My dizziness has decreased immensely the past couple of days, thank heavens. I have been paying a lot more attention as to what exactly makes me dizzy. Turning quickly, getting up too fast, bending at my waist for too long rather than my knees, you know, typical stuff.
Then one more thing.
Nodding my head yes.
Do you think that says something about me as a mother? I don't get dizzy from shaking my head no anymore, at all, it's not even a problem anymore. But I do get quite dizzy from nodding my head yes.
I do have a toddler....:)
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Been a few days
It has been a few days since I blogged, however, if you read up at the very top I put in my disclaimer "I make no promise to be consistent." It's very true :)
So last time I blogged, it was all about dizziness. It hasn't really stopped. I have a airplane trip this weekend, and will be on a houseboat next week (this was a pre-planned vacation before the CI surgery was determined, so if y'all think I'm just taking advantage of the time off for recovery, this was already planned :P). I was dizzy every day at work last week. I didn't drive again until yesterday. Friday was even more dizziness, but I still got to see my mother in Heber and we had a short chat, and then I went home, and I believe I crashed on the couch at 9:30. I believe my husband told a friend of ours that I fell asleep on the couch with the tivo remote pointed to the tv. I actually fell asleep in the midst of trying to fast forward through commercials. I was exhausted from all the training at work and the dizziness was just especially killer.
Saturday was no different, I was dizzy then as well. This became a concern because I'm about to fly next week and I really don't want to add motion sickness to the dizziness from the flight or from the houseboat week. So, I put in a request for a prescription refill so that I would have enough while I was gone and not run out.
Sunday, I just felt sick all over and was dizzy as well, so we stayed home to help me take it easy. I slept, A LOT.
Monday, I met with some ladies from work to do some additional training and set up my office, and the dizziness had actually subsided quite a bit, and I was able to drive to the office (which is literally maybe 5-10 minutes from my place, so really, no big deal).
Tuesday (today), the doctor's office called (and I received an e-mail saying my prescription couldn't be refilled) to ask about my symptoms. The nurse was concerned because she said it had been over a month since my surgery (it's been two weeks and one day). So Bryan called back and told them the correct number of days, and then the nurse called back asking what kind of dizziness I've been experience and asked lots of questions and said she would call back later after consulting with the doctor. She then called back not too much later, and said the doctor wanted to see me. Freaky right? I suddenly think I've done something horrible requesting more of the meds, or actually have something wrong with me. I then think maybe, just maybe he'll see this as the post-op and move the activation date up (highly doubtful though).
So, we had a couple of hours to kill and went to Wheeler farm. Holy hot day, and that did not help with dizziness at all. I had been fine all day, up until I took a hot bath, and then added this heat. I then became dizzy, so just in time for the doctor right? This is when I realize that if I am still dizzy, then I'm pretty darn sure he won't move the activation date up :)
We go, and we sit down, we talk about what I've been experiencing. I finally think of the right description of dizziness. The nurse kept asking me if it was the room spinning kind of dizziness. Well..sometimes it is, and when it is that, it's for a brief moment until I sit down. Literally like 3-4 seconds long. However, the rest of the dizziness is this: Imagine you're sitting down, then you stand up way too fast and get lightheaded. You know that kind of dizziness/disorientation. *THAT* is the perfect thing to use to describe how I feel the majority of the time. Sometimes it's really intense, sometimes it's not so bad and I can function just fine with the annoying lightheadedness/dizziness.
So what does the doctor tell me?
I need to purposefully make myself dizzy if it happens with certain things. Did your jaw just drop, or your eyebrows go up in confusion? Yeah, ours did too. I'm also to not use the medication if I can help it (I'm already doing this, I don't like taking medication). The proof of me not taking it all the time? I was allowed 15 pills the day of the surgery. You can take it every 6 hours. It has been 15 days, and I still have 6 or 7 pills left, and the majority of the pills I did take were within the first 3 days. So yeah, proof that I try not to use it if I can help it.
Anyway, back to the point. Purposeful dizziness? Basically since the doctor had been in my inner ear (where your equilibrium is), it's really messed up my brain's ability to match the fluids in my inner ear to what I'm actually seeing and feeling. That smoothness of the fluids in my inner ear has been disrupted, on both sides, not just one. So double whammy.
However, the best way to solve the dizziness? Let it go away. My brain is relearning how to match up what I see and actually feel to the movement of the fluids in my inner ear. Taking the medication actually suppresses the body from being able to make that connection, so it takes longer to do so if I take the medication. So...yeah, don't take medication and make yourself dizzy.
No, I am not to go and start spinning in circles all the time, though I'm sure the people in my apartment complex court would LOVE to watch that and call me a crazy deaf lady outside. It'd be pretty funny :) But the things that do make me dizzy (looking up at something...like an airplane in the sky, turning my head left to right quickly...it used to be turning my head at all, but now it's just if I move it faster than I have been the past two weeks, bending over at my waist to picking something up instead of bending at my knees, crawling on the floor, picking up Kiernan), I am to keep doing as if it were normal just to help my brain readjust to the new movement of the fluids in my inner ear.
