Recovery ....

17th November

So how has it been since? Thursday was actually the best day in terms of energy levels / pain rather surprisingly! Friday / Saturday / Sunday I took painkillers every 4 hours and slept most of the day.

Monday I managed to function a bit more, and stretched the painkillers to 7 hours between.

Tuesday I had no painkillers till 7pm and no nap in the day J

Wednesday I woke up with a stinking head cold. I nipped to the doctors just to have a wound check and they took my temperature to be sure it wasn’t an infection – all fine.

Thursday  & Friday still feeling a bit under the weather – but mostly from the cold I think.

Saturday I felt reasonably OK. Still have a tickly throat and runny nose, but not been sneezing as much (don’t forget to sneeze with your mouth open, otherwise I’m told it hurts!!) and no headache.

Today (Sunday) it finally stopped being gale force winds and I felt well enough to go for a walk on the beach. I didn't feel as tired afterwards so I think I am finally heading back to normal - though I've discovered the ear / cut does not like getting cold (!)

However I have had a very very relaxed week. Not been anywhere, not done anything, just napped, read books, watched CSI and been lazy. I am surprised how tired I get when I do anything and how much it has taken out of me. I think in my head I thought I would be back to normal much much quicker than this!

In terms of the implant – the cut has healed very well – hardly noticeable now. It is tucked very close to the ear which is nice as its out the way. It is itchy and the skin around it feels  odd – like its not mine or something – a bit numb.

After surgery what I was not prepared for was the bruising on my jaw. It was both sides, but mainly on the implant side. I had a massive bruise and it was sore to touch and to open my mouth wide / chew. That has pretty much gone now (day 10).

My ear was a bit numb and bruised, the bruising and tenderness has eased off but it is still hard. The other ear I can bend the top down and its soft and flexible. The implant side the top is hard and much more rigid.

My tastebuds were affected a bit – nothing too major, but sweet things taste odd and my cuppa is slightly not right – but nothing too major.

The most fascinating bit is the bump on my head where the implant is – its huge!! I didn't think it would be noticeable from the outside but it is! Some of that may be swelling I would think, so maybe it will get smaller.

I didn't have much dizziness but more a feeling of being light headed or off balance, and a feeling of pressure if I bent down. I'm careful when I get up or turn corners and am paranoid about banging my head!

The main problem is not being able to sleep on the implant side. I can’t sleep on my front or back, so I am getting a sore ear / hip / shoulder from sleeping in the same position, but I'm finally managing to sleep a bit better as I get used to it.

I didn't wash my hair after 48 hours – I wasn't that brave! I finally did it on day 6 and it was fine – and felt a lot better for being clean!!

So – what now? Well I have two weeks left till I leave for activation – yay! I’ll be back at work for those two, though if I get tired I might work at home. I've been busy searching for therapy resources to help. I've downloaded audiobooks for two paperbooks I've been saving to listen to whilst reading, I've got some word sheets and some listening apps. I’ll try and do a list to go on here when I get time and add to it with any that are useful.

I've been learning to listen with just my bad ear (which actually is not that much worse than my good I have discovered!) and keeping up with my various CI groups / forums  / email lists. I have a couple of wonderful AB mentors – Michele who has been fab, and Colin who was also implanted at my centre. I know another couple of people on facebook implanted in my centre, and Nicola in Orkney who was done there 3 years ago. And then there are my friends from school in varying stages of CI journey so I am blessed with lots of people for support.

Now its just a case of waiting until switch on – and I’ll try not to leave it so long to update you after that!!

I've decided I will publish this on a blog. Its good for me writing it, and I know how much I hunted for and devoured every CI  blog I could get. They all helped me tremendously and I’d like the chance to “pay it forward” and hope that I can help someone else.