each side.

So for a couple of weeks i had this loan one which was frustrating but i thought oh well wont be too long before i get my old ones back again..boy was i wrong ....so anyway i rang up to say can i pick up my hearing aids and got told sorry you need an apmt because your hearing aid is broken beyond repair and you need a new one so i had an apmt about a week later and it was decided on what i would get my hearing aids are free to client they said and i would just have to cover the cost of the icom (which i'll explain later) and the Fm system i managed to get funding for which was fantastic!!!

So anyway then comes an email from my audi saying option 1 and option 2 didn't understand what she was talking about and apparently what had occured is that the audi at unitron had given my audi the wrong information and so it was impossible to meet my needs "free to client" so i discovered i had to pay an extra $500 which apparently is the wholesale price the retail price would have been a lot more. In any case 24 hours ago i got the icom the new hearing aids AND the new FM system
I have a Phonak Certerna Art with a microphone transmitter(this is the same transmitter that i used on my old aids) on the other side (to make the hearing aids BICROS) so essentially it picks sound up on the left and transfers to right and amplifies it.

I also have an icom with an FM reciever this is a REALLY cool device it works with a digital induction loop and the sound quality is way better than anything i have ever experienced! I have managed to "bluetooth" the icom to my phone (or audi did) and basically i can hear my phone through my hearing aids when im wearing the icom and it can "bluetooth" up to 8 devices apparently. So far i haven't worked out how to do that to my PC in the hopes of listening to music through the PC however it also has an audio cable and i managed to get it to stream audio from my CD player to the icom to the hearing aid.

As for the Fm system it is the Phonak Zoomlink and it has an external microphone which i can clip to the viola and use when singing as well in choir. it also has 3 built in microphone buttons omnidirection zoom and super zoom.

I did have a disaster though - keep in mind ive only had these for 24 hours and not good with new technology either....

I wanted to be prepared for my viola lesson so i charged both the icom and the zoomlink up last night and when i went to use the zoomlink it would not turn on!!!! Not on whatsoever. So i tried everything i could think of before lesson and the taxi turned up (i put the old FM system into the bag as plan B not realising that i had 3 charged and 1 uncharged battery!!! they look similar) So while in the taxi i kept reading the instruction manual but couldn't figure it out i did discover that the external microphone has an on switch but the book did not say how to turn it on my viola teacher worked that out you have to turn it!!! But i could not get the zoomlink to turn on. So i went for plan B put my hearing aids to the "telecoil + mic" setting and of course didn't realise that one battery was flat hence why i was getting no sound out of that FM system So i was VERY brave and just played the viola without the FM system it was bad because i could not hear myself properly but when i was playing with teacher i could hear what she was playing against me and tell when i was wrong actually i could often tell i was wrong just didn't know whether sharp or flat thats the difference the FM system makes. With my old aids i probably wouldn't have even managed that much! So i got home and plugged in the zoomlink thinking somehow it was not charged however there was nothing on the screen at ALL so i though oh ohh thats not good so i read and reread the instructions and found in case of error message please press all three buttons and it will reset and voila it WORKED and it turned on!!!! WHY there had been an error i have NO idea absolutely NO idea!!!! Then i started again tried plugging everything together and it all worked i got the microphone to work and everything.

basically the icom is the reciever for the zoomlink and when you have both of them on it automatically changes the program in the hearing aid!!! makes a few beeping noises first but essentially thats what happens.

I am a bit scared cause i have a concert in TWO days time!!! a really really big one in a choir of about 80 people with orchestra and everything we doing mozart requiem and mozart vespers!!! SO i have to figure out all this again and make sure i have some idea of what to do. In concerts i give the external mic to a friend in the alto section and she literally wears the mic and cause its omnidirectional it picks up everything in the choir but the alto line the most i hope it works.

As for health wise things have not been going brilliantly for me at all except to say that i did see the genetic metabolic dr only last friday and she is doing more tests to figure out what is wrong shes testing for rare degenerative neuromusclar conditions and if they are all negative then she will do a muscle and skin biopsy to figure out what is wrong well that is the hope anyway.

I have a wheelchair assessment in a weeks time which i hope i will gain more info about what that actually involves and hopefully eventually i will end up with a better easier to use wheelchair.

i have been grateful to have 4 hours a week from the respite centre and they are continuing this help for another 3 months which will go til march.

I have finished my TAFE course practically and should recieve parchment soon.....

