I see most of you are waiting with abated breath for my blog update :) Sorry for the wee delay, I just got home from Halifax yesterday, and last night, Raymond & I went out for a nice leisurely supper for our anniversary/birthday.
Activation Day - July 29, 2008, wooha... it was a day to remember. I arrived at the NS Hearing & Speech Centre at 1:26 for my 1:30 pm appointment!!! Darn traffic/road construction work in Halifax, so just made it on time! Next time, we will leave little bit earlier!
In the waiting room, I met Kimberly Carter, the CEO of the Nova Scotia Hearing and Speech Foundation - she will be documenting my and Raymond's CI journey. I was happy to have her with us to experience my CI activation.
Heather Maessen, audiologist, greeted us in waiting room and off we go!! Raymond was still "out" there looking for a parking spot, it is a horror to find a spot in Halifax!!! Ugh. So we chatted for a little bit, I was nervous as heck as I was laughing alot, joking too.... sigh. Heather checked out the scar and implant area behind my ear and said I healed really well. She set up the computer getting ready, and Raymond arrived just on time... he parked the truck wayyyyyy over at the VG Hospital, ha!! Good exercise ;)
Heather explained step by step what she was going to do and what will happen. I really appreciated this part because I was stepping into an unknown territory and plus I was a bit nervous too. It was nice to have Raymond and Kim in the room with me, it made it more relaxing for me.
(Oh my, a dump truck just went by and I heard its motor running with a bit of clarity!!)
Heather showed me my new gold/beige processor and headpiece. She checked the magnetic strength of the headpiece on my head and had to change the magnetic to a stronger one. Tried again and it went plunk on the implant. Too cool!! Hooked the processor to the computer and put it on my ear.
(This keyboard is loud as I type!!)
There are four groups she will do and I am to tell her when I hear the first sound and she would gradually increase the sound until I find it loud but comfortable. That was the hard part as how do I know what is "comfortable"??
All 16 electrodes were now up and running. Heather spoke and I was puzzled... she sounded like a cartoon. She said that was normal and to be expected. I hear the words but alot of it is missing. I spoke and freaked out. Spoke again and freaked out again... then I accidently said, "Shit"....it was so shocking on how loud my voice was. Naturally, the mic is not far from my mouth, so it tends to sound louder from there.
Heather, Kim and Raymond all spoke for me so I could get the feel of the sound of their voices. They all sounded like a cartoon/tinny but there was a difference between all three of them, so that was a good beginning. Made some adjustments and then Heather turned on the HiRes Fidelity 120, which added more pitches to the electrodes. HiRes Fidelity 120 delivers on all 3 dimensions of sound for richer sound quality and a more natural hearing experience. I found this clearer than the 16 electrodes alone.
Before I go further, my degree of hearing loss is profound sensorineural hearing loss bilaterally. The audiologists do not describe hearing loss for pure tones in terms of a percentage, just to speech understanding. I had 0% speech understanding with my hearing alone - meaning with your mouth covered, I never understood anything you have said to me but I do hear your voice, that's all. So I am a visual lip-reader.
Heather tried something on me that really BLEW me out of the water!!!! Mind boggling!!!! She covered her mouth to say some words to me and I told her that I couldn't do it. She said for me to try it and she would be saying the days of the week to me and I have to say what she said. So off we go, she covered her mouth and said the words, and I repeated after her NOT knowing if I have them right or not. So kept right on along with her. Get this.... I got 6 out of 8 right!!! Sweet!!! First time in my life to actually understand a few words without lip-reading. I call that a huge accomplishment for me! Raymond was totally flabbergasted, jaw practically on the floor, lol.
Heather advised me that the first two months or so, things will not sound clearly to me, and things will sound distorted for a while. I must have patience and learn to go along with it. Made a few more adjustments and off I go.
The processor now has three settings and I am to try to get to the third setting before I see Heather again. Right now, I am on setting #1 and volume control is at 1 o'clock. Once the volume control increases to 3 or 4 o'clock I am to turn it back to 12 o'clock and turn it to setting #2 and work my way down to 3 or 4 o'clock and so on. Each setting is louder than the other. This is a little bit different than what Raymond did... interesting, but I like it this way as it gives me more control.
Here are a few things I heard for the first time on my first couple of days:
- tapping of the fingers - each one!
- scraping of a case
- my loud voice, ugh....
- blinker of the truck signal light
- clicking of coins together (can you see me doing this, lol!!)