I hope that makes sense, and I did do research on it before going to the doctor. I just don't LIKE feeling dizzy/sick all the time, but I guess I'll just deal with it. So, no meds, do every day things that make me dizzy repeatedly. Only take meds if the dizziness is severely impairing my ability to function while doing something I *must* do (like work last week).
Otherwise, everything has been healing up nicely and there are no problems with the implants (even though you can feel a HUGE drop off on the side of skull right now. Go ahead, feel yours, it goes around nice and smooth on a curve, mine no longer does that. If you want to feel my head, I promise I won't think you're weird, it's quite different and kind of cool/weird to feel). He also checked the ear drum and middle ear, things look great there as well, completely clear of anything. So the good news out of all this? I'm healing very well and there are no infections that causing the dizziness.
Tomorrow I'm driving to Ogden for a meeting to satisfy the last of my Helen Keller fellowship. Yes, I am driving. I can actually move my head completely from side to side now, so that's not a concern while driving. And I can definitely handle driving a lot better now than I could last week. But I promise, if the dizziness is too severe in the morning, I will make Bryan take me :)
Now, the pictures as promised. The first one is the left ear and the second one is the right ear.
If you look at the last picture, you can see a bit where my hair was shaved. It's REALLY not noticeable at all. And the scars, they're almost right on that edge where your ear meets your head. So no one can see it. Seriously, vanity wise, this surgery was nothing.
So last time I blogged, it was all about dizziness. It hasn't really stopped. I have a airplane trip this weekend, and will be on a houseboat next week (this was a pre-planned vacation before the CI surgery was determined, so if y'all think I'm just taking advantage of the time off for recovery, this was already planned :P). I was dizzy every day at work last week. I didn't drive again until yesterday. Friday was even more dizziness, but I still got to see my mother in Heber and we had a short chat, and then I went home, and I believe I crashed on the couch at 9:30. I believe my husband told a friend of ours that I fell asleep on the couch with the tivo remote pointed to the tv. I actually fell asleep in the midst of trying to fast forward through commercials. I was exhausted from all the training at work and the dizziness was just especially killer.
Saturday was no different, I was dizzy then as well. This became a concern because I'm about to fly next week and I really don't want to add motion sickness to the dizziness from the flight or from the houseboat week. So, I put in a request for a prescription refill so that I would have enough while I was gone and not run out.
Sunday, I just felt sick all over and was dizzy as well, so we stayed home to help me take it easy. I slept, A LOT.
Monday, I met with some ladies from work to do some additional training and set up my office, and the dizziness had actually subsided quite a bit, and I was able to drive to the office (which is literally maybe 5-10 minutes from my place, so really, no big deal).
Tuesday (today), the doctor's office called (and I received an e-mail saying my prescription couldn't be refilled) to ask about my symptoms. The nurse was concerned because she said it had been over a month since my surgery (it's been two weeks and one day). So Bryan called back and told them the correct number of days, and then the nurse called back asking what kind of dizziness I've been experience and asked lots of questions and said she would call back later after consulting with the doctor. She then called back not too much later, and said the doctor wanted to see me. Freaky right? I suddenly think I've done something horrible requesting more of the meds, or actually have something wrong with me. I then think maybe, just maybe he'll see this as the post-op and move the activation date up (highly doubtful though).
So, we had a couple of hours to kill and went to Wheeler farm. Holy hot day, and that did not help with dizziness at all. I had been fine all day, up until I took a hot bath, and then added this heat. I then became dizzy, so just in time for the doctor right? This is when I realize that if I am still dizzy, then I'm pretty darn sure he won't move the activation date up :)
We go, and we sit down, we talk about what I've been experiencing. I finally think of the right description of dizziness. The nurse kept asking me if it was the room spinning kind of dizziness. Well..sometimes it is, and when it is that, it's for a brief moment until I sit down. Literally like 3-4 seconds long. However, the rest of the dizziness is this: Imagine you're sitting down, then you stand up way too fast and get lightheaded. You know that kind of dizziness/disorientation. *THAT* is the perfect thing to use to describe how I feel the majority of the time. Sometimes it's really intense, sometimes it's not so bad and I can function just fine with the annoying lightheadedness/dizziness.
So what does the doctor tell me?
I need to purposefully make myself dizzy if it happens with certain things. Did your jaw just drop, or your eyebrows go up in confusion? Yeah, ours did too. I'm also to not use the medication if I can help it (I'm already doing this, I don't like taking medication). The proof of me not taking it all the time? I was allowed 15 pills the day of the surgery. You can take it every 6 hours. It has been 15 days, and I still have 6 or 7 pills left, and the majority of the pills I did take were within the first 3 days. So yeah, proof that I try not to use it if I can help it.