And I am hoping that the music ensemble and teaching will start sometime next year.

Update on music ensemble

Well a couple of things have happened recently. I did go and see the community arts network who gave me some ideas on how to start working on teaching PWD and forming an ensemble. I have written a document on the computer on both things just a list of ideas really about what needs to happen like public liability insurance and all kinds of things. I have thought about it and I think a community centre would be the best place for the ensemble to rehearse in and that teaching at home may be a possibility depending on what disability the person has and how much room I actually need. I have also had a couple of friends say at least tentatively that they are interested in helping me with the project cause obviously there is just NO way on this earth I would be able to do it all by myself. So this is good. One thing I hope to do in the near future is contact the director of Tutti ensemble Pat rix and explain my idea and see if she has any ideas about it whether it could be a Tutti off shoot or a business in its own right or what. Hoping to be able to start something when I finish TAFE which hopefully will be around the start of July. Haven't had a good time medically with my husband having his first seizure in 8 years meaning being admitted to hospital for 3 days last week and having respite and all kinds of difficulties organising it and just being able to visit him was a nightmare. So all the medical stuff may hold up TAFE I just dont know. Actually my lecturer has not replied to half my emails yet so hoping she will tomorrow as really would like to get back into it slowly. First aid was cancelled yesterday as the other participant is sick so the trainer is hoping to be able to still do the last part of the certificate in 2 sessions instead of 3. We will have to see how we go. Another thing is that a woman who is blind joined our choir recently and when i mentioned on an email list about this idea she loved it and wants to play the viola but she lives on opposite side of Adelaide so we will see what happens with that. I eventually worked out she was actually the same person. And another thing this recent medical stuff with jeff has given me a total repeat of what happened in 2008 the social isolation (cause Jeffs drivers license has been suspended temporarily for 3 possibly 6 or maybe more months and I can only drive a short distance) factors and the depression the anxiety etc have all gone and got me again which is not nice. I am OK but not brilliant I had enough going on before without his medical issues as well that being said its highlighted to me what I have been telling dom care for the last 2 years he is not able to cope with all of the stuff they keep putting on him the stress of having to look after me plus working full time is too much!!!! But do they listen? NO!!!! Hence I have started the difficult process of switching to disability SA. Hoping this will occur sooner rather than later.
And another thing today I had an appointment with my neurophysio and she showed me how to use a slide board I think they are SUCH a marvellous invention and I am hoping that disability SA will think that too because it would help me to be more independant particularly in the public disabled toilet area. I actually have had rather awful continence issues going on at the moment and its not been nice. Seeing the RDNS (royal district nurses service) and also a urologist which I cannot get into til mid July!!! Anyway the continence nurse from RDNS is actually coming next week so i am glad they are involved.

Well the microwave is beeping gotta go sort out tea
Erin

New medical information

Recently I went to a new specialist (neurologist) who after a 2 hour appointment decided that he thinks I may have a genetic mitochondrial disorder. This in his opinion would explain a lot of my symptoms including hearing loss, pain, fatigue, the dystonia - movement disorder and other problems. Basically what happens is that mitchondria are in your cells and if they are damaged by genetic defect then these mitochondrial disorders can happen.
There are apparently 50 different types of mito disorders and as yet they dont know what one I have or if indeed this is the problem. I believe they can also be caused virally but its more common for it to be a genetic condition. this was pretty big news for me and Jeff because the drs kept saying my condition was temporary and then all of a sudden it became possibly genetic and therefore not going to go away. I dont know much about treatment options but from what Ive read the best test is a muscle biopsy which appears to be some kind of big operation not a small needle one. This is yet to be confirmed by the doctor who that neurologist has decided to pass me onto. I see them in May. So hopefully the new neuro in May dr kimber at the RAH neurology clinic will be able to sort things out for me and give me a better idea about what is wrong why and what to do about it. Hoping it will lead to a diagnosis prognosis and also getting more home support probably from disability SA and also a better lighter wheelchair hopefully a power assist one.
Also seeing a physician who decided to send me for a sleep study first one was at home but the oxygen thing fell out and so it wasn't recording for most of the night so they decided to send me for one in the sleep clinic which i haven't got the results for yet. See him next week.
So between keeping up with TAFE trying to do first aid and all this medical stuff we have been pretty busy lately