- people sound like cartoons
- truck motor revving
- recognize words with mouth covered
- noise in restaurant - forks, knives on clinking on plates, people's conversation
- in same restaurant - waitress putting glasses away on a shelf in next room (knee wall) and I could hear the click of glasses touching each other, one by one
- my own deep breathing/inhaling
- rain on roof of truck
- clicked a coin on the metal shift stick of truck, then again on Tim Horton's cover, on window, on plastic, on leather console, and could hear the difference in sound of each one... lol...
- while Raymond was driving on the highway going back to Moncton, I complained how loud the truck was and said, "we need to buy a vehicle without a motor!"
- heard music in the background at the restaurant, but not with clarity, but know it is music
- clarity of water tap running
- clarity of piling the plates, ugh!
I go back to see Heather in two weeks for more adjustments and fine tuning. I am to write down the things I don't like, or what I am missing so we could work on these too. I will be seeing the speech pathologist as well, but not sure when that will start - this is to work on my speech/sounds, and provide me homework to do. Fun, eh??
The only thing I don't like it is the cartoon/tinny sounds, no soft sounds yet... this will take a few months. I have hardwood flooring in my house, and as I walk down the hall, it sounds tinny...
Raymond took some pictures, but I have not really looked at them yet so once I do, I will post some of them on here... more likely next week.
Thursday 31 July 2008
Friday 25 July 2008
Question from Cheryl....
Hi Bloggers and CI Users out there:
I have a question for you - after your CI surgery, you were not able to use that ear until activation day, during that period of time, did you experience loud tinnitus??
I am having an incredible amounts of loud ringings in my right ear - I would say about 10 or 20 times an hour - it is awful and it is tiring too.
If you did experience this, does it go away gradually once you were activated?
I would so much LOVE to hear from you CI users! You can post a comment here or send me an email at raymondcheryl72@gmail.com
Thanks!!!
I have a question for you - after your CI surgery, you were not able to use that ear until activation day, during that period of time, did you experience loud tinnitus??
I am having an incredible amounts of loud ringings in my right ear - I would say about 10 or 20 times an hour - it is awful and it is tiring too.
If you did experience this, does it go away gradually once you were activated?
I would so much LOVE to hear from you CI users! You can post a comment here or send me an email at raymondcheryl72@gmail.com
Thanks!!!
Sunday 20 July 2008
Cravings.....
Since my CI surgery on July 3rd, I have been deaf as a post. For the first few days, it was alright not to hear anything as I was not feeling well at times, still recuperating, napped alot, etc.... but now, I am so craving to hear "something", anything at all! I really miss my hearing aid and it does not work for me anymore as my cochlea is now dead, dead, dead.... the implant killed it, murderess it is!! lol...
Had a couple of friends over last evening, and man, it was tiring to read their lips after a few hours. Over in the last couple of days, I learned that I do rely on my hearing in order to lip-read well. Without my hearing, there's more work involved in lip-reading. How interesting is that!? I am just learning this after a life time of lip-reading with my hearing aid :)
I gave away my last three hearing aid batteries to a friend of mine, felt good!
Only 8 days, 23 hours and 28 minutes to go before my big activation day, can hardly wait!!!! Woot!
Had a couple of friends over last evening, and man, it was tiring to read their lips after a few hours. Over in the last couple of days, I learned that I do rely on my hearing in order to lip-read well. Without my hearing, there's more work involved in lip-reading. How interesting is that!? I am just learning this after a life time of lip-reading with my hearing aid :)
I gave away my last three hearing aid batteries to a friend of mine, felt good!
Only 8 days, 23 hours and 28 minutes to go before my big activation day, can hardly wait!!!! Woot!
Thursday 17 July 2008
Cheryl again......
Forgot another thing... once you have had your surgery, don't be alarmed to see your ear "stick" out. Mine is certainly sticking out now, but not much. It will gradually go back to its normal position. This is from them pulling the ear over during surgery so they could insert the implant, etc. Nice thought, eh? :)
It is normal:
* for your operated ear to stick out a bit
* to have slight brusing around your eyes
* to have slight swelling of the face on the operated side
* to have change in taste on the same side of your tongue that your ear was operated
* to have slight numbness of the ear and face on the side of the operation (not paralysis)
I have/had all of them. The bruising around my eyes and behind the ear is slowly disappearing. Swelling has gone down. The top of my ear is still numb and drinks of any kind, such as water, pop, juice, etc., still taste funny to me. All will gradually go away.
