Reporting from the same darn recliner in my living room.
It has been five days since they did the old buzz cut and my hair is already starting to grow. I heard from the grapevine that pre-natal vitamins helps hair grow at an amazing rate. I wonder...
Reporting live from my micro fiber plush recliner located in the living room filled with sunshine from the northwest.
This is an official CI news update.
I have the tendency to nod off several times a day, which I contribute to the Percocet. I have taken steps to reduce the Percocet from two tablets every 4 hours to one every 4 hours. Tomorrow, I am going to start taking plan old Tylenol. Boring, I know.
I religiously clean the incision with Hydrogen Peroxide and apply Polysporin twice a day. My mom noticed that there is a small patch of redness at the end of the incision but no sign of infection or discharge. We put a call in to the doctor just to double check that there is no reason to sound the alarms. My hair is looking downright ridiculous.
It is hard to describe the “pain” in my ear. It feels like a headache behind my ear. If I bend over, yawn, swallow or hiccup, it begins to feel full. If I straighten up or lay down, the fullness sensation goes away. I have started to feel little fluttering sensations around my stitches. My little nerve guys are beginning to wake up ☺ I wish they would wake up in the top of my ear though because it feels heavy.
My neck has loosed up some since I used an ice pack and the results are simply delightful. It no longer feels like I slept the wrong way. In exchange for that delightful feeling, I can see the god-awful ugly bruising around my eye, neck, ear, and incisions. When the pain medication wears off, I tend to stiffen up. I would say today has been the most uncomfortable day so far. The left side of my face is just very sore.
My spirits are high and I feel energetic. I am being forced to suppress this happy feeling because I don’t want to hear a certain shrilling voice, “ABBIE! You need to rest!” Sigh. I’m forced to do simple activities like watch the boob tube, eat chocolate covered strawberries and play with my little puppy. Watching TV is getting exhausting because the batteries in the remote control are going and it burns a few extra calories then what I want to getting to the channel I want to watch. I just ate the last of the strawberries. My puppy requires constant attention. My puppy pounces up on me with a ball and uses her entire head to roll it to me to engage in a game of play. While she is in her play stance, I grab the ball and throw it within a 6-foot range. This goes on for several minutes before she gets tired and resumes her beauty sleep. Then I resume mine.
Since the good doctor killed the tinnitus in my left ear, sounds are coming through much clearer in my right ear. For example, my mother is making dinner and she is creating such a racket with banging pots and pans. I had to turn around and ask her are you always this noisy making dinner?! After I said that, I realized how long it has been since I have not heard banging pots and pans and immediately told my mother to bang away. I was grateful for hearing it.
That concludes our report, good night and good luck ☺
Being bionic is rough work. I am exhausted with lounging around on the recliner all day long. I spent last night wrapped in that sadistic headband with bows that kept slipping down over my left eye. I felt like a pirate all throughout the night. I woke up every four hours to take my perkies because my incision was sore. I missed the moon eclipse by 10 minutes! DOH!
I remained stationary for most of the day. I took pressure bandage off around noon and continued to pop my perkies. I felt free from the evil grips of those gauze bows. The doctor did not shave much hair off. My mom said the stitches are very fine, resembles a very good plastic surgeon handiwork. The left side of my neck is stiff and beginning to develop bruises. I have to use hydrogen peroxide to keep it scab free and Polysporin twice a day. I discovered a couple little cuts on my lips from the breathing tube. I spent most of the day drifting in and out of sleep watching TV and emailing back and forth. The highlight of my day was I just drove down the street to go get my mail.
Darn gone it folks, I went bionic! Here is the recap.
7:30am - My famished self and the rest of the clan arrived at the hospital. I got myself checked in and signed a few papers so the hospital can get paid. The infamous bracelet got slapped on the wrist and I was sent on my merry little way to prep.
8:30am - I got into prep and got changed into my stylish cotton gown and little blue booties. I warned the OR nurse that she had only ONE shot of getting that IV in me and that was it. She did not get it in on her one and only chance and happily obliged by my wishes. Whew! The last time I had surgery, it took the nurse six times until she finally gave up and handed it off to another nurse who knew what she was doing and got the IV in. All the while, I was passing out, sweating, and seeing stars. They gave me the oxygen mask and all was made right. I refuse to go through that again.