Studying with TAFE

When we returned home a couple weeks later in about feb-march I resumed studying with TAFE. I am doing it externally and are doing certificate 3 in disability studies. its been on hold for 18 months while I was too sick to study. They came up with a special study plan to assist me with my studies to hopefully complete the 5 units I have to go prior to the cut off at the end of June 2010.
I am doing two advocacy subjects, one called leisure and recreation activities and I have to do the compulsory unit participate in saftey procedures basically OHS (including manual handling which I can only do theoretically and apparently over the phone in this case) . I also am required to complete a senior first aid certificate which is big ask for someone who is a wheelchair user with all the other medical problems i have however it is a compulsory requirement. The reason I have to finish by end of June is that the government changed the course from the start of 2010 and they gave 6 months leeway for people who were continuing students if I dont complete it I have to basically start again as the units I have done except for first aid are not transferrable plus I have to pay for the whole certificate again! and I decided I didn't want to do this hence returning to comlete the certificate.
I have passed everything so far a few sets of questions and made a start on one project for leisure and recreation.
I made contact with the National Disability Coordination Officer for people who have disabilities at tertiary level and she was interested in completing first aid as well and had a friend who is a st john trainer so she very kindly said that she would help me to see if there was a way that I could manage it all including CPR and we have been doing it fortnigthly for a month so far. Next session is tonight. it just will go as long as it needs to til we complete the certificate. Last week we had a go at CPR and I can do it although only a couple rounds not like 5 like i am suposed to do. I did about 3 the first time and then Jenny had a go and then I did about 2 rounds the second time and almost collapsed from immense fatigue the second time. But it proved we could do it both of us. We did on table cause I cant get on or off the floor and cannot sit without something behind me because the dystonia starts up. its painful. I got the dystonia while I was doing the compressions which didn't work too well
But all in all TAFE so far has been a rather positive experience!
I want to use the certificate for the idea of teaching People with disabilities viola and violin and set up a group to play and perform in

TTY

Well this is not an entry about music its about using TTY. as you know I am hearing impaired deaf that is and thus have trouble on the phone. So last year I decided that I would switch to using TTY. This means that I call the national relay service or NRS and then make calls thru them and the call is relayed to the TTY machine and I can read it. If people want to call me then they ring me thru the NRS as well. It only started today. Its kinda spooky but I guess I will get used to it and so will all my friends and family! Theres even a special emergency number too equivalent of 000
I made 4 calls today thru them and it wasn't too bad. We will see how it goes.

Holiday to Canberra for IV and then home via Dubbo Cobar and Broken Hill. 14-30 Jan 2010

We left on the 14th January 2010 and drove all the way to Hay. Unfortunately for asked we got 25 kilometres past Balranald NSW and discovered we did not have enough petrol to make it to hay so we had to go back to Balranald to get some more petrol. We arrived in the middle of the night and the next day we drove to Canberra. On the following day we went to the costume shop to pick up a Spanish costume for the party the next evening. We then drove to Birrigai which was the campsite for InterVasity (IV) choral festival the reason we came to Canberra in the first place. Birrigai is in a bushfire prone area. But we were lucky despite the hot weather. The day after we left Birrigai was a total fire ban day and if we are still been in Birrigai we would have had to evacuate.

With the Between the 16th and be 24th of January 2010 we were involved in this festival we were at Birrigai until Wednesday morning we stayed with Jeffs parents and drove to Birrigai every morning. There was a costume party, sculling nights and and the revue which I performed telemanns Fantasia no 09 for solo viola and also helped Jeff with his act called Acts of the choristers. Written like the book Acts in bible based on the events that happen at camp at IV. There was also usual IV events of Presidents pyjamas (don't ask) and market day (where different societies get to sell their merchadise.
One night when Jeff was sculling I was resting in the same dormitory as the assistant conductor. We had a very interesting conversation about music and disability. I also met Milly who is an OT student. She helped me at ANU on the day when Jeff was umpiring cricket at his high-school.