It is normal:
* for your operated ear to stick out a bit
* to have slight brusing around your eyes
* to have slight swelling of the face on the operated side
* to have change in taste on the same side of your tongue that your ear was operated
* to have slight numbness of the ear and face on the side of the operation (not paralysis)
I have/had all of them. The bruising around my eyes and behind the ear is slowly disappearing. Swelling has gone down. The top of my ear is still numb and drinks of any kind, such as water, pop, juice, etc., still taste funny to me. All will gradually go away.
Raymond's Update as of July 3, 2008
During my surgery on July 3, 2008, Raymond had an appointment with his audiologist, Cathy, at 1:30 pm, a block over from the hospital. Perfect timing for him.
As mentioned previously, he was not happy about the life span of his processor batteries - they were now lasting 2 to 3 hours since he went for his last mapping in April 2008, quite the drop!
Cathy looked into this and found that the processor was sending too much frequency waves, so she made some adjustments to this. Raymond is very happy with the results now, the batteries now last approximately 12 hours a day. That is the norm :) If Raymond is in a noisy environment, this will drain the battery a little bit but not much, it would last about 8 to 9 hours. Still that is great!
With the mapping adjustments, the sound quality of words are much softer and with much more clarity. Things are alot more clearer now so things are going smoothly now.
So far so good. Raymond has not mentioned to me as of yet when his next appointment would be as I was zonked out in surgery :) I assume in three months, but will let you know later....
Last night, I met up with a friend of mine who has the cochlear implant, she's had it for 9 or 10 years now. And she has mentioned to me there are wonderful exercises on the Advanced Bionics website called the "Listening Room", they have one for children and one for adults:
http://www.bionicear.com/Support_Center/Educational_Support/Therapy_Resources.cfm?langid=1
I have not had the chance to really look at this site yet, because I am deaf as a post until activation day, but so far it looks great. Hope it works for you.... and you bet I will take the advantage of it in August and onward.
As mentioned previously, he was not happy about the life span of his processor batteries - they were now lasting 2 to 3 hours since he went for his last mapping in April 2008, quite the drop!
Cathy looked into this and found that the processor was sending too much frequency waves, so she made some adjustments to this. Raymond is very happy with the results now, the batteries now last approximately 12 hours a day. That is the norm :) If Raymond is in a noisy environment, this will drain the battery a little bit but not much, it would last about 8 to 9 hours. Still that is great!
With the mapping adjustments, the sound quality of words are much softer and with much more clarity. Things are alot more clearer now so things are going smoothly now.
So far so good. Raymond has not mentioned to me as of yet when his next appointment would be as I was zonked out in surgery :) I assume in three months, but will let you know later....
Last night, I met up with a friend of mine who has the cochlear implant, she's had it for 9 or 10 years now. And she has mentioned to me there are wonderful exercises on the Advanced Bionics website called the "Listening Room", they have one for children and one for adults:
http://www.bionicear.com/Support_Center/Educational_Support/Therapy_Resources.cfm?langid=1
I have not had the chance to really look at this site yet, because I am deaf as a post until activation day, but so far it looks great. Hope it works for you.... and you bet I will take the advantage of it in August and onward.
Wednesday 16 July 2008
Cheryl's Surgery...
Sorry for the delay in writing this since my surgery was completed 13 days ago. I know some of you have been waiting for this, so here it goes :) It is a coincidence I have chosen today to start writing my part, the post-op 13th day, and I had 13 staples, ha!
For the first part, I will do a basic outline of what happened step-by-step: good for those who are contemplating to have the surgery or will go for sure one of these days.
July 2, 2008
- packed up our bags and left to go to Halifax, NS. You might be lucky the hospital is in your hometown or a short drive to, but we have to drive 2 1/2 hours to mine. Not bad.
- lots of anticipation going through me, lots of mixed emotions, excitement, etc.... so many feelings all thrown together. Wow....
- listening to everything for the last time with my hearing aid on this day. It is the only "kind" of sounds I know since I was fitted with a hearing aid when I was wee child
- Pre-Admission Clinic at 12:45 pm at the Victoria General Hospital:
* registered
* electrocardiogram: testing of my heart
* recording of my weight, oxygen level, temperature and blood pressure
* Questionnaire - questions like - full health history, what medications are you taking, any allergies you have, past surgeries you had, etc., etc.