Anyway, back to the point. Purposeful dizziness? Basically since the doctor had been in my inner ear (where your equilibrium is), it's really messed up my brain's ability to match the fluids in my inner ear to what I'm actually seeing and feeling. That smoothness of the fluids in my inner ear has been disrupted, on both sides, not just one. So double whammy.
However, the best way to solve the dizziness? Let it go away. My brain is relearning how to match up what I see and actually feel to the movement of the fluids in my inner ear. Taking the medication actually suppresses the body from being able to make that connection, so it takes longer to do so if I take the medication. So...yeah, don't take medication and make yourself dizzy.
No, I am not to go and start spinning in circles all the time, though I'm sure the people in my apartment complex court would LOVE to watch that and call me a crazy deaf lady outside. It'd be pretty funny :) But the things that do make me dizzy (looking up at something...like an airplane in the sky, turning my head left to right quickly...it used to be turning my head at all, but now it's just if I move it faster than I have been the past two weeks, bending over at my waist to picking something up instead of bending at my knees, crawling on the floor, picking up Kiernan), I am to keep doing as if it were normal just to help my brain readjust to the new movement of the fluids in my inner ear.
I hope that makes sense, and I did do research on it before going to the doctor. I just don't LIKE feeling dizzy/sick all the time, but I guess I'll just deal with it. So, no meds, do every day things that make me dizzy repeatedly. Only take meds if the dizziness is severely impairing my ability to function while doing something I *must* do (like work last week).
Otherwise, everything has been healing up nicely and there are no problems with the implants (even though you can feel a HUGE drop off on the side of skull right now. Go ahead, feel yours, it goes around nice and smooth on a curve, mine no longer does that. If you want to feel my head, I promise I won't think you're weird, it's quite different and kind of cool/weird to feel). He also checked the ear drum and middle ear, things look great there as well, completely clear of anything. So the good news out of all this? I'm healing very well and there are no infections that causing the dizziness.
Tomorrow I'm driving to Ogden for a meeting to satisfy the last of my Helen Keller fellowship. Yes, I am driving. I can actually move my head completely from side to side now, so that's not a concern while driving. And I can definitely handle driving a lot better now than I could last week. But I promise, if the dizziness is too severe in the morning, I will make Bryan take me :)
Now, the pictures as promised. The first one is the left ear and the second one is the right ear.
If you look at the last picture, you can see a bit where my hair was shaved. It's REALLY not noticeable at all. And the scars, they're almost right on that edge where your ear meets your head. So no one can see it. Seriously, vanity wise, this surgery was nothing.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Dizziness
Holy Dizziness batman! (So, if any parents of kids with CI read this, can you tell if your kid is dizzy? if so, how? or do you not have any clue if they are after the surgery?)
So yesterday, I woke up after getting only 3 hours of sleep. I guess that afternoon nap on Tuesday affected me after all. When I got up, I could barely stay standing up, but I needed to get ready for work to go to training. I got in the shower, got dressed, did my hair and make up without falling over. By that point, SOME of the dizziness had subsided, but I was still dizzier than usual. I decided to just drive myself to work anyway because I didn't make poor Bryan and Kiernan wake up just to take me to Ogden at 7:00 AM. The drive was fine. At one point, I thought I was losing it, as I could feel the car going off the road, and I steer back onto it. I was about ready to pull over thinking it was from my dizziness, when I looked at the trees and realized that it was actually the wind. The trees were bending almost halfway over, so it was definitely the wind.
I was dizzy all throughout the day at work, and then I drove home after promising my "Ogden Mom" (The secretary for our department, sweetest lady ever) that I would e-mail her when I got home. I did do that by the way, I try my best to keep my promises :)
I decided to go to bed really early in the hopes that it would help my dizziness. I went to bed at 9:30 PM (yes, you did read that right), and woke up at 6:30 AM. Hah...yeah it got worse. I should have asked for a ride yesterday for today's meeting, but I figured the dizziness would get better after sleeping it off a bit. No dice. I had to lay down about every 10 minutes just to be able to keep getting ready for work. I woke up my husband (as I did warn him the night before that I MIGHT need him to take me to work), and asked him to take me to work. Thank heavens he was good about it (not that I expected any different, I just felt really guilty making him get up for MY job). We got Kiernan up and they went with me to Ogden to go to work. I had have the seat reclining, ate some bread, had some water on the car ride up there. That seemed to help a bit. Then throughout the day, if I just rested my head on my hands somehow, the dizziness wasn't so bad. But every time I stood up, it came right back, I seriously couldn't even attempt to walk in a straight line. By the afternoon, something had made me really mad, I'm not sure what anymore, and that seemed to make my dizziness go away...of all things. So maybe I should just get mad every time I get dizzy?