During the day there were many rehearsals for the concert that was held in Queanbeyan on the 23rd of January. Queanbeyan is on the border between New South Wales and the ACT. On the Wednesday people left Birrigai and had a publicity sing in Garema Place near the ANU (Australian National University). We didn't go to the publicity sing because it was too difficult to get there with me in the wheelchair. We met everybody for the photo. Then we had our first rehearsal at ANU. It was very difficult because I in needed to sing at the front of the lecture theatre so I could hear but the bathrooms were at the top of the lecture theatre only accessible by going outside of the lecture theatre and after an incredibly steep slope needing somebody to push me because they were only steps in the lecture theatre.
On the Thursday night we had the formal academic dinner. This was very enjoyable. It was held at a function centre at a football club. On the Friday night we had a family barbecue at Jeff's parents house and the following morning we met my friend Sarah who I went to school with and her partner Alex in Queanbeyan for lunch they live in Queanbeyan. That afternoon we had the dress rehearsal in the Q performing arts Centre which was only built in 2003 that night we we went to the Leagues club for dinner before the concert. This was a huge success and everyone enjoy despite ed themselves. The Q was not particularly wheelchair accessible despite being built in 2003 dales accessed for the audience but for a performer at needing wheelchair access to the stage like Myself it was a disaster I had to go through three fire doors and then wait on the other side of the stage because I was unable to get downstairs to the backstage green room I find particularly annoying that a venue built so recently would not provide a ramp to the stage this was supposed to be there and the committee were aware of this being necessary but at least I did not get sick like I did in Hobart in July 09. It was also good being able to sing with the choir not offstage or in front or next to the choir like I have done for most of the concerts in the past 12 months with the Adelaide University choral Society (AUCS). I found an alto 2 who was happy to wear my FM system which allows me to hear the choir. It worked really well and didn't break. That evening we had the post concert party in the Leagues club

The following morning we went to Commonwealth Park for the recovery barbecue I was intrigued by the Carillon. Apparently it's like the bell tower but instead of bells being pulled an organ is played which makes the bells ring. Unfortunately I got dust in my eye and a couple of days later I got conjunctivitis this cleared up within about a week. On We decided to go to the National Art Gallery and had a look around for a couple of hours before returning to Jeff's parents house and started to pack that night we went to a restaurant in Civic the city area of Canberra and met our friend Kendrick for dinner the next day we left for Dubbo. On the way we went via parkes and this is where the CSIRO Parkes radio telescope is located this telescope was used when man first walked on the moon in 1969. Unfortunately we missed the visitors centre but got some great photos we reached Dubbo round half-past eight and we were just about to go across the road for dinner - crossing the road in fact when the lights went out and Aporto closed we drove around looking for somewhere to eat everywhere was shut. Eventually we found a place a bit like the hogs breath cafe. It was expensive but delicious
the next morning we went to the Western Plains zoo and a was a two-day pass we got a lot of photos of the animals it was so big six kilometres in a circle and we had to drive around and get out and walk to see the animals around two o'clock we we had reached about half way and decided to go back to Parkes to see the radio telescope visitors centre which closed at 4:30 p.m. about hundred kilometres back towards Canberra we reached it in time and had a look through the visitors centre in saw the telescope up close. Then we went back to Dubbo and had dinner. The next morning we went back to the Western Plains zoo and saw the rest of it then we drove on to Cobar. Both of the days in Dubbo were 43° Celsius
The following morning we went to the Cobar quilting shop. They were having a sale and had lots of cat and music fabric. After that we drove onto Broken Hill.
Coming into Broken Hill we drove through a dust storm we thought it was big but apparently they have had worse. The next morning we went to the Broken Hill visitors centre through recommended numerous places to go that were wheelchair accessible the first place we went to was the train hospital and migration Museum it had lots of photos and various pieces of equipment and old telephone is typewriters and old hospital equipment from Broken Hill's first hospital then we went to an Art Gallery which has Ando's Big picture it's painted in a circle and its the largest picture painted by one person hundred metres round. The Gallery had other paintings and things look at also sheep ant and cats made from metal which you could buy and other souvenirs. Then we went to the Royal flying Doctor service visitors centre located at the airport in Broken Hill this is open to the public you can go on a tour and see the Planes and people working also a video is shown and there is a Museum and souvenirs then we went to all parts which had the Titanic memorial in it. There were band people who played on the Titanic when its sank. They all people in Broken Hill who wanted to put up a memorial dedicated to these people. That night we went to musicians club for dinner. The next morning we went to a above ground wheelchair accessible house that had been turned into a mine it showed equipment from the past and present use in the mines in Broken Hill. They also showed a video of the history of mining in Broken Hill they were paintings made from the minerals from the mines in Broken Hill for sale there was also a room filled with dolls and teddies about 800. Then we left for home - Adelaide. We arrived around half-past seven that night. Overall we had a really good time and I am glad this time and was able to sing with the choir and didn't get sick unlike Hobart IV where I became very ill and missed singing in three concerts.

