Operation ....

16^th November.

Well. I guess I have a lot of updating to do LOL! Not sure what happened – life and craziness! Not long after the last entry I went to do my first ever powerlifting competition! I almost pulled out a few times as I was nervous about going somewhere with lots of unfamiliar people etc, but went cos I got to stay with my best buddy from school. We had very similar hearing levels at school and through life until she had some problems with her ears which meant she couldn't wear her hearing aids anymore.

She had an implant 2 years ago and is doing fantastically. She was lucky and had a rockstar activation. At the event she was interpreting for me – including a woman speaking into a microphone at the front of the room!! What a turn around and it certainly gives me hope for when I have mine switched on. I have another friend from school who had similar hearing levels. She is having her operation on the 20^th November, so we will be running parallel to some extent. She is also have AB so it will be nice to compare notes.

Anyway, I have had the operation!! We left here on Saturday and got a ferry to town for the night in order to be able to catch the 4pm flight to Edinburgh on Sunday. We arrived at our “posh hotel in Edinburgh on Sunday and had a quick swim and sauna and then went for dinner in the Indian restaurant we had been to when we stayed for my graduation J Had a lovely dinner and I ate so much all we could do was go back to the hotel and sleep !! Monday we spent the day wandering around Edinburgh. I wanted to go to a Vodafone store and get a cheap phone and a suresignal. We have no mobile signal at home on any network and I wanted to take the chance to be able to get text messages sorted. We had lunch at a chineese buffet which was nice but a little tricky as nothing was labelled so it was hard (i.e impossible!) to know what was vegetarian and what was something you would not want to eat in a month of Sundays!

We then headed out to the ocean terminal as hubby was taking the opportunity to get some glasses from vision express so I had some tea and cake while I waited. Back to the hotel and another swim and sauna (I could so do with one of those at home!) and then we wandered back out and stopped at a Greek restaurant for a yummy 5 meze platter for tea.

Tuesday we set off for Kilmarnock on the train, arriving around 12. I was due to book onto the ward at 1.30 for pre-op so we went to the accommodation and waited for a bit, then to the canteen for a dubious sandwich and then finally to the ward.

When we got there they said to come back at 3(!) so we went back to the house to wait again! At 3 we went back to the ward and they did pre-op – a very long questionnaire, blood pressure, pulse, temperature, weight and fitted for compression stockings.

I then had to go down to the cochlear implant centre where they went through a load of information leaflets for me to take away and read and did another hearing test! Despite my last one being only 2 months ago – I still kept thinking they might say “oh no, we made a mistake, no implant for you” but they didn't!! After that back to the ward to wait for the surgeon to come. He arrived and looked in my ear, drew a big arrow on the left side pointing to the ear and ran through any questions and got me to sign consent form. He told me I could wash hair after 48 hours and could start powerlifting again as soon as I felt up to it.

I’d arranged to stay in the cochlear implant house that night, so we stopped at the canteen for some chips and got some snacks for later. I was to be nil by mouth from midnight and I was the only patient for Mr Wardrop so in theatre for 9.30 a..m J

So we spent the night waiting again – we had taken some dvd's to watch so that helped pass the time. Bed around 10.30.

The next morning I had to be on the day surgery ward for 8am so I got up at 7.15 to have the shower I was supposed to have and wash my hair and then we walked over.

They were very good on the day surgery, put me in a teenager’s room so Stephen could be with me up until the time I went through, and he helped make sure I understood everything. They asked another load of question – including did I have dentures(!) and so did the anaesthetist. Finally at 9.15 it as time to go through!! I was in the lovely stockings, a gown and a dressing gown. Thankfully because I had cotton knickers rather than nylon I was allowed to keep my own instead of paper ones! I had been the toilet literally 20+ times in the 70 mins I was there – I was petrified I would need the toilet in the operation and wet myself!!

Anyway I said goodbye and we walked to the prep room off the theatre. There I took off the dressing gown, they undid the back of the gown and I got onto the comfiest bed ever! They put a blanket over me, stuck some things on for the heart monitor and the anaesthetist put the cannula in. He said “you will be asleep in 60 seconds” and injected two syringes and the next thing I knew I was on the day surgery ward!

I have a vague memory of being part awake and having my blood pressure taken and falling asleep again, but its not very clear. Stephen arrived which is what woke me up, and I was surprised to be feeling a bit more alert. I asked for the time and it was 2pm!!! I later found out the operation took around 2 hours so I had obviously been on the ward for a while but they hadn't told Stephen. It must have been an awful wait for him not knowing what was going on. He came to day surgery at 12 and someone told him I had gone to the ward, so he went all the way up the 5^th floor and they sent him back down again. There was no room on the ward so I was to be kept in day surgery overnight.

I sat up a bit, had some tea and toast and made it to the toilet and didn't feel too bad. My head felt like someone was squeezing it with tongs to lift me up, with it digging in the left side more. I had some painkillers and decided I would just keep taking them – no point being  hero! I'm a wimp with pain anyway – especially headaches!

Normally there are no visitors on the ward until 7.30 at visiting hours, they were going to ask Stephen to leave, but the ward manager (who was fantastic!) let him stay with curtains pulled across as she knew I needed him to understand what was happening. He stayed until 5 and then I sent him to have a rest and some food so I could sleep. I fell asleep easily – I kept dropping off the whole time I was in there – the anaesthetic I think. I got woke up at 6.30 to have blood pressure etc and ask what I wanted for dinner. The surgeon arrived and said it went well. He had explained before that I would be the first one he had done with the mid scala electrode, so he had arranged for someone from AB to come up for the operation to oversee. He said it went well (bar a slight problem with the insertion tool, but that was fine as they used a new one) and they got full insertion and the test showed all was working fine.  I enquired about the possibility of being discharged to the CI house overnight and he was OK with it but the ward manager was not happy because it was a long walk in the cold up a hill. She arranged for me to be moved to a side ward that was normally used for children and a reclining chair put next to the bed so Stephen could stay with me – they really were fab J

Dinner choice was mackerel salad, beef stew or macaroni cheese. As a vegetarian that has only recently started eating dairy again the mackerel salad was the only real option but I couldn't eat it when it arrived. I asked for tea and toast instead and was more than happy with that,

I had another nap and Ste woke me at 7.30. I was very pleased with how well I could lip read him with no aids – it was pretty much the same as with aids – shows how much I used the lip reading I guess!  Around 9 they moved us to the side ward and we chatted until 11 when I had more tea and toast and then the light was turned off.

I didn't sleep too well – woke every hour. The cannula gave me the most problems as the painkillers kept the head under control but the cannula meant my wrist had to be kept straight, and as it was the opposite side to the implant I was limited on both sides!

I had more painkillers through the night and was woken at 6.30 to have a wash and get dressed. She then gave me more pills and removed the bandage. I got a blurry picture snapped and she gave it a little clean. I was surprised it was being left open, not covered. I then had more tea and toast and then at 9 I went to x-ray and then we were discharged J

Got a taxi to the airport (£80 but much better than taxi / train / bus – no way could I have managed that).