My second CI surgery, February 29, 2012

The CI  surgery went very well.My surgeon was very pleased. I am back home from the hospital.  My younger sister drove me home yesterday and then drove herself home. This was a very emotional time for me.  I did not realize how emotionally invested I was in this second CI surgery.  I think because I knew what ONE cochlear implant had done for me in a year and four months.

The big difference between the initial CI surgery (left ear) and the second CI surgery (right ear) was my emotional state of mind. When I initially went through CI surgery the first time, I was so calm, serene, focused and centered. My mental state was like that of Yoda of Star Wars fame. I was just so CENTERED.

Before the second CI surgery, I was extremely distracted, not always thinking clearly, and there was just too much emotional clutter going on in my brain. Tuesday, February 28th, I was concerned for my younger sister because she did not leave her home until 3 PM (this was a four hour drive for her to my home).  There was a tractor-trailer accident on the interstate and I was worried about my sister getting stuck in traffic. I wasn't worried about the hotel reservation near the hospital (another two hour drive) because the reservation was guaranteed. My sister was actually driving up north from where the tractor trailer accident happened, so by the time she reached my home at around 6:30 PM (Tuesday night before the CI surgery), the accident scene had cleared and traffic again flowing.

At my sister's request, I had packed a mini-cooler of sandwiches, bottled water and some cookies for dinner on the road. Neither of us were hungry, so I stuck the mini-cooler in the back seat of her SUV along with my overnight luggage, and we set off for the drive to the hotel.  We arrived at the hotel around 8:30 PM and got settled in. We finally had our sandwiches and cookies at 9 PM. By that time, my younger sister and I were hungry.  I continued drinking water until 11:30 PM and both of us went to bed around midnight.

In my distracted state before leaving my townhouse, I interpreted the answering machine message to mean that the hospital wanted me at the surgical center at 8:00 AM instead of the original time, 10:00 AM.  When I re-read the instructions, it clearly said report to the surgical center at 10:00 AM, which was two hours before surgery.

Neither my younger sister nor I slept all that soundly the night before surgery. I had some mild sinus congestion and snored all night, and I felt like I was in a dream state of sleep all night long. I also had some balance issues on my right side because of the congestion, so I wasn't all that steady to begin with.

I felt bad that I snored and kept my poor sister from a sound sleep. I got up before my sister, showered, washed and blow dried my hair, made sure I had no earrings or watch on or other jewelry on. I opened the curtains, and my sister groggily said I guess that's my wake up call, and she got up, got dressed and ate some yogurt while I took my medicines (pre-cleared with my surgeon) and brushed my teeth.

I noted that it was raining outside the hotel, so I brought along a mini-golf sized umbrella to keep both of us dry. My sister and I went downstairs to the underground hotel parking garage and set off for the ten minute drive to the hospital.

We arrived at the surgical center at 9:45 AM and were greeted by a hospital employee who told us to take a seat and I would be taken care of shortly. At 10:05 AM, a nurse came and got me, telling my younger sister that she was going to prep me for surgery and then she would come back out and get my sister.

After changing out of street clothes into a surgical gown, footies, cap and IV hooked up, I went through the pre-operation evaluation with the nurse, and then my surgeon appeared. He took my hands in his, smiled warmly, and said you have a big day ahead of you, and which ear are we implanting today? I said my right ear, and he said very good, now I am just going to tattoo your right ear with my marking pen.  He did that, stood back so I could lipread him and said you will be going into surgery in about 20 minutes and I thanked him again.

The nurse went and got my sister, who sat down.  The doctor who works with my surgeon greeted me and my sister.  In my rather distracted state of mind, I did not realize that the doctor needed me to put on the sound processor behind my left ear so that he could map where my surgeon needed to place the second implant for my right ear.  To add to the craziness, I very absent-mindedly kept trying to put the processor on WITHOUT the battery. If you don't put the battery ON the processor BEFORE you place it behind your ear, the headpiece magnet won't stick to the implant.

When I figured out what I was doing wrong, I apologized profusely, put the battery on the processor, put the processor on, and the headpiece magnet promptly stuck to the magnet.  I felt like a complete fool.  The doctor then looked at the processor, head piece, where it was situated, then came over to my right ear and marked where the implant would be placed.

The doctor went over the pre-operation evaluation with me a second time, then told me the risks of the surgery, asked me to sign forms and then showed me the box containing the implant. I signed the form acknowledging that I would be getting this particular implant.  As I was signing the form, this huge wave of relief washed over me, knowing that I would soon be bilateral or binaural.

The anesthesiologist appeared, went over the pre-operation evaluation with me a third time, asked me if I had ever had any adverse reactions to anesthesia or experienced nausea and vomiting (never).  He then explained what anesthesia would do to me.

The anesthesiologist then left and the surgical nursing team (all women) came in said to my sister and me that they were ready for me and told me to leave my processor on, and that they would be masked going into the operating room. My sister said can you tell Mindy what is going to happen before you go into the operating room, because she is still lipreading a lot and still getting used to the cochlear implant, and they said sure.  One nurse said here's what is going to happen and outlined the steps.  I said okay, can I stop in the bathroom again before we go, she said sure.  I turned to my sister, hugged her, said see you later, I love you.

The first CI surgery, all the surgical team were unmasked until I was under anesthesia. This second CI surgery, the procedure was different.  I stopped in the bathroom, barely had to pee (I think it was excitement and worrying about whether I would pee on the pad in the operating room!!) I then took that walk toward the operating room suite.  On the way there, I could hear a child crying hysterically in another operating room (poor baby) and walked into my own operating suite.  They did not have me put on compression stockings prior to surgery this time.

