Listen: there's a hell of a good universe next door, let's go

It's only two weeks since surgery but I couldn't stand my hair any more so I went to get it cut.  The incision is still highly visible, the hair's not grown back much at all where it was shaved, and there's still some suture there above my ear.  It's supposed to be the kind that dissolves but it's taking a long time. Actually, it's been hard for me not to pick at it because at the very top of the incision where Dr. H tied it off there's a little tail of suture about an eighth of an inch long sticking straight out.  So I poke at it and wish it was gone. But the woman that cuts my hair did fine, steering around it all.  She's pretty used to my CI now, and asked me if this was another one.  I said yes, and showed her the bump where the implant is.  It's still more prominent than the first one as there's a bit of swelling yet, but it's feeling pretty good.  This morning after I woke up I actually rolled over onto the left side of my head ...

...till activation, that is.  I'm nine days post-surgery so tomorrow it will be ten days since surgery and ten days till activation. Activation is not going to be the end of this, of course, there will be rehab and unintegrated frequencies just like before, but it's when I can start working on getting both ears hearing properly and then working together.  I'd be willing to start now, but I'm not sure there's a magnet strong enough to hold the coil on my head with the post-surgical swelling. It's not that the swelling is particularly noticeable, but it's definitely there if I reach up and touch the implant site.  But nine days post-surgery, most of the pain is minimal - my neck hardly hurts at all, the incision is mostly itchy, and the implant site only hurts if I put pressure on it (or roll over on it at night). So, not bad, really.  I've caught up on my normal exercise and am ready to go to work tomorrow.  I'm still not used to this business o...

This surgery - and the aftermath of the surgery - feels quite a bit different from the first one.  Some of this may be just because I knew what to expect, but not all. First - and this just about had me cracking up in pre-op.  At my first surgery the nurse had a hard time finding a vein to put my IV in.  I ended up with six or seven extra pin-holes in me before the anesthesiologist finally got the needle in.  This time?  "Oh", said the nurse as she looked down at my arm, "You have GREAT veins".  And got the needle in on the first try.  I think I just proved that "good veins" is a subjective judgment, and is more about the person holding the needle than the veins in question.   Second, I'm in a lot less pain than last time.  Mostly it's at night when I'm lying down sleeping.  If I inadvertently roll over onto the implant site, it hurts quite a lot, but when I'm up it doesn't really hurt at all.  The neck muscles on that side are ...

Done with surgery #2!  I'm a little tired and groggy but feel okay.  The surgery was just about two and a half hours, and I woke up with less pain than last time (which isn't the same as no pain, but I'll take it).   We got home at 4:00 and I took a pain pill and have just slept off the effects of the anesthesia - it's REALLY nice to lose that dizzy feeling - and am going to have a bowl of soup now. So far I can't hear in my newly implanted ear; I don't know yet whether the remaining natural hearing is lost or just temporarily blocked, the surgery result in liquid in the inner ear that will go away in time. But I expected that and am OK either way.  It will be  something to adjust to - I've never been completely deaf before, but I have come to the realization that my natural hearing was not enough to worry about hanging on to.  The last week or so I've been wanting to hear through the CI(s) and get them working together.   Sorry, resi...

I'm just about ready for surgery #2.  I had my pre-op checkup with my doctor on September 28, and have been waiting to hear exactly what time on Friday my surgery is scheduled for. I was in a meeting at 2:00 and didn't hear my cell phone ring - I mean, look, I have never used my cell phone for actual phone calls, and so I've never even set up my voice mail.  All I do is text and email on it.  I can't hear, right?  So I don't use the phone for calls. But I went in and set up my voice mailbox with a password and checked, and sure enough, I had not one but SIX voice mails.  Two were junk calls and one was from my car dealer - and no, I don't want to trade up to a brand new CLA250.  I am quite looking forward to having this one paid off.  But two were from the surgery center and one from my surgeon's office.  I returned those calls and got everything all set up.  We have my surgery scheduled for 11:15 on Friday and I'm all set on what I have ...