* asked if I had any questions, so took this opportunity to ask the nurse a few questions
That was all. Some people may meet the anaesthesiologist if you had past problems with surgery. I didn't need to meet him/her as I had no difficulties with my previous surgery I had 5 years ago. The only warning I gave them was the fact I had breathing difficulties when morphine was administered to me in the past, my breathing became decreased. So they avoided morphine, which was great.
If one has back problems and cannot sleep flat on your back, please ensure you tell them this during the pre-admission testing. I have a herniated lower disk - an old injury and I can't sleep flat on my back. During the operation, they put a pillow under my knees to keep it elevated, and as well as in the recovery room, my hospital bed was elevated at the end. Worked out well and had no back pain at all.
Left the hospital and stayed overnight at friends of ours. Had a great meal, great chat, and hit the sack early. Slept really well, surprisingly. Woke up nice and early. Showered and then hit the road to the hospital for 8:30 am on July 3rd.
No eating from midnight and onwards. I ate last was 8 pm. Took my meds on the following morning with a sip of water, so didn't need to worry about them again until the next day.
July 3, 2008
Arrived at the hospital around 8:10 am. Met the interpreter. I really don't usually get an interpreter but for this day, I decided to get one to ensure there's no misunderstanding at all, and didn't want to make the effort to lip-read different people, so interpreter I got, and best decision of all it was! If you know ASL sign language, it would be a good idea for you to get an interpreter. I left my hearing aid, all my jewellery and even my wedding band at home. Boy, I felt lost without my wedding band but got used to it quickly.
- Registered to let them know I was "present".
- Registered again in another area and met a receptionist who asked me all kinds of questions again, who the referring doctor was, etc., and obtained my benefit contract number to get a private room. This took all of 10 to 15 minutes. Put a name band on my wrist and a red band to show I am allergic to morphine.
- Went down to the "Pre-Op" room.
- Nurse called me to a private area, asked for my name, which ear was being operated on, etc., any allergies, etc... same questions over and over again as I was asked on the previous day. This is for safety to ensure they have the right person, and right place of operation, etc.
- Back to the waiting area again and stayed there until about 12:30 pm, I think. My surgery was delayed as the person in the OR took longer than expected and then they had to sterilize the OR room for me.
- Interpreter and I went up to the pre-op prep room on next floor. This is where Raymond and I parted ways... gave each other two kisses, naturally, lol.
- Got on a bed, and nurse asked me for my name, same questions all over again... annoying, I know.
- Intern doctor with a big long last name, from the Netherlands, came to see me and looked over my chart and marked my right ear with a "x".
- Explained what would happen to me as soon as I go into the OR room.
- Time to go, said goodbye to the interpreter, and rolled me into the OR down the hall
- My first impression of the OR room was, "How cute is this!!! It is so small and cozy!" Lots of machines everywhere, wow!
- Transferred me onto the OR bed.
- Put a pillow under my knees.
- Got myself all nice and cozy. Put a nice warm heated blanket on me as it was cold in that room!
- The anaesthesiologist prepped my left arm for the anaesthesia IV and put in a needle of gravol as well to prevent nausea afterwards. I highly recommend you do do this as it is very effective.
- Put me on the heart monitor.
- Put a mask on me and said I would be ready to sleep very soon. Stupid of me, I wanted to see how LONG I could stay awake with this on me...I fought against it by trying to keep my eyes open. The nurse told me to "breathe" it in, don't fight it... nah.... I breathed and struggled to keep my eyes open at the same time, lol. Powerful stuff, I shall tell you... whiff, whiff.... zonked out.....
Felt like all of 5 minutes later, I was in the recovery room. Amazing!!! I was in recovery room by 4 pm. Woke up in a little bit of pain discomfort, but the nausea was worse. The nurse gave me more gravol, and that cleared it up in no time. As soon as I arrived in the recovery room, apparently I was awake and the doctor spoke to me saying that all went very good. I signed to him over and over, "Thank You, thank you, thank you!!" I have no memory of this.
Interpreter came to be with me during this time. Thank God for her!!!! It was so much easier to read the signing instead of lip-reading as I was so "out" of it, all groggy and drugged up. Doctor came back into the recovery room as the interpreter was there. He said the surgery went very well and everything looks great. The audiologist came into the OR room to test my cochlear implant to see if it was "live" or not before they closed me up and it was excellent. So thanked the doctor again thinking it was my first time to thank him, lol.
