I had cochlear implant surgery last Thursday on October 15. It was planned for months, and the timing couldn’t have been better, since the last of my hearing faded away while I was watching the Marlins/Cubs game on the 12th.
I was discharged from the hospital on Friday, and have