Post-op reflections

Happy New Year! Seems a rather fitting welcome for my “new ears”, even though the comment is actually inspired by the noises I heard in my head when I munched on my first post-op Vita Wheat biscuit. (Hard foods are still a 'no go'! When I munch it sounds like firecrackers going off in my head!)

Well I am home from the hospital, and up and about for the moment. Every few hours or so I go and lie down for another nap though.

Surgery went well – I got the thumbs up sign from Dr Briggs, as I lay in my post-op recovery daze. He said all the electrodes test-fired well, both ears, so hopefully that’s a good sign for switch-on.

I’m managing well with a blend of lipreading and written messages, so far. The silence is not as hard as I thought it would be, but then, it’s only Day 2.


If I speak very loudly (possibly yell?) then I kind of hear my voice cutting in and out, so I think there is still some residual hearing on the right. I can hear myself laugh too. It’s more of an internal sound rather than an external one though, hard to explain.

My surgery was at 1:30 pm and I got wheeled back into my room at about 6:00 pm. The first 12 hours after surgery were pretty rough, and I truly believed I was going to be in hospital for days. I had severe reactions to the anaesthetic, pretty much from the minute I woke up in recovery. Wasn’t keeping ice blocks down and was also reaching for the trusty ‘V-Bag’ every time I sat up, or after speaking to somebody. I was having trouble fighting the post-surgery slumber too – all I wanted to do was close my eyes, but various nurses were asking me questions so I was forcing my eyes to stay open so I could lipread or read their whiteboard messages. The pressure bandage was pressing down on my head, also making it hard to read and focus. I laughed at my reflection when I first saw it, later that evening, as my eyebrows were sticking out below it in a permanent frown. What a sight. Here’s a glimpse, courtesy of my husband Jase: 

The nurses at the Mercy were brilliant – it was never too much trouble for them to write something down for me, if I needed them to. They were checking up on me constantly during the night, were never far away. I did sleep, but it was quite interrupted, as is usually the case for a hospital stay. On top of that, my legs were fitted to a DVT preventative machine of some sort, and they kept intermittently vibrating at different times. Bit hard to sleep when your legs are swelling up! What with the white bandages on my head and my legs, I very much felt like a marshmallow person. :-)

At some point during the night, I started to feel a whole lot better. My blood sugar dropped below 4 at one stage, so I had to reach for the jelly babies. The nurses were really great about arranging an early breakfast for me, and I even managed to keep it down.

Not long after that, Dr Briggs arrived and cut the bandage off my head. What a relief. A lot of the pressure around my head disappeared, as did the heat! I felt good enough to get up after that, and didn’t go back to bed. I was discharged from the hospital a few hours later, to my absolute delight!

Taking it very easy at home now, as not all the vomiting has subsided. Breakfast is so far the only meal that’s staying down. Everything tastes metallic, but it’s not as bad as I expected. Toothpaste was the first thing I noticed that tasted different! It still tastes like toothpaste, just without some of its usual zing.

The tinnitus is much the same as it was prior to surgery, though it does get louder sometimes, especially if I’m sleepy.

Some bruising and swelling has shown up today, mainly around the left ear. The right is not causing me any pain, though that’s possibly because it feels numb.

Blood sugar levels are higher than usual, despite the fact that I’m not eating much. I’m keeping a close eye on them and trying to control the numbers as much as possible.

My wonderful husband brought me a bottle of Coke Zero earlier. I normally don’t touch the stuff, but I’m really missing the flavoured foods at the moment since the diabetic dietary foods (eg water and multi-grain bread) really don’t cut it when it comes to masking the metallic taste! I suspect sugary stuff does the trick, so the chemicals in the Coke Zero will have to do for now.

I had a go at playing the piano earlier, in a moment of boredom. Obviously couldn’t hear a thing, but I did feel the floor vibrations coming through from the bass sounds played with the left hand, so that was fun!

I suspect it’s going to be another long night, sleep-wise, as it’s a bit uncomfortable lying down at the moment. There is pressure on the head from all angles – sleeping on my side is impossible, as the ears hurt too much. Sleeping on my back is better, but it still presses down on both the implants themselves, so hurts a little. Looking forward to a couple of day’s time, when I can try sleeping on my side again.

That’s all from me for now, just wanted to post an update. Will hopefully start feeling better over the next week or so, and write more then!