Tatjana – the first Russian Nucleus recipient relies on her CI since 1991

(Photo: Monika meeting Tatjana 27 years after implantation)

Tatjana – the first Russian Nucleus recipient relies on her CI since 1991

The tiny lady in her green dress standing in front of this beautiful orthodox church on Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt (Hessen, Germany) must be Tatjana. I can hardly believe that 27 years passed by since we first met in Moscow.

She was chosen by Prof. George Tavartkiladze, head of the National Institute of Audiology and Hearing Rehabilitation to become the first female candidate to receive a Nucleus Cochlear Implant system.  She was extremely lucky – Prof. Ernst Lehnhardt performed the surgery.

And she was extremely shy.  She had lost her hearing suddenly at the age of 6 years on her birthday after having attended a concert.  Nobody could explain why it happened and nobody could help her.

She waited for 12 years until the miracle happened for her.

Was it now, that the second miracle would happen?

At this moment I was probably as shy as she was, and it took a few moments until we both started to speak. She in German and I in Russian.

And then she told me her story.  After the implantation she started to study German – language, literature and history – at the University in Moscow and she graduated successfully.  She also specialized in embroidering ecclesiastical motives for the orthodox church and became director of a school teaching this exceptional art.

She got married, has a son and lost her husband.  He died from a stroke.  She worked hard in several churches to support her child and she taught German to multiple handicapped children.

When she received the invitation from the Maria Magdalena orthodox church a dream came true.  She more than gladly accepted because she wanted to visit the country, whose language, literature and history she has studied.  And she was and still is waiting for help.

When we met in Darmstadt in August she still wore a very old speech processor.  She got “upgraded” from the third generation to the fourth, i.e. Freedom in Moscow in the year 2015.  This was ten years after this model had been introduced in Western Europe.  A new upgrade to Nucleus 6 in the frame of the governmentally funded programme will not be possible in Russia until 2020.

The latest model, Nucleus 7 is not even registered yet.

We wanted to help spontaneously and got a donation Nucleus 6 refurbished for her.

We contacted the CIC in Friedberg, Hessen and Yvonne Seebens (director of this excellent rehabilitation centre) agreed also spontaneously to do the fitting for Tatjana.  We spent three hours with her undergoing various tests, programming the SP and talking about next possible steps.

The N 22 implant, which Tatjana got in 1991, is “at its limits” and even the latest speech processor model (Nucleus 7) would not bring the desirable benefit.  A re-implantation should be considered.

Tatjana has to get used to her “new hearing” and so she needs to stay in Germany for a couple of months in order to check progress and to adjust the programme.  This is why we now are in the process of prolonging her visa.

We already discussed a potential re-implantation with Prof. Roland Laszig (director of the ENT University Clinic in Freiburg).  He cautioned us and explained the risks connected with such a “revision” surgery.  There is no guarantee that the implant can be removed and there is no guarantee that the new model implant will provide better results.

Should Tatjana – fully aware of this situation – decide to go for re-implantation we will try to raise the necessary funds.

In any case we will help her to stay in Germany as long as she wants, and we are looking for people who are willing to support this wonderful lady.

September 2018