I've been fine since then in terms of dizziness. I'm still going to go to bed relatively early (10:45 is early right?) to get the rest for work tomorrow. I have a ride tomorrow (thanks to Ogden mom!), so that will work out fine and I won't be putting myself or others in danger on the road.
In other news, the tenderness of the incisions has completely gone away. So, it honestly is a lot less noticable now that I have implants in my head. I can still feel exactly where they are, and could touch it immediately if you asked me where it was, but it's not so...prominent.
And for your viewing pleasure, the scar on my left ear. I haven't been able to find the camera so you'll have to wait for the right ear. I'll then post both ears so you can see if there's any difference between the two.
So yesterday, I woke up after getting only 3 hours of sleep. I guess that afternoon nap on Tuesday affected me after all. When I got up, I could barely stay standing up, but I needed to get ready for work to go to training. I got in the shower, got dressed, did my hair and make up without falling over. By that point, SOME of the dizziness had subsided, but I was still dizzier than usual. I decided to just drive myself to work anyway because I didn't make poor Bryan and Kiernan wake up just to take me to Ogden at 7:00 AM. The drive was fine. At one point, I thought I was losing it, as I could feel the car going off the road, and I steer back onto it. I was about ready to pull over thinking it was from my dizziness, when I looked at the trees and realized that it was actually the wind. The trees were bending almost halfway over, so it was definitely the wind.
I was dizzy all throughout the day at work, and then I drove home after promising my "Ogden Mom" (The secretary for our department, sweetest lady ever) that I would e-mail her when I got home. I did do that by the way, I try my best to keep my promises :)
I decided to go to bed really early in the hopes that it would help my dizziness. I went to bed at 9:30 PM (yes, you did read that right), and woke up at 6:30 AM. Hah...yeah it got worse. I should have asked for a ride yesterday for today's meeting, but I figured the dizziness would get better after sleeping it off a bit. No dice. I had to lay down about every 10 minutes just to be able to keep getting ready for work. I woke up my husband (as I did warn him the night before that I MIGHT need him to take me to work), and asked him to take me to work. Thank heavens he was good about it (not that I expected any different, I just felt really guilty making him get up for MY job). We got Kiernan up and they went with me to Ogden to go to work. I had have the seat reclining, ate some bread, had some water on the car ride up there. That seemed to help a bit. Then throughout the day, if I just rested my head on my hands somehow, the dizziness wasn't so bad. But every time I stood up, it came right back, I seriously couldn't even attempt to walk in a straight line. By the afternoon, something had made me really mad, I'm not sure what anymore, and that seemed to make my dizziness go away...of all things. So maybe I should just get mad every time I get dizzy?
I've been fine since then in terms of dizziness. I'm still going to go to bed relatively early (10:45 is early right?) to get the rest for work tomorrow. I have a ride tomorrow (thanks to Ogden mom!), so that will work out fine and I won't be putting myself or others in danger on the road.
In other news, the tenderness of the incisions has completely gone away. So, it honestly is a lot less noticable now that I have implants in my head. I can still feel exactly where they are, and could touch it immediately if you asked me where it was, but it's not so...prominent.
And for your viewing pleasure, the scar on my left ear. I haven't been able to find the camera so you'll have to wait for the right ear. I'll then post both ears so you can see if there's any difference between the two.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Driving
Today was my first driving since the surgery. Sure, it's only been 8 days. I was nervous, just because I do get dizzy spells, but I can still walk through the dizzy spells, and I knew if it got bad, I'd pull over and wait for it to pass. Turned out to be an awesome ride in terms of no dizzy spells. Here's what I did notice:
-Turning my neck. I can't quite turn it all the way to see my blind spots, so now I need to actually move my body forward and turn my body a little more to see my blind spots. Not sure if this will go away or not, I'll need to ask my sister.
- Music. Holy cow, did I rely on that music to keep me entertained and awake in the car. I had no problems with sleepiness, but I was bored. I COULD turn it up loud enough to feel the bass of the music....but it's not quite the same. Makes me nervous for what music will sound like once I get the implants turned on.
- I can't hear the car start. I didn't think I could before, but now I know that I did hear some sounds that indicated the car start. So weird to realize I DID hear something before.
- I relied on the beep beep of the unlocking of the car that we have now. It took me a couple of tries of unlocking the car before I realized I didn't have my keys since we have the button on the door handle thing. I had to say to myself "are you FEELING it unlock?" I didn't, and when I got my keys and came back, I did.
Other than that, the drive, thankfully, was really uneventful (how many commas can I put in a sentence?).