Photos of standing frame

To the left are 5 photos of me and the standing frame that TAD made me. The two in the wheelchair were taken about 1 or 2 days out of hospital between christmas 2008 and new year 2009 and the 3 ones of me standing were taken straight after it was made in about september 2008.

driving

We take driving for granted we just do, you don't know what you have until you lose it!!

Around february-March 2009 I asked my neuro-physio whether she thought I would ever be able to drive a car again She said YES!!! Maybe not right away she said but she thought it would be possible. I left it another couple of months and asked her again (i really hadn't improved but I was very keen to get the ball rolling with driving again thought would be simple) BOY was I WRONG!!!! She said to me that she thought it would be the best idea to have an assessment done by a driver clinic OT (Occupational therapist) So she wrote the referral and I rang up to find out what I had to do. First there was a 3 month wait. Second we had to go to the repatriation hospital which is over an hours drive TWICE as it was the only place we could do the assessment because of the type of disability I have!! The first part of the assessment was at the clinic they ask a bucket load of questions about your medical conditions find everything that could possibly be wrong or hard with driving and then find a way to solve all these problems. Trouble is the treating dr HAS to fill in a form to the department of transport and there is no option on this form for this kind of assessment it is dumb the OTs are trying to change it. They even got me to write a letter to the Member of Parliament involved to try and change the form. Also the final decision is not made my the OT doing the assessment but by the dr this is also dumb as the dr has had nothing to do with the assessment the OT has. In other states of Australia the OTs do get a say in what the final decision is. In SA they can only recommend. Anyway so they decided that I had to go back to the eye specialist something was wrong in the assessment they thought could interfere with driving so that was another appointment the tests came back fine! The second part of the assessment was with a driving instructor with the OT in the back. This was difficult as the instructor made a big deal out of a minor thing that I did wrong and did not explain how I could fix this issue. Anyway it was decided that I would need 3 1 hour lessons with a driving instructor trained in rehab and this was done over 4 lessons 2 half hour and 2 1 hour lessons. All in all these assessments cost over $700 AUS with no rebate or anything (something else I put in the letter). It also was recommended that the only way I could drive was with the use of a WYMO. Basically a hydraulic lifting device that puts the wheelchair on the roof of car at the touch of a button at the cost of about $4000AUS. There were a couple other minor recommendations.

Well I knew we could not afford a WYMO so I asked my service provider who gives me personal care twice a week and various equipment and they said NO. Then for reasons I wont go into a few months later (after our trip to Tasmania for the choral festival) I asked to have a new service coordinator and in the meantime I spoke to the supervisor about all the difficulties I was having. Well she told me that my origial service coordinator apologises because he made a mistake the WYMO WAS available since the equipment service is for ALL PWD in two different agencies!!!! So a WYMO was once NOT available to domicilary Care clients but now was. The way this service works is that it is totally funded by the government and is serviced and maintained by the equipment service so you dont pay when it breaks down!! BUT the downside is that they often don't have enough money and I believe the main reason why they managed to get me this equipment was because a they made a mistake originally and b I complained about needing it. People who ask and ask often recieve. I had to go through an assessment to see if I qualified and I did and a few weeks later it was approved and installed before christmas. Fantastic!!! I was able to drive independently for the first time in 18 months. Downside is that I can only drive when I am not too tired and only short distances like 10-15 km at a time and only once or twice a week BUT it is starting point and one can assume it will only get better. The second advantage was that my husband did no longer have to haul the wheelchair in and out the car and its 25kg!!!

Unfortunately my husband had a little accident with the WYMO about a week ago it was not all the way down and he backed out the driveway and hit the downpipe causing the arm of the WYMO to bend thus tripping the switch too soon and also dislodging the roof rack it sits on making it a little unsafe and totally unusuable. Because it was between christmas and new year the equipment service that the repairs have to go through and the place that fixes them were both closed and luckily the guy who put it on the car has a mobile ph we just smsed him and set up the date to be fixed as the 6th January and rang the equipment service so I am excited that it will be fixed soon!