Raymond came into see me in the recovery room and told me what the doctor told him, that all went well. He only stayed for a moment. It was nice to see him.
Zonked out again..... and woke up again at 5 pm, feeling like only 5 minutes later. I asked the interpreter what time it was... she said, "It's 5 pm" with a smile. I was so shocked. From here and on out, I stayed awake and became more alert. Took the next half hour chatting with the interpreter, which was great.
At 5:30 pm, they took me down to my room on the ENT floor - private room, yay! Raymond and a close friend of mine were in the room chatting, waiting for me. I smiled at them and chatted with them. They were so shocked on how well I was doing - compared to Raymond's recovery.
Once I was settled, the interpreter's job was over, so bid her farewell. She did an excellent job with us all day. "Thank You!!" - you know who you are :))
Nurse came in to see me to do her usual job - take blood pressure, check oxygen level, and temperature. Gave me painkiller tablets. Put me on oxygen.
Raymond and my two friends stayed until 9 pm. During this time, we had great chats. Raymond called my mother on his cell phone so I got Raymond to give me the cell so I could talk to Mom. I know I have never talked on the phone in my life, but at least she is quiet at the other end listening to me while I talk. I wanted her to hear my voice and for me to tell her that I was doing fine, so talked to her for a few minutes. I told her that I wanted to bring out the wine and celebrate, have a party now! God, that was the drugs and after-effects of the anaesthesia talking, not me!!! Mom had a great laugh over that, sigh.....
Relaxed for a couple of hours, read a couple of magazines and turned out the lights at 11 pm. Before that, I went to the washroom, but with the help of the nurse when I got out of bed for the first time since surgery. They request you to do that, because you don't know what you will be like once you get up, so they have to be with you for the first couple of times for safety reasons. The first time was fine and the nurse said I can get up anytime on my own afterwards. That's good. Took me off oxygen, didn't need it anymore.
You call a hospital a place of rest, NOT!!! They woke me up nearly every hour to do my blood pressure, oxygen level check, and temperature. And about every half hour, or something like that, they shine a flashlight into your room to see if I am okay or not.
July 4, 2008
On the following morning, woke up nice, bright and early. Feeling very good. Had breakfast, gave me my meds, and relaxed for a bit.
A group of doctors and interns came into my room around 7 am, oh, I would say there were about 6 or 7 of them all around me. Can be very intimidating. One asked me a series of questions, like how I was feeling, any pain, any dizziness, any off balance, etc., etc., and then he took the bandage off me to look at my incision. All looks good and then he told me the surgeon, Dr. Morris, will be in to see me later. I will be going home later in the morning.
Raymond arrives around 8:30 am.
Dr. Morris and his intern doctor who assisted him during my surgery, came in at 9 am. Checked the implant/incision and asked me the same series of questions, and gave me home-care instructions - I could shower on July 5th, with a cotton ball slathered with polysporin or Vaseline in my right ear to prevent water from entering the ear canal. Can use shampoo as long as there's no perfume in it, etc., lots of common sense things to do. That was it, I can go home anytime. Gave me Tylenol #3 prescription for pain when needed.
Nurse came in and re-bandaged my head for "support" for my long 2 1/2 hour trip to home. Released at 10 am.
Here's the catch, the Victoria General Hospital does not enforce the strict policy of wheel chairing us out of the hospital, so had to walk myself out, of course, with the assistance of Raymond. I found the openness of the hallway and lobby area threw me off a little bit, made me off balance.
Waited for Raymond in the lobby and picked me up at the door. Off we go back to Moncton. Slept most of the way off and on. Good trip. Glad to be home. Mom and sister came out to see me in the evening - gave me lovely flowers.
Took two Tylenol #3 that night before going to bed, and slept right through the night. I was exhausted. And as well, you should not be alone at home for the first 24 to 48 hours, in case something happens to you.
To make a long story short, the rest of the week of recovery was spent resting alot, relaxing and had lots of naps. I had some pain discomfort in my ear canal, ear drums and outer ear as well. Dizziness and off balance was very minimal and improved over the next few days. Today, July 16th, I still do experience it once in a while, but not as frequent as it was. The worst time is when waking up in the morning, the room is spinning a little bit, but as I wake up more, it gradually stops.
Another thing I am experiencing is tinnitus - which is ringing in the ears. It is terribly loud at times, and it seems to be ever so present when I am doing something, let it be walking, or talking with someone. It is very tiring. I have this all day long until I go to bed.