Today my apartment complex court had a sprinkler day. I took Kiernan out to give Bryan a break from the kid. We were out there for an hour and forty five minutes. While I was out there, everything was great, no dizziness...until about 10 minutes before we came in. Not sure why, it was probably the worst dizzy spell. My best guess is that I wasn't used to be outside, squinting in the sun, and where it was a bit warmer (We keep our apartment pretty cold). That, and the meeting I had for work today really took a lot of focus for me to figure out what was going on, not in terms of having to read lips (I had an interpreter there), but in terms of everyone being confused and unsure of where things were, etc. I think we got it figured out, but that confusion, combined with the time I spent outside with Kiernan (doing almost nothing other than sitting down and talking to people) seemed to wipe me out. I ended up taking a nap from 4-7. I could definitely go to bed right now, and will soon, because I have to leave for work training tomorrow at 7.
So all in all, a good day. I haven't taken pain meds today either, so the pain front is fine. Just the dizzy spells. Cannot wait for those to start decreasing.
OH yeah, the sticky tape stuff? They came off today, I'll try to remember to take pictures tomorrow once I've had a chance to shower and cleanse the area more with water.
-Turning my neck. I can't quite turn it all the way to see my blind spots, so now I need to actually move my body forward and turn my body a little more to see my blind spots. Not sure if this will go away or not, I'll need to ask my sister.
- Music. Holy cow, did I rely on that music to keep me entertained and awake in the car. I had no problems with sleepiness, but I was bored. I COULD turn it up loud enough to feel the bass of the music....but it's not quite the same. Makes me nervous for what music will sound like once I get the implants turned on.
- I can't hear the car start. I didn't think I could before, but now I know that I did hear some sounds that indicated the car start. So weird to realize I DID hear something before.
- I relied on the beep beep of the unlocking of the car that we have now. It took me a couple of tries of unlocking the car before I realized I didn't have my keys since we have the button on the door handle thing. I had to say to myself "are you FEELING it unlock?" I didn't, and when I got my keys and came back, I did.
Other than that, the drive, thankfully, was really uneventful (how many commas can I put in a sentence?).
Today my apartment complex court had a sprinkler day. I took Kiernan out to give Bryan a break from the kid. We were out there for an hour and forty five minutes. While I was out there, everything was great, no dizziness...until about 10 minutes before we came in. Not sure why, it was probably the worst dizzy spell. My best guess is that I wasn't used to be outside, squinting in the sun, and where it was a bit warmer (We keep our apartment pretty cold). That, and the meeting I had for work today really took a lot of focus for me to figure out what was going on, not in terms of having to read lips (I had an interpreter there), but in terms of everyone being confused and unsure of where things were, etc. I think we got it figured out, but that confusion, combined with the time I spent outside with Kiernan (doing almost nothing other than sitting down and talking to people) seemed to wipe me out. I ended up taking a nap from 4-7. I could definitely go to bed right now, and will soon, because I have to leave for work training tomorrow at 7.
So all in all, a good day. I haven't taken pain meds today either, so the pain front is fine. Just the dizzy spells. Cannot wait for those to start decreasing.
OH yeah, the sticky tape stuff? They came off today, I'll try to remember to take pictures tomorrow once I've had a chance to shower and cleanse the area more with water.
Monday, July 26, 2010
First day back at work
Definitely wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I thought for sure I would have to take pain meds, but I didn't need to. There was NO pain at all today, so that was nice. I did need to take my anti-nausea pills about halfway through just because I was getting dizzy spells just from sitting down. I think it was the fact that I had to actually focus to watch the interpreters. I am so used to being able to hear some, and then look at the interpreters/transliterators/real time captioner when I know I missed something (which is often in group settings). This time, I found myself looking at the speaker who was talking, and trying to figure out why I couldn't hear them. Part of the reason is because my brain has an assigned voice for everyone, I think it's the voice for each person is close to what I've heard their voice to be like. So I "think" I'm hearing them, but I'm really not. It was a weird thing to come to that realization, it still hasn't really hit my brain yet.
Other than that, it was pretty uneventful. I felt good enough to help move chairs around, set up and clean up. No pain, just dizziness, which is fine by me. I still have to take one pill at night thought, just because, as I said before, the head in one spot is just not a comfortable place to be.
I also went outside with Kiernan at Bryan's request today, and it started drizzling. What did I do first? I put Kiernan down and started to cover my ears. Then I realized...wait, I don't have hearing aids. It was weird to be out in the rain not worrying about my hearing aids getting wet. And it felt weird covering my ears too when there was...nothing there. So I took this opportunity to stay out in the (just a small drizzle) rain to play with Kiernan. He loved it, and it was nice and cool outside. Then it started raining a bit more, and I started worrying about my shirt getting wet and showing through, so we went inside. Of course it stopped raining then. :) We (all three of us) returned the dishes of everyone who helped out with meals this past week (ALL of you are lifesavers!), and watched Bryan interact with them, I tried to lip read, but with Kiernan, I was just too scatter brained to do it.