9:00 to 10:30am - My spirits were high. I was cracking jokes because my mom and my dear friend Philly and George were upset. The anesthesiologist and an attending doctor came to visit and introduced themselves. While I was trying to bribe them with some home made cookies to convince the mean doctor not to shave my hair, they were going over a few things with me. One of the doctors asked my mother if she and my good friend Philly, who is around the same age as my mom were all related. This is classic. My mother so innocently replied, "We are both her moms." The look on the doctors' face confirmed that they thought my mom meant that I was the pride and joy of a domestic partnership. We all had a gay ol' time laughing at that!
10:30am - I was left alone until the good doctor came to visit me. He asked me if I was ready to roll. After nodding affirmatively, I began to bat my baby blue eyes, and begged him not to shave my hair. He did not fall for it. I pouted the whole way being rolled to the OR. Meany!!
11:00am - With the red carpet rolled out, I arrived at my destination, the OR room! The realization still has not sunk in I was going bionic. It was not until the anesthesiologist put the mask on my face to put me to sleep that I realized, pardon my French, "Oh shit, I don't want to do this, stop!" *snoring* I was officially checked in at the pillow department of the Cochlear Implant factory and there was nothing I could do about it. Resistance was futile.
2:45pm - I woke up very groggy but not nauseous. I immediately took notice that there was no tinnitus in my left ear, no sore throat, no dizziness and little pain in my left ear. Hot damn, this is great! I got some water and started waking up little by little. My mother and Philly came to visit me. They commented on my cute little headband, little did I know they put made bows out of the gauze where my "horns" would normally be. Sick joke. The good doctor told me them that they had a little trouble getting the last electrode in but finally got it inserted. I got some water, Jell-O and gray chocolate pudding! Gordon Ramsay would have been all over that chocolate pudding, it was disgusting. I do not suffer from that metallic taste side effect as you will see later on in this post.
6:00pm - I arrived home after getting my perkies and sat my tushy in my recliner and ate some more :) There isn't a darn thing wrong with my appetite. I knocked out for a few and then woke up to blog and answer some texts. I made myself some little english muffin pizzas, had some strawberries, and had a sugar free Popsicle (girl has to watch her figure after all, LOL).
Thank you for all your prayers and support :)
I'm off to join the collective, the most wonderful collective of all!!!
I don't think I am going to have a problem sleeping tonight. I was like a crazy pregnant woman diagnosed with nesting syndrome today. This is what I have accomplished since since 7:00 this morning.
I'm pooped.
P.S. Thank you all for your kind words, thoughts, and prayers.
I believe last year around this time I was hiking at about 1,100 feet in the Appalachian Mountains. I distinctly remember discovering this massive clearing full of wild flowers and exotic looking butterflies flitting all over the flora. Beyond the wild garden was the steepest valley covered with the dark green trees tops. It was the perfect backdrop to the organic activity in the garden. The valley was illuminated by bright clear blue sky with the afternoon sun beaming above. The moment was perfect, almost phantasmagoric. One I could never forget because yours truly who is normally a camera happy citizen was so overwhelmed I forgot to put down my bear mace down to snap a flick. Doh!
365 days later, I opted not to become one with nature, but with technology. I am shacking up in the lovely achromatic operating room held at knife point by the man in white. The good doctor will wriggle the implant deep into the very bowels of my inner ear. Once in, reinforcements are called in to make sure everything is up to par. Then he will do some fancy blanket stitch to prevent everything that I got up there from oozing out. Instead of discovering plants, I'm the one getting planted. On the bright side, I won't need fertilizer.
All of this will be starting at my arrival at 8:15 Monday morning. Something tells me I am not going to bright eyed and bushy tailed for this venue.
Tomorrow between the hours of 3 to 6pm EST is when I receive confirmation on what time they want my freshly shampooed head at the hospital on Monday. Oddly enough, I am like the sponge of useless knowledge and yet I cannot soak up the fact that they are going to be drilling a hole in my head and putting this contraption in my ear. I spend my free time reading about others going through their candidacy process, surgery, activations and their new hearing moments. As a result, I am so amazed with how they are making out that I put myself on the back burner.
It is all so surreal to me, like tye-dye pigs with rhinestone collars soaring through the air.
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