I have to insert something here, I have to thank someone..... my husband, Raymond. He has been a great help to me all week, he made a great nurse, minus the uniform :) Thank you Raymond!! Love you lots.
July 10, 2008
Back to Halifax again to see Dr. Morris for the post-op check up and staple removal for 2:30 pm. Dr. Morris says everything looks great, so far so good. Removed the staples, and a couple hurt, but other than that, all came off easily. It felt SO good to have the staples off as they were getting tight and itchy. The incision healed really good. Looked inside my ear and saw dried blood behind my ear drum. Dr. Morris says that will eventually fall off and down the tube into my throat, and will spit out blood. Up to today, that still has not happened yet.
Still have to take it easy and he talked about my work, etc., and advised me to be off work until August 18th.
The appointment was like 15 to 20 minutes... that's it. Off I go back to Moncton.
The BIG activation day is July 29th, and can hardly wait for it :))
I am going to post some pictures now, however, I would like to add one more thing. For those who will have the cochlear implant surgery, I suggest for you that once you go home after your surgery, it is a good plan to have a few quiet days afterwards. You need alot of rest and you will be napping alot. Try to keep the visiting times very minimal if people visit you. You need the rest and it is important for you be well rested to make your recovery successful.
And be prepared not to be able to drive for over a week or so. Took me 13 days before I could drive comfortably. It took Raymond 3 weeks before he could drive again.
Here are some pictures:
Staples, 13 of them. See the tiny blue dot on the shaved portion of my head, that is where the implant is.
Voila, staples off!!!
This is actually after the surgery, they only shaved the hair underneath and left the overtop. Wonderful, eh? Hair is thin in this area tho'.
For the first part, I will do a basic outline of what happened step-by-step: good for those who are contemplating to have the surgery or will go for sure one of these days.
July 2, 2008
- packed up our bags and left to go to Halifax, NS. You might be lucky the hospital is in your hometown or a short drive to, but we have to drive 2 1/2 hours to mine. Not bad.
- lots of anticipation going through me, lots of mixed emotions, excitement, etc.... so many feelings all thrown together. Wow....
- listening to everything for the last time with my hearing aid on this day. It is the only "kind" of sounds I know since I was fitted with a hearing aid when I was wee child
- Pre-Admission Clinic at 12:45 pm at the Victoria General Hospital:
* registered
* electrocardiogram: testing of my heart
* recording of my weight, oxygen level, temperature and blood pressure
* Questionnaire - questions like - full health history, what medications are you taking, any allergies you have, past surgeries you had, etc., etc.
* asked if I had any questions, so took this opportunity to ask the nurse a few questions
That was all. Some people may meet the anaesthesiologist if you had past problems with surgery. I didn't need to meet him/her as I had no difficulties with my previous surgery I had 5 years ago. The only warning I gave them was the fact I had breathing difficulties when morphine was administered to me in the past, my breathing became decreased. So they avoided morphine, which was great.
If one has back problems and cannot sleep flat on your back, please ensure you tell them this during the pre-admission testing. I have a herniated lower disk - an old injury and I can't sleep flat on my back. During the operation, they put a pillow under my knees to keep it elevated, and as well as in the recovery room, my hospital bed was elevated at the end. Worked out well and had no back pain at all.
Left the hospital and stayed overnight at friends of ours. Had a great meal, great chat, and hit the sack early. Slept really well, surprisingly. Woke up nice and early. Showered and then hit the road to the hospital for 8:30 am on July 3rd.
No eating from midnight and onwards. I ate last was 8 pm. Took my meds on the following morning with a sip of water, so didn't need to worry about them again until the next day.
July 3, 2008
Arrived at the hospital around 8:10 am. Met the interpreter. I really don't usually get an interpreter but for this day, I decided to get one to ensure there's no misunderstanding at all, and didn't want to make the effort to lip-read different people, so interpreter I got, and best decision of all it was! If you know ASL sign language, it would be a good idea for you to get an interpreter. I left my hearing aid, all my jewellery and even my wedding band at home. Boy, I felt lost without my wedding band but got used to it quickly.
- Registered to let them know I was "present".
- Registered again in another area and met a receptionist who asked me all kinds of questions again, who the referring doctor was, etc., and obtained my benefit contract number to get a private room. This took all of 10 to 15 minutes. Put a name band on my wrist and a red band to show I am allergic to morphine.
