Day #12

Things have been relatively calm since my last entry...of course, there have been a few highlights. ;)

On December 13 (yes, 5 days after surgery), I got on an airplane and flew to Tennnessee for a meeting. People think I was crazy, but I really was feeling rather good. It's amazing to me how much easier it is this time around. During my first surgery, I had very bad dizziness which kept me off my feet a little bit more. My incision still looks and feels great and I haven't felt anymore after-effects from the anesthesia.

I do have quite loud tinnitus (ringing) in my newly implanted ear and at times, it does seem to interfere with what I am getting from my first implant. I did get a bit of a tweak (a/k/a map adjustment) when I was on my trip - helps to work with a bunch of cochlear implant audiologists! (Thanks SG)

After a day and night in Tennesse, I got to come home and read a bedtime story to Maddy and tucked her in. The next morning, I dropped her off at school and Matt and work and then headed back to good old Willard - what I like to call "airport in the cornfield".

Next, it's off to sunny southern California for another meeting and the Advanced Bionics Holiday Party. I really work with a great bunch of people and feel so fortunate to be part of this group. They are working so hard to bring the best product forward and really support their customers.

The party was held in the Ronald Reagan Memorial Library which also houses Air Force One. It was kinda neat to walk through the plane which is surprisingly small! The tour guide said it is about 1/3 the size of the current presidential plane, Air Force Two.

This party was a very difficult listening situation. I definitely was depending a lot on speechreading (as I'm sure others were). It was in this huge room, with hundreds of people and VERY loud music! I can't wait until my next holiday party so I can see how well my new technology complements my previous technology.

Afterwards, I stayed up for a few more hours chatting with a wonderful colleague before taking a shower and heading back to LAX to catch a 6 a.m. flight (yes, this means I had to arrive at the airport by around 4 a.m. - ugh!). A couple of hours of sleep on the plane and then I arrive in Chicago. My friend picks me up and we head downtown...I have tickets to see "Wicked"! This is my 3rd time seeing this show and I still love it. The next interpreted performance is at the end of March and I look forward to seeing it for the 4th time with my new CI.

After the show, we hang out for a couple of hours and then I'm back on the plane going home. Once again, Maddy's awake and ready for her book. I'm home. :)

Matt, Maddy and I will be seeing both sides of the family for Christmas which means a bit of driving. I don't know yet about our plans to celebrate the New Year.

January 4th can't come soon enough!!!!

Happy Holidays!

Looking back to my first CI

I went ahead and set up another site that talks about my experience with my first CI. It's at http://tinagoesci.blogspot.com

Blogging is addictive! :P

Amazing! This is just Day #2 and it looks great already.

Bandage coming off... 

Mwwwwwwah! 

Hi Mommy! Let me check out your cochlear "eggplant" 

Squirrel Girl! 

Getting ready for discharge 

In the Recovery Room...note my trusty body processor ready and waiting for me to wake up! Thanks to Lee Ann who made sure I was all set up. 

Right ear with my newly replaced Platinum BTE! 

Let's make sure we know which ear needs an implant... 

"Gone bilateral" surgery cap also from the BEA..I got to wear this all the way to the OR 

Maddy in her cute Tigger scrubs from the Bionic Ear Association 

Last chance for earlobes! 

My Top 2 caregivers 

Tina Childress 

Day #2

Took it easy this morning – my friend, Sherry, came over while Matt went to work. I’m feeling pretty good and the anesthesia effects are pretty much gone. I’ve got my appetite back and so was able to enjoy some of the meal my friend, Kim, sent over.

The best part of today was taking a SHOWER! It felt good to take off the pressure bandage. Matt took lots of pictures and they will follow. He also said that the incision was much smaller than my first one. I can feel the skin getting tighter around the incision and sometimes that can cause a little discomfort – regular Tylenol has done the trick though.

Also, I’ve set up a website to “blog” my experience – it is basically a copy of these e-mails that I have been sending out. If you would rather not receive these individual e-mails, let me know and you can just go to the blog website when you want to get an update. This is where I’m hoping to upload all of the pictures and such. I’m also hoping to upload my stories and e-mails from my first CI surgery so that people will understand why I have pictures of squirrels. J

I figure from here on out, I won’t have much to say as I wait the 3.5 weeks until hook-up. At that point, I expect to get busy writing again!

Happy Holidays to all and I look forward to keeping in touch!

Hugs,
~ Tina ~

Day #1

Hi all,

Well, I’m back at home and doing pretty well other than a bit of nausea. L The pain is not too bad and I have just been taking it easy.

Matt and I dropped Maddy off at school and then headed to the hospital around 8:15 a.m. I checked in a 8:30 a.m. and got all prepped. Matt stayed with me until I went in. Surgery was right on time around 9:35 a.m. The last memory I have before going under was one of the audiologists holding my hand…it was nice knowing people in the OR.

Surgery was a success and only lasted 2 hours! I was back in recovery with Matt by around noon and was discharged by 2:30 pm. I look beautiful, of course, with my lovely pressure bandage. I’m pretty sure that Matt took some pictures but I think I have been too scared to look at them so I haven’t uploaded them to my computer yet. They will follow as well. J The gals from my team in the Bionic Ear Association sent me some wonderful gifts on Wednesday…one was a surgical cap that said “Gone Bilateral” on the side. Dr. Novak really appreciated that and let me wear it back to the OR. They also got Maddy some of the CUTEST Tigger scrubs that I have ever seen and she thoroughly enjoyed pretending to be my nurse!

The rest of the evening consisted of basically just resting. Maddy stayed with Aunt Rebecca for most of the evening until bedtime. I wish I had a camera to capture the look on her face when she saw me with my bandage! As I put her down to bed, our normal routine is to say, “Big hug, big kiss, earlobes (she kinda rubs her earlobes in between her fingers – go figure, daughter of an audiologist!)” but when we go to the earlobe part she said, “Mommy, I’ll just rub this earlobe because the other one is under your bandage.” Awwwwwww.

Well, that’s about it for now, not much else to say. Thanks for all of the supportive e-mails, prayers, good thoughts and wishes!

Hugs,
~ Tina ~

Here we go again...:)

Hi all,

Well, my CI surgery is in about 2 more hours and I am READY! I will send out an update (or perhaps Matt will) when I get home.

Someone recently asked me about my thoughts about going bilateral…specifically getting CI #1 vs. CI #2.

CI #1
--------
- I had nothing to lose at 0% discrimination essentially in both ears (i.e., couldn’t understand speech without lipreading cues)
- Despite having limited benefit out of my hearing aids, I still noticed what a difference it was with only 1 hearing aid and waiting for hook-up
- I had NO idea what to expect

CI #2
--------
- Much more calm this time around
- I’m looking forward to still being able to hear with my “old” CI until hook-up
- I have to make a decision about how hard I want to push myself with my new CI…force myself to use it alone, or allow the assimilation to happen while wearing my “old” CI at the same time
- I am fully confident that the new technology will allow me to hear things I haven’t heard in a while
- Sandy called me the “living test head” when I commented that I will have access to basically all of the devices – C1, PSP, HiRes, HiRes 120 – I look forward to participating in research and hopefully helping others
- I promise to “stay away from squirrels” J

I’m hoping to set up some kind of “blog” which includes my comments from my first surgery. It should be an interesting comparison.

Thanks for all of the support, good thoughts, wishes and prayers!!!

~ Tina ~