I was glad the surgical team were all women except for the doctor, because I had two surgical gowns on, the first gown was first put on with the back open.  Then I had a second gown on, with the opening toward the front,  My body was completely covered, but not tied. Well, when I walked into the operating room, about to climb onto the table, the team removed the back gown, leaving me bare backed, bare bottomed and bare legs.  I realized I was mooning everybody, including the doctor, and the southerner in me made me apologize.  My Momma would have been proud of my manners!

I then climbed up on the stool to get on the operating table with help from the doctor and surgical team because I still had balance issues and needed steadying hands. They motioned where I was to place my head, and then they put my legs in these compression warmers and placed an egg-shell foam square under my legs for elevation and then I was cocooned in warm blankets taken out of a drawer.

Before the anesthesia started and the mask place over my face, I told the surgical team of a quip a friend had made when I remarked I would miss my coffee the day of surgery, my friend quipped that the coffee would be in the anesthesia. That was my absolute last conscious moment before I was anesthetized.

When I came to, I was wondering the surgical team was waking me up and mistakenly believed the surgery hadn't happened yet. It took me a few moments to realize I was in recovery, and a nurse asked if I wanted water and something to eat. I said just water.
I was thirsty.

I had a lot of chest congestion, some right jaw pain, and being asthmatic, I had to suck on a peak flow meter to get my oxygen saturation levels up past 65.  I hated to suck on that contraption because when I did that, my jaw hurt, and my stomach and rib cage muscles hurt when I started coughing, and I still had to use that peak flow meter to get my sats up. I managed to get up to 85.  My pulmonologist would have been overjoyed.

Then the fun started. I started to cough up phlegm and break wind, and tootled little farts while coughing (no purple clouds or Febreze in sight, either). I am sure I was noisy and I realized that I was really gassy from the anesthesia. That was why my stomach and rib cage muscles felt sore. I felt bloated like Jabba the Hutt of Star Wars fame.

I felt like a cat hacking up hairballs. I knew I had to clear my lungs and get the phlegm and succeeded. I asked for tissue and the nurse gave me a suctioning tube to suction myself free of the phlegm. More productive coughing and suctioning. I had to do that for a while until my lungs cleared.

I then realized that I had a very full bladder and really needed to pee this time.  I asked the nurse if there was a bathroom. She unplugged me from all the monitors, helped me down from the gurney, covering my bare backside with a blanket. The moment I planted my feet on the floor, I experienced what I call tilt a whirl vertigo in very slow motion. At some point during the walk to the bathroom, my surgeon appeared on my left side and I said I have the woozies, and he said I know, and patted my left shoulder like a concerned mother hen. The nurse then escorted me into the bathroom.  I very carefully positioned myself on the toilet seat paper pad, seat, hiking my gown up, as I did so. Then it was a very carefully orchestrated series of movements to get off the toilet, get to the sink, and wash and dry my hands.

I didn't return to the gurney, but instead sat down in this recliner with a disposable pad on the seat.  My surgeon reappeared to check on me.  He said the surgery went very well and I said I was so glad it was done because I wanted to hear surround sound and thanked him again. I said by the way, I bring greetings from your former patients and fan club and rattled off names. He smiled, and he asked if I had family here and I said yeah, my sister is around here somewhere. He said let me see what I can do, and that was the last I saw of him.

One of the nurses came by and removed my IV and said I could get dressed, I will be right outside the curtain if you need help. It took some creativity to put my bra back on because I was still pretty unsteady. So here's what I did. I placed the bra around me, hooked the back of the bra in front of me, then turned the hooked part to the back, and put my arms inside the bra straps that way. I was able to get my underpants on, my sweatpants on, and my flannel shirt on, which buttoned up the front.  Just then the nurse patted the curtain, I said I'm ready, and she said look who I found, and it was my sister. She grinned at me and said how are you, and I said I have the really slow motion tilt-a-whirl vertigo going which didn't happen the last time, but other than that I am fine, and could you please put my socks and sneakers on me. She said sure, and put the socks and mule sneakers on me.

My sister then left to go get her SUV, and I was wheeled out to the car. The aide helped me get into the SUV because I was still pretty unsteady, and helped my sister fasten me in.

My sister and I returned to the hotel. Because I was still really unsteady, she drove the SUV up to the lobby entrance, parked the car, came around and helped me out as I sort of slithered out straight out of the passenger seat. I took her arm and together we walked inside the lobby and I sat down.  My sister said I am going to park the car.  A hotel employee came over and asked if she could get me a glass of water, and I said I think I'm fine at the moment, my sister went to park the SUV.  Shortly thereafter, my sister reappeared and together we walked to the elevator and went to our room.

My sister called our sister in California to let her know I was fine, and called other extended family members, friends, and my supervisor at work. I took my first pain pill while my sister ordered room service as it was 5:30 PM and I had not eaten since 9 PM the previous night.
It was a delicious dinner - crab chowder in a sourdough bowl, rolls, seafood pasta and Italian cannoli.  We polished off that dinner and my stomach thanked me.  I had to eat slowly and methodically as I still had jaw pain. I felt more human that I had all day. My stomach and body still felt like Jabba the Hutt of Star Wars fame because was still gassy from the surgery.

The rest of the evening, I worked at drinking a 1.5 liter bottle of water, and I realized I was really gassy. I belched, burped and tootled farts the rest of the evening, but no stinky clouds. The more air I expelled, the better I felt. I have very sore stomach muscles and a sore rib cage and I am sore all over, but I feel pretty good overall.  I have been resting and taking naps.

Activation day will be March 27th. I will finally hear out of both ears!