The best thing about the entire day? It's the seven day mark and I got to WASH MY HAIR! Oh man, that felt SO good. All the white stuff has come off the sticky strips, so now I have newer pictures for ya. Don't worry, that reddish stuff isn't all blood (most of it isn't) it's that iodine type stuff they use for cleansing the areas before surgery. I know that because the right ear in these pictures has more red stuff on it, but it had virtually no blood at all on the ear dressing from the princess leia cups. Where as the left ear has virtually no red stuff on the sticky stuff, so I'm pretty darn sure the red stuff on the right ear is the iodine type stuff.
Left ear:
Right ear:
Other than that, it was pretty uneventful. I felt good enough to help move chairs around, set up and clean up. No pain, just dizziness, which is fine by me. I still have to take one pill at night thought, just because, as I said before, the head in one spot is just not a comfortable place to be.
I also went outside with Kiernan at Bryan's request today, and it started drizzling. What did I do first? I put Kiernan down and started to cover my ears. Then I realized...wait, I don't have hearing aids. It was weird to be out in the rain not worrying about my hearing aids getting wet. And it felt weird covering my ears too when there was...nothing there. So I took this opportunity to stay out in the (just a small drizzle) rain to play with Kiernan. He loved it, and it was nice and cool outside. Then it started raining a bit more, and I started worrying about my shirt getting wet and showing through, so we went inside. Of course it stopped raining then. :) We (all three of us) returned the dishes of everyone who helped out with meals this past week (ALL of you are lifesavers!), and watched Bryan interact with them, I tried to lip read, but with Kiernan, I was just too scatter brained to do it.
The best thing about the entire day? It's the seven day mark and I got to WASH MY HAIR! Oh man, that felt SO good. All the white stuff has come off the sticky strips, so now I have newer pictures for ya. Don't worry, that reddish stuff isn't all blood (most of it isn't) it's that iodine type stuff they use for cleansing the areas before surgery. I know that because the right ear in these pictures has more red stuff on it, but it had virtually no blood at all on the ear dressing from the princess leia cups. Where as the left ear has virtually no red stuff on the sticky stuff, so I'm pretty darn sure the red stuff on the right ear is the iodine type stuff.
Left ear:
Right ear:
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Dos and Do Nots
Before I get to the implant part of the post, I totally feel this way all the time when I'm driving.
That part is actually somewhat related. My brother texted me yesterday asking a question that made me think of all the things I am not to do for the next...I have no idea how long, but at least awhile. I'll list them below. I'll also type them as they had put it with my thoughts and comments in parentheses.
1. DO NOT blow your nose until such time that it has been indicated that your ear is healed. Any accumulated secretions in the nose may be drawn back into the throat and expectorated if desired. This is particularly important if you develop a cold. (Gross right?)
2. DO NOT "pop" your ears by holding your nose and blowing air through the Eustachian tube into the ear. If it is necessary to sneeze, do so with your mouth open.
3. The incision behind your ear should have water kept away for one week (I so cannot wait to wash my hair tomorrow!).
4. DO NOT take an unneccessary chance of catching a cold. Avoid undue exposure or fatigue. (well crud, my son has a cold, croup even...sigh). Should you catch a cold, treat it in your usual way, reporting to us if you should develop ear symptoms (let's cross our fingers I don't get Kiernan's cold).
5. You may anticipate a certain amount of pulsation (check), popping (check), clicking (double check), and other sounds in the ear, and also a feeling of fullness in the ear (Remember number 2? It's been SO HARD not to pop my ears). Occasional sharp shooting pains are not unusual (check). At times, it may feel as if there is liquid in the ear (Check, and I've had to consciously not shake my head to the side to get the so called liquid out...did it once without realizing it, and boy did I get dizzy).
6. DO NOT plan to drive a car home from the hospital (yeah...I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the head rest...good thing I buckled up first). Air travel is permissible two days following surgery (and I was worried about 2 1/2 weeks! I'm still not very clear on what to do about metal detectors and such....need to make a note to have Bryan ask the ENT tomorrow when he calls to set up the post op appointment). When changing altitude, you should remain awake and chew gum to stimulate swallowing (I had to do this going from Salt Lake to Heber yesterday....couple of sharp pains but the gum chewing definitely helped).
7. DO NOT perform any heavy lifting (more than 30 pounds) or vigorous physical activity for three weeks after surgery (I am so gonna be having to restart Couch to 5K, sigh, and more than 30 pounds? It's been difficult to not lift up Kiernan....let's just say I haven't and call it good then I won't feel so guilty, and pretend to believe me :) ).
Mild intermittent ear pain is not unusual during the first two weeks (check). Pain above or in front of the ear is common when chewing (check).
Minor degrees of dizziness may be present on head motion and need not concern you unless this should increase (note how they didn't say if it would decrease or not....yeah, apparently my sister gets severe vertigo from time to time...three times now. She stands up, get's vertigo hit head on and falls and throws up. They gave her meds for when that happens....she said I should get it now...tempting).