TAFE qualifications in disability

As I said in an earlier post I originally was working as a support worker for PWD but had to resign as a consequence of that work and because the Australian Government brought in legislation stating that all support workers had to have min qualifications (certificate 3 in disability studies) to do that work I decided to study through TAFE to get this qualification. This was started in 2007, I decided to do it externally because the nearest campus offering the course was an hours drive and although I could drive that distance it wasn't easy to even at that point. So Mt Gambier a regional campus in SE of SA became my campus of TAFE. I orignally went to videoconferences but also did some subjects completely from home. They send a workbook for each subject with basic information and practice questions which you can do only if you want to because they are not marked then there are short answer questions and usually a longer "project" or 2 to complete. Now this study got put on hold for 18 months and I kept in contact with my lecturer she told me once that the course was changing and that if I wanted to complete the current course of which I have about 3 subjects plus a first aid course to complete then I would have to do it by the end of June 2010. Otherwise I would be forced to redo about 14/16 subjects again AND I would have to pay again as well (about $2000AUS) and thats the concessions rate. Anyway so we started discussions about how TAFE would be able to accomodate my numerous disabilities and whether it would be possible in the first semester of 2010 to complete the certificate. I have had contact with an amazing lady who runs senior first aid courses who has offered to do it at my own home with just me and one other person. She has been fantastic and we are hoping to find a way of completing the course the biggest prob is CPR. I have since discovered that TAFE will allow me to have a modified assessment where I am allowed to do the CPR with the manikin on a table which is rather helpful and prob the only way CPR would be possible. TAFE shut down before all this was completely sorted out and my guess is that they will reopen while I am interstate but that being said the plan has been written to make sure that everything in TAFES power is done for me to get my parchment in 6 months time!!!!

Now obviously since I resigned from a support working job and because of my own disabilities I wont be able to shower and dress other people but once I did resign I talked to my lecturer and it was her idea to go to tutti and from there I worked on the idea of teaching viola and violin to PWD and setting up an ensemble to play in together so this is what I will use this certificate for which although not what its usually meant for what people use for is not set in concrete!!!

The only downside is that first aid is compulsory for this certificate but for the new certificate 3 in disability it is a requirement for a job but not part of the actual certificate this would make completing the certificate tons easier and I know with the ensemble I would need "able bodied" support worker or two involved who would have first aid anyway.

Will keep you up to date with progress with TAFE

Viola lessons

For the seven months between July 08 and Feb 09 I was unable to go to viola lessons it was so heartbreaking not being able to play for any length of time during this period let alone go to a viola lesson. So once TAD had built the stand for me (and I returned home from a month of hospitalisation between november 08 and december 24th 08) and school resumed because the lessons ran on school terms I was able to once again return to my viola lessons. This actually presented me with a number of problems. First I had to be able to play for around half an hour (prior to getting sick in July 08 my lessons were longer 45 mins once a week AND I was able to play for much longer than that with breaks if I wanted to), I had to travel about 10km to my teachers house in an access taxi and then return home this way too. I decided that fortnightly was best because at least it was having SOME viola lessons even though if I wasn't as sick I would have preferred once a week. Well probably the hardest thing was dealing with the taxis (and not only to viola lessons) I was once able to jump in the car and drive pretty much as far as I needed to. I mean I went to Brighton once a week and that was a 70 min drive participated in Tutti from 2pm-730pm and then drove home. It was hard but I managed. When I started lessons again a whole year ago now, I had to start using taxis even going to my GP or dentist 3km from my house. This caused SO many problems I mean they dont turn up they come late occasionally they come early too. Since you have to book them well in advance in case they come late if they then come earlier than the booked time you have to wait even longer. But the problem with viola lessons unlike a drs appointment is that it interrupts the students before your lesson and after your lesson which is embarrasing for me and a bit annoying too but theres nothing we can do about it. My teacher has been extroidinarily supportive and kind and also understanding because there's nothing either of us can do.

Despite the difficulties with the taxis once I got there I thoroughly enjoyed my lessons as always and learned quite a few new pieces of music. In July when we went to Hobart for a choral festival at the revue (basically a talent show within the festival) I managed to perform with a pianist who was at the choral festival too two movements from the Eccels viola sonata. This was amazing as it was the first performance I had done since becoming ill in July 08. I also intend to perform in January 2010 at the choral festival in Canberra in a couple weeks.

It has taken a number of months but because of my viola lessons I have been able to get used to using my standing frame that TAD made me. Recently a ball and socket part of the frame has broken and so it is in for repairs as we speak in the hope it will be ready to take to Canberra or it will be fixed when we get back.

Thats all for this post..