One Week Post-Surgery

Meet the newest addition to our family - Koki.  Okay, I know it's a little odd for a middle-aged woman to leave the hospital with a stuffed Koala Bear, especially one with fake cochlear implants, but my surgeon is a pediatric doctor who happens to also perform cochlear implant surgeries for adults as well.  So I went along with it when I was handed the little koala on my wheelchair ride out of the hospital.  You may be wondering why a koala bear.  My device is made by Cochlear America, which is headquartered in Australia.  So there you go.

I'm one week out from surgery and I can tell I am healing because it doesn't hurt to wear my glasses anymore.  That is a big relief since I'm getting old now and need reading glasses.  I still have a weird metallic-type taste on the left side of my tongue.  It makes salty food taste even saltier, kind of making salty chips yucky right now.  I still have a bruise near my left eyebrow and on the top of my left shoulder.  I also have a small sore spot on my forehead, like a small knot.  My jaw is also sore so I'm staying away from hard-to-chew foods. I don't know what the doctor did to me during surgery, but maybe it's best not to know?  

I was implanted with Cochlear America's CI 422 Slim Straight array, which was designed to leave residual hearing.  The other day I was patting my face dry after washing it and when I got close to my left ear I heard a high-pitched sound in that ear.  I take this as a positive sign that some of my hearing remains intact.  This is encouraging, but I won't know for sure until I have my hearing tested in that ear before the CI is activated.  

Yesterday I washed 3/4 of my hair for the first time since surgery.  Boy, was that a relief!  I thought I was going to lose my mind from having matted hair and an itchy scalp.  Today I left the house for the first time too.  And just when you thought my life couldn't get any more exciting (insert sarcastic laugh), I had an interesting experience driving home from the store.  I rolled the windows down because it was such a beautiful day.  Okay, that's not entirely true.  Yes, it was a beautiful day, but the real truth was I had a hot flash.  But, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise because by driving with the windows rolled down I discovered a bonus to having a cochlear implant -- no ear pressure.  Before my surgery I couldn't roll both front windows down in my car because the pressure would make them hurt.  Not to mention would render me unable to hear anything other than the excruciating sound of what felt like a tornado whipping in one ear and out the other.  So driving with the windows rolled down is a bonus perk!  Kinda like finding bonus fries at the bottom of your fast-food sack (Jim Gaffigan fans will know my reference here!)