Finally the dressing. We already took off the ear dressing the day after surgery, as instructed. The incision behind the ear is covered by paper adhesive strips which should remain in place for seven days. Tomorrow is Day seven. I can remove these strips after one week and expose the wound area to water for cleansing. So...yeah, these strips I have? Currently not showing any signs of coming off easily, so I'm going to just let them come off over time, but I get to WASH MY HAIR tomorrow! YAY! Then tomorrow maybe I'll take a picture of my ears again to see if any of the dried blood will wash away under the strips, so that you can have a better idea of what my incision looks like now, especially since those white things in the last pictures completely wore off today.
So yeah, I think all of this information would have been good to know BEFORE the surgery, because I didn't even know we had this paper until three days after the surgery. Good thing I didn't try to pop my ears before that, I accidentally did once without thinking about it yesterday....ow. It hurt for a very long time afterwards, but everything appears to be normal so I'm not worried about at the moment. Believe me, I won't do it again. Ever.
That part is actually somewhat related. My brother texted me yesterday asking a question that made me think of all the things I am not to do for the next...I have no idea how long, but at least awhile. I'll list them below. I'll also type them as they had put it with my thoughts and comments in parentheses.
1. DO NOT blow your nose until such time that it has been indicated that your ear is healed. Any accumulated secretions in the nose may be drawn back into the throat and expectorated if desired. This is particularly important if you develop a cold. (Gross right?)
2. DO NOT "pop" your ears by holding your nose and blowing air through the Eustachian tube into the ear. If it is necessary to sneeze, do so with your mouth open.
3. The incision behind your ear should have water kept away for one week (I so cannot wait to wash my hair tomorrow!).
4. DO NOT take an unneccessary chance of catching a cold. Avoid undue exposure or fatigue. (well crud, my son has a cold, croup even...sigh). Should you catch a cold, treat it in your usual way, reporting to us if you should develop ear symptoms (let's cross our fingers I don't get Kiernan's cold).
5. You may anticipate a certain amount of pulsation (check), popping (check), clicking (double check), and other sounds in the ear, and also a feeling of fullness in the ear (Remember number 2? It's been SO HARD not to pop my ears). Occasional sharp shooting pains are not unusual (check). At times, it may feel as if there is liquid in the ear (Check, and I've had to consciously not shake my head to the side to get the so called liquid out...did it once without realizing it, and boy did I get dizzy).
6. DO NOT plan to drive a car home from the hospital (yeah...I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the head rest...good thing I buckled up first). Air travel is permissible two days following surgery (and I was worried about 2 1/2 weeks! I'm still not very clear on what to do about metal detectors and such....need to make a note to have Bryan ask the ENT tomorrow when he calls to set up the post op appointment). When changing altitude, you should remain awake and chew gum to stimulate swallowing (I had to do this going from Salt Lake to Heber yesterday....couple of sharp pains but the gum chewing definitely helped).
7. DO NOT perform any heavy lifting (more than 30 pounds) or vigorous physical activity for three weeks after surgery (I am so gonna be having to restart Couch to 5K, sigh, and more than 30 pounds? It's been difficult to not lift up Kiernan....let's just say I haven't and call it good then I won't feel so guilty, and pretend to believe me :) ).
Mild intermittent ear pain is not unusual during the first two weeks (check). Pain above or in front of the ear is common when chewing (check).
Minor degrees of dizziness may be present on head motion and need not concern you unless this should increase (note how they didn't say if it would decrease or not....yeah, apparently my sister gets severe vertigo from time to time...three times now. She stands up, get's vertigo hit head on and falls and throws up. They gave her meds for when that happens....she said I should get it now...tempting).
Finally the dressing. We already took off the ear dressing the day after surgery, as instructed. The incision behind the ear is covered by paper adhesive strips which should remain in place for seven days. Tomorrow is Day seven. I can remove these strips after one week and expose the wound area to water for cleansing. So...yeah, these strips I have? Currently not showing any signs of coming off easily, so I'm going to just let them come off over time, but I get to WASH MY HAIR tomorrow! YAY! Then tomorrow maybe I'll take a picture of my ears again to see if any of the dried blood will wash away under the strips, so that you can have a better idea of what my incision looks like now, especially since those white things in the last pictures completely wore off today.
So yeah, I think all of this information would have been good to know BEFORE the surgery, because I didn't even know we had this paper until three days after the surgery. Good thing I didn't try to pop my ears before that, I accidentally did once without thinking about it yesterday....ow. It hurt for a very long time afterwards, but everything appears to be normal so I'm not worried about at the moment. Believe me, I won't do it again. Ever.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Recovery Day 4
SO. I won't be posting every recovery day. I promise. Just the beginning part is where I discover things are different.
Kiernan has been sick with croup, which has been a nightmare for Bryan. If it weren't for the ward (our church group) and friends bringing dinner this week, I don't think we'd be eating at all. However, it seems tonight Kiernan is finally taking a turn for the better as he's acting more like his normal self (as he sneaks in M&Ms that he spilled and we can't find every single one of them).
