Just a short while ago, I was asked, as a fairly regularly functioning 'HearPeer' for Med-El if I'd be up for being filmed for a promotional video for them. In Innsbruck (their HQ), fares and accommodation covered. Well, hold me back!
What's a HearPeer you ask? Well, as a Med-El cochlear implant recipient, I make myself available for other candidates with questions about the whole road to getting one - whatever questions they may have about it all, be it 'What the heck is it?' to 'Does the operation hurt?' and 'What does it sound like?' and anything in between. It costs me minimal time and/or effort and can be fun too. Sometimes I attend 'Teams' video conferences and every so often a 'live' meeting/coffee time in Utrecht. This blog page is not called my BLETHERS for nothing. I also feel it is nice to pay back a little for being given my hearing back!
Anyway, I've now been to the lovely Innsbruck and met loads of other CI recipients/HearPeers from almost all the continents of the world. There was Jason from Wisconsin, USA, Kylie from Perth, Australia, and Vishal from near Mumbai, India - there with his lovely son who is the CI wearer. Then Sylvia from Italy, Lynn from England with her daughter Freya who is the recipient, and little old me from Scotland, representing The Netherlands. Everyone spoke English of course, including Sylvia, and all Med-El folks (some to an astonishing degree!) Lynn even said 'Oh you're all so exotic, and here's us just from England'. Me, exotic!
What a terrific bunch of folks they were, though. I honestly feel I made lots of new friends. There was no awkwardness, everyone was just lovely - of course the oldest there was ages with my own daughters! - and while we'd all had our own path to get there, we all wore CIs and I'm not often in company with other Rondo wearers. Most seemed loads more involved with Med-El than I feel I am, but ach, they're younger and all still active and studying and generally working.
The people from Med-El offices were astonishingly friendly and made us all feel very welcome. Our accommodation was delightful and everything was brilliantly organised. Can't thank everyone enough, they went above and beyond and had very long days with us all!
My group, with Jason and Kylie, didn't film until the Tuesday so, having arrived on the Sunday morning early, I was to have the whole Monday off.
Innsbruck is small so, on the plane landing at 08:25 on Sunday, I was already checking into the hotel at 08:45! Room wasn't ready... oh, and I'd so hoped it might be as I was dead on my feet having left the house at 04:30 and had barely slept. Having since met people coming from much further afield, I'm embarrassed at my 'tiredness'. Still, nothing daunted, I walked the 15 minutes into town and amused myself in the odd museum or two only just opened (it was Sunday after all), until about 12:00. How good am I? I did rather wonder what I was going to do the rest of the week though. It's not a huge place! After a lovely dinner in the hotel, and meeting everyone, including the Italian film crew, I knew this was going to be a nice gig. And it really was.
Monday, we were given a tour of Med-El HQ... a huge complex of 14 separate buildings just five minutes walk from the hotel. These state-of-the-art offices, laboratories and training facilities are pretty amazing and it was just great to watch them through the glass of the 'clean rooms' putting each individual implant together, piece by piece, all by hand. Uber-interesting and very informative by an American girl... Sandra, I think. We didn't meet one person that didn't wave or smile or shake our hands the whole trip. Monday afternoon was free after a lovely lunch out together, just our group (the others were filming). We three then headed into town for 'the Golden Roof' museum which was slightly underwhelming but nice for a photo or ten. I left the other two there as I was all through it and back again before they'd finished with the first exhibit, haha. I went to the zoo, which was up the mountain a little ways, via the funicular. After walking all around there and seeing everything Alpine Zoo related (in beside the vultures included! - was pretty cool) I walked back down the mountain in the sunshine that was really trying hard to get through the clouds. No jacket and no rain, so was good, and I got some terrific views across the valley. The mountains are just stunning when they're not hidden by cloud!
I was still stuffed from lunch so held off until I'd walked all the way back into town and only had chips and a well-earned Radner (like a shandy, which was surprisingly thirst-quenching and not disgustingly beery as I'd thought it might be), before walking back to the hotel. I got changed and came down to the bar but either I'd missed everyone, or no one had come so I ended up taking my next shandy up to the room. Didn't want to be sitting at the bar on my own, looking like I was after a man or something ;).
Kylie had an early start filming in the Muziekhal in town, but Jason and I didn't need to be there until 11:30 so we met after breakfast at 10:45 and got the bus there where we joined the crew awaiting us. We needed film makeup, which was really nice to have applied even if I was scared I'd look a bit 'mouton'. Turned out I looked ok, have to say! It was fun to see Jason getting it all done too - a very novel experience for your average man - never mind me!