- Went down to the "Pre-Op" room.
- Nurse called me to a private area, asked for my name, which ear was being operated on, etc., any allergies, etc... same questions over and over again as I was asked on the previous day. This is for safety to ensure they have the right person, and right place of operation, etc.
- Back to the waiting area again and stayed there until about 12:30 pm, I think. My surgery was delayed as the person in the OR took longer than expected and then they had to sterilize the OR room for me.
- Interpreter and I went up to the pre-op prep room on next floor. This is where Raymond and I parted ways... gave each other two kisses, naturally, lol.
- Got on a bed, and nurse asked me for my name, same questions all over again... annoying, I know.
- Intern doctor with a big long last name, from the Netherlands, came to see me and looked over my chart and marked my right ear with a "x".
- Explained what would happen to me as soon as I go into the OR room.
- Time to go, said goodbye to the interpreter, and rolled me into the OR down the hall
- My first impression of the OR room was, "How cute is this!!! It is so small and cozy!" Lots of machines everywhere, wow!
- Transferred me onto the OR bed.
- Put a pillow under my knees.
- Got myself all nice and cozy. Put a nice warm heated blanket on me as it was cold in that room!
- The anaesthesiologist prepped my left arm for the anaesthesia IV and put in a needle of gravol as well to prevent nausea afterwards. I highly recommend you do do this as it is very effective.
- Put me on the heart monitor.
- Put a mask on me and said I would be ready to sleep very soon. Stupid of me, I wanted to see how LONG I could stay awake with this on me...I fought against it by trying to keep my eyes open. The nurse told me to "breathe" it in, don't fight it... nah.... I breathed and struggled to keep my eyes open at the same time, lol. Powerful stuff, I shall tell you... whiff, whiff.... zonked out.....
Felt like all of 5 minutes later, I was in the recovery room. Amazing!!! I was in recovery room by 4 pm. Woke up in a little bit of pain discomfort, but the nausea was worse. The nurse gave me more gravol, and that cleared it up in no time. As soon as I arrived in the recovery room, apparently I was awake and the doctor spoke to me saying that all went very good. I signed to him over and over, "Thank You, thank you, thank you!!" I have no memory of this.
Interpreter came to be with me during this time. Thank God for her!!!! It was so much easier to read the signing instead of lip-reading as I was so "out" of it, all groggy and drugged up. Doctor came back into the recovery room as the interpreter was there. He said the surgery went very well and everything looks great. The audiologist came into the OR room to test my cochlear implant to see if it was "live" or not before they closed me up and it was excellent. So thanked the doctor again thinking it was my first time to thank him, lol.
Raymond came into see me in the recovery room and told me what the doctor told him, that all went well. He only stayed for a moment. It was nice to see him.
Zonked out again..... and woke up again at 5 pm, feeling like only 5 minutes later. I asked the interpreter what time it was... she said, "It's 5 pm" with a smile. I was so shocked. From here and on out, I stayed awake and became more alert. Took the next half hour chatting with the interpreter, which was great.
At 5:30 pm, they took me down to my room on the ENT floor - private room, yay! Raymond and a close friend of mine were in the room chatting, waiting for me. I smiled at them and chatted with them. They were so shocked on how well I was doing - compared to Raymond's recovery.
Once I was settled, the interpreter's job was over, so bid her farewell. She did an excellent job with us all day. "Thank You!!" - you know who you are :))
Nurse came in to see me to do her usual job - take blood pressure, check oxygen level, and temperature. Gave me painkiller tablets. Put me on oxygen.
Raymond and my two friends stayed until 9 pm. During this time, we had great chats. Raymond called my mother on his cell phone so I got Raymond to give me the cell so I could talk to Mom. I know I have never talked on the phone in my life, but at least she is quiet at the other end listening to me while I talk. I wanted her to hear my voice and for me to tell her that I was doing fine, so talked to her for a few minutes. I told her that I wanted to bring out the wine and celebrate, have a party now! God, that was the drugs and after-effects of the anaesthesia talking, not me!!! Mom had a great laugh over that, sigh.....
Relaxed for a couple of hours, read a couple of magazines and turned out the lights at 11 pm. Before that, I went to the washroom, but with the help of the nurse when I got out of bed for the first time since surgery. They request you to do that, because you don't know what you will be like once you get up, so they have to be with you for the first couple of times for safety reasons. The first time was fine and the nurse said I can get up anytime on my own afterwards. That's good. Took me off oxygen, didn't need it anymore.
