I still had the big Mr Bump bandage on the next day but the surgeon said it could come off later that day. No vertigo when I woke up on the day after. Not had a hangover in 30 odd years but this felt a little like that. Still groggy. Not much energy.
Silence. That's how I can best describe my world at this time. With no option any more to use the hearing aid and my left ear all but dead I have no sound at all except very loud sounds close to my left ear but this is rare. Voices even my own are well below the hearing threshold for me. I reckon something has to be about 90 or 100dB for me to hear it! It has it's uses. Next door had lots of drilling going on apparently.....I wouldn't know! And this is how it's going to be for a few weeks until switch on. But I wouldn't know when switch on will be until the follow up appointment in a week.
Follow up appointment
So a week goes by uneventfully with strength gradually returning. We go to kings cross for the follow up where the doctor takes off the dressing of the wound. Good news. All has gone to plan. No infection etc. the stitches are dissolvable too. He hands me the letter when I ask when switch on will be. There are five dates going well on into January but the first one where they switch me on is......da da da da da da da daaaaaaaaaaa..........Thursday 11th December. Now that is exciting. Only 4 weeks after surgery. There is a second switch on date: Thursday 18th December. So I have a date when the next chapter begins and this bit in the middle between two chapters ends.
While we are there, after the appointment, he sends me for an X-ray.
And I see possibly the coolest photo I've ever seen!
That big disc thing is the implant under the skin behind the ear somewhere. That long wire thing threads through to the cochlear. The end of the wire thing has small dots on it. Those are electrodes. In a normal working ear there are tiny hairs of different lengths that allow you to hear sound at different pitches... High and low. Because my cochlear is damaged...hence the operation, the electrodes kind of take the place of those tiny hairs. Some for high sounds, some middle, some low.
Now my best subjects at school were PE music and maths, not really science so someone else would explain this better but in simple terms, the receiver that will attach on the outside of the ear, will be connected to the internal disc thing in the X-ray. The sound will travel through these two parts along the wire through the cochlear then it becomes an electrical pulse that travels along the auditory nerve to the brain. The brain will then have to make sense of the sounds. Memory plays a bigger part in this. This is why I've been told that despite me having a good chance of being successful with the implant, it is a new way of hearing so it doesn't just happen overnight but will improve over time as the brain gets used to it.
After the excitement of writing the date of switch on on my calendar, it was back to recovery and recuperation. So not really much else to say about it. Christina, the boys, family, friends, work colleagues have all been fantastic in their support and well wishing. Another thing though that has been vital is the support offered by cochlear implant users groups on Facebook and the internet. Great to see so many people offering support from around the world and being able to encourage people who are considering the surgery.
The Lord has a future for me and my family as we journey on this together. Those astute among you will notice that although this is talking about the last 4 weeks it is dated as 11th December. That means that today is switch on!
So we are up to date. Today brings excitement and the next most dramatic stage in the hearing journey of Mr Richard Saunders and family. It's a new chapter. I can't help being excited but also know that I have to keep my expectations realistic! Rome wasn't burnt in a day......but it burned in the end. (Not sure that's a great analogy!).
To the future!
beep beep ....welcome to the collective
ReplyDelete