Today I had a chance to go outside, and I wanted to for two reasons. 1 - I hadn't left the front door since Monday. This is very unusual for me to go more than one day without going outside. I was getting anxious to get outside again. 2 - Kiernan needed to go outside for Bryan's sake. So I took Kiernan outside with me.
The first thing I noticed: Holy lightheadedness. It never went away. So I'm assuming I'll feel like this for awhile. I texted my sister and asked her if that's how it felt for her as well. She said it did. I seriously felt like every time the wind blew, (just a breeze) I could easily fall over. So weird. So I sat down in the shade. Kiernan lasted about 15 minutes outside before he wanted to go back and see "papai" again. I was done being outside too, it was pretty warm :). But that outside experience alone made me realize just how different I feel over all mostly dealing with the lightheadedness. I thought it was just maybe the stuffiness of the house or not getting out, but nope, I really am just that lightheaded.
Before I went outside. I think I spent about five minutes looking for my hearing aids. I wonder when that habit will die. Then I realized I couldn't, because I had just gotten dizzy and remembered even if I could hear with them on, no way they'd go on right now. My ears are still swollen and my head is still sore. So I went outside....man was it quiet. There were two neighbors out there. One lady with her young baby, and a couple out by the bench. Normally I can hear kids out there with my hearing aids on, birds, trees rustling (if it's windy), and Kiernan saying ball, hot, ah ah, no, wheee, or something. Today...Nothing. So bizarre. It hasn't really affected me in a negative way yet, other than that I wish I could help Bryan throughout the night with Kiernan as I know he's not sleeping through the night. It's just....bizarre.
A few people stopped by today to drop of lasagna/soup/home made ice cream. I missed the lasagna person (sorry Becky), and the soup person (sorry Sheila). However, I saw two neighbors who dropped off the ice cream. This was the real test to see if I could understand anyone. I felt for the most part, it wasn't too bad. I definitely had to rely on Bryan though to help me understand that we needed a bigger bowl for the homemade ice cream they made, etc.
I still fear that I talk too quietly or too loudly just because I cannot hear the volume of my voice. That'll just have to wait a few more weeks right?
Oh yeah, nothing looks different from the last pics I posted. Just a swollen face, and the two ears with the white strips. That's it. Hence, no picture updates :)
Kiernan has been sick with croup, which has been a nightmare for Bryan. If it weren't for the ward (our church group) and friends bringing dinner this week, I don't think we'd be eating at all. However, it seems tonight Kiernan is finally taking a turn for the better as he's acting more like his normal self (as he sneaks in M&Ms that he spilled and we can't find every single one of them).
Today I had a chance to go outside, and I wanted to for two reasons. 1 - I hadn't left the front door since Monday. This is very unusual for me to go more than one day without going outside. I was getting anxious to get outside again. 2 - Kiernan needed to go outside for Bryan's sake. So I took Kiernan outside with me.
The first thing I noticed: Holy lightheadedness. It never went away. So I'm assuming I'll feel like this for awhile. I texted my sister and asked her if that's how it felt for her as well. She said it did. I seriously felt like every time the wind blew, (just a breeze) I could easily fall over. So weird. So I sat down in the shade. Kiernan lasted about 15 minutes outside before he wanted to go back and see "papai" again. I was done being outside too, it was pretty warm :). But that outside experience alone made me realize just how different I feel over all mostly dealing with the lightheadedness. I thought it was just maybe the stuffiness of the house or not getting out, but nope, I really am just that lightheaded.
Before I went outside. I think I spent about five minutes looking for my hearing aids. I wonder when that habit will die. Then I realized I couldn't, because I had just gotten dizzy and remembered even if I could hear with them on, no way they'd go on right now. My ears are still swollen and my head is still sore. So I went outside....man was it quiet. There were two neighbors out there. One lady with her young baby, and a couple out by the bench. Normally I can hear kids out there with my hearing aids on, birds, trees rustling (if it's windy), and Kiernan saying ball, hot, ah ah, no, wheee, or something. Today...Nothing. So bizarre. It hasn't really affected me in a negative way yet, other than that I wish I could help Bryan throughout the night with Kiernan as I know he's not sleeping through the night. It's just....bizarre.
A few people stopped by today to drop of lasagna/soup/home made ice cream. I missed the lasagna person (sorry Becky), and the soup person (sorry Sheila). However, I saw two neighbors who dropped off the ice cream. This was the real test to see if I could understand anyone. I felt for the most part, it wasn't too bad. I definitely had to rely on Bryan though to help me understand that we needed a bigger bowl for the homemade ice cream they made, etc.
I still fear that I talk too quietly or too loudly just because I cannot hear the volume of my voice. That'll just have to wait a few more weeks right?
Oh yeah, nothing looks different from the last pics I posted. Just a swollen face, and the two ears with the white strips. That's it. Hence, no picture updates :)
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