We joined Kylie in the music room where we two had to walk naturally across to the piano where she sat playing as they filmed us. There to lean on the piano and just look like we were enjoying her playing. There was no acting involved and I can walk, I can, but suddenly I had no idea what to do with my arms! How do I hold my head, is my stomach tucked in enough! So weird! After a few 'takes' (hysterical hearing the 'camera, camera set, ACTION!' every time), they said we were naturals haha.
We all had a lovely lunch together in the Muziekhal restaurant where we were joined by more super-friendly Med-El staff and they all had to wait on me finishing my starter before the mains were brought! Seriously, they all go above and beyond! After lunch, they set up a 'scene' in a lounge area where Caroline (moi) was to be partaking of a cup of tea and looking out the window at the sun (it was pouring rain)... hey, maybe I was acting after all haha. The makeup girl kept straightening me up and touching up the makeup... hysterical. Then there were close-ups of my hands around my cup - so thankful my nails weren't too bad as had just had them done last Scotland trip. I hope they don't look like old lady hands! Everyone in the extensive crew was really patient and kind and cheerful.
Jason's gig was to walk up and down the stairs looking around, which he had to do several times too. Kylie had finished her playing earlier. I left and walked about some more I think... can't really remember, but we were to meet next morning at 08:45 for voice-over recordings until about 15:00. There was a lot of waiting around but we were also entertained by a visit to the surgeon's training lab. Really very interesting. I tried on the microscope headset used to perform operations, and we were shown the new robotic surgeon that is almost as fast and more accurate than a live surgeon. Peter who showed us around could not have been more accommodating.
The recording was fun to do (if horrendous, hearing yourself talk back) and included a filmed interview of each of us individually too. I'm curious to see the end result of it all! Hilarity ensued at one point when I entered the lunch room after my interview. Everyone was already there and see here, a huge framed photo of... me! from Vienna. Coincidentally leaning on a piano too, haha. Glad I hadn't worn the same top! Joke from NL's portrait was there too, as was one portrait of Vishal's handsome little son who also wears the Rondo2, the same as me.
Then we were free until 18:30 when we'd to meet for dinner in town together. James was arriving just around the time we finished so I went back to the hotel and found him at the bar already. We settled him into the room then took a short walk along the river and back nicely in time to get changed before meeting everyone.
Dinner was in a 'traditional' restaurant, with all of us together, plus Verena (who was chief organiser of everything - great job Verena!) Alex and Marina, both of whom stood by us the whole time - kudos! Also, Leigh who took the recordings, and two others I'm sure will forgive me for forgetting their names. Each and every one of them, total stars. Actually, Lynn and Freya weren't there... their flight home to England had been cancelled and although they then stayed another night, they didn't join us as Freya was too tired. I can imagine. She got another day off school though, so there's that.
Marina then took us all to a rooftop bar, just for the views, before leaving us at the right bus stop to take us 'home' to the hotel where we all said our goodbyes (again).
James and I still had three nights in a lovely village just up the mountain (with stunning views and surroundings, once the clouds dissipated) and only 15 minutes on the bus from the station, which was only 10 minutes from the hotel (Innsbruck really is small and very walkable... when you stay on the flat). Our first day, we checked out the Med-El Audioversum (Science Museum- freely accessible as Med-el had arranged it) which was great fun too. James even inserted electrodes into a cochlea, like a pro, first time. He's hired!
We had a terrific time exploring around Aldrans, in beautiful woodland and around a couple of mountain lakes, then on another day took a bus run to other places and didn't get rained on after all. We left on Sunday morning early and were home around lunchtime on the sunniest day of them all - it has since been very warm there - and here too actually. It was strange to be so surrounded by huge, snow-topped mountains at such close proximity. Literally, all around. James didn't get much of an impression of the heights until his 3rd day there and it really is gob-smacking to realise they've been there all along, just hidden by cloud. It's a really beautiful setting. There were to be only five flights on the day we left and ours was the first one, so only one planeload of folks in the whole airport with its one shop.
Thanks again to everyone at Med-El for a lovely, interesting, and fun-filled time. The goodie bag of mini-umbrella and metal thermos flask (and HearPeer badges!) was also much appreciated. I hope to see you all again sometime. Remember I volunteered for the live patient, robot op! As well as first in line for fully implantable CI! You promised!
Photos are on Facebook on my page here: Innsbruck for Med-El
Here are the finished films that I participated in. I love them!