You call a hospital a place of rest, NOT!!! They woke me up nearly every hour to do my blood pressure, oxygen level check, and temperature. And about every half hour, or something like that, they shine a flashlight into your room to see if I am okay or not.
July 4, 2008
On the following morning, woke up nice, bright and early. Feeling very good. Had breakfast, gave me my meds, and relaxed for a bit.
A group of doctors and interns came into my room around 7 am, oh, I would say there were about 6 or 7 of them all around me. Can be very intimidating. One asked me a series of questions, like how I was feeling, any pain, any dizziness, any off balance, etc., etc., and then he took the bandage off me to look at my incision. All looks good and then he told me the surgeon, Dr. Morris, will be in to see me later. I will be going home later in the morning.
Raymond arrives around 8:30 am.
Dr. Morris and his intern doctor who assisted him during my surgery, came in at 9 am. Checked the implant/incision and asked me the same series of questions, and gave me home-care instructions - I could shower on July 5th, with a cotton ball slathered with polysporin or Vaseline in my right ear to prevent water from entering the ear canal. Can use shampoo as long as there's no perfume in it, etc., lots of common sense things to do. That was it, I can go home anytime. Gave me Tylenol #3 prescription for pain when needed.
Nurse came in and re-bandaged my head for "support" for my long 2 1/2 hour trip to home. Released at 10 am.
Here's the catch, the Victoria General Hospital does not enforce the strict policy of wheel chairing us out of the hospital, so had to walk myself out, of course, with the assistance of Raymond. I found the openness of the hallway and lobby area threw me off a little bit, made me off balance.
Waited for Raymond in the lobby and picked me up at the door. Off we go back to Moncton. Slept most of the way off and on. Good trip. Glad to be home. Mom and sister came out to see me in the evening - gave me lovely flowers.
Took two Tylenol #3 that night before going to bed, and slept right through the night. I was exhausted. And as well, you should not be alone at home for the first 24 to 48 hours, in case something happens to you.
To make a long story short, the rest of the week of recovery was spent resting alot, relaxing and had lots of naps. I had some pain discomfort in my ear canal, ear drums and outer ear as well. Dizziness and off balance was very minimal and improved over the next few days. Today, July 16th, I still do experience it once in a while, but not as frequent as it was. The worst time is when waking up in the morning, the room is spinning a little bit, but as I wake up more, it gradually stops.
Another thing I am experiencing is tinnitus - which is ringing in the ears. It is terribly loud at times, and it seems to be ever so present when I am doing something, let it be walking, or talking with someone. It is very tiring. I have this all day long until I go to bed.
I have to insert something here, I have to thank someone..... my husband, Raymond. He has been a great help to me all week, he made a great nurse, minus the uniform :) Thank you Raymond!! Love you lots.
July 10, 2008
Back to Halifax again to see Dr. Morris for the post-op check up and staple removal for 2:30 pm. Dr. Morris says everything looks great, so far so good. Removed the staples, and a couple hurt, but other than that, all came off easily. It felt SO good to have the staples off as they were getting tight and itchy. The incision healed really good. Looked inside my ear and saw dried blood behind my ear drum. Dr. Morris says that will eventually fall off and down the tube into my throat, and will spit out blood. Up to today, that still has not happened yet.
Still have to take it easy and he talked about my work, etc., and advised me to be off work until August 18th.
The appointment was like 15 to 20 minutes... that's it. Off I go back to Moncton.
The BIG activation day is July 29th, and can hardly wait for it :))
I am going to post some pictures now, however, I would like to add one more thing. For those who will have the cochlear implant surgery, I suggest for you that once you go home after your surgery, it is a good plan to have a few quiet days afterwards. You need alot of rest and you will be napping alot. Try to keep the visiting times very minimal if people visit you. You need the rest and it is important for you be well rested to make your recovery successful.
And be prepared not to be able to drive for over a week or so. Took me 13 days before I could drive comfortably. It took Raymond 3 weeks before he could drive again.
Here are some pictures:
This is the eve of my surgery.
Raymond and I.....
Chatting with Raymond and a couple of friends of mine....
Staples, 13 of them. See the tiny blue dot on the shaved portion of my head, that is where the implant is.
Voila, staples off!!!
This is actually after the surgery, they only shaved the hair underneath and left the overtop. Wonderful, eh? Hair is thin in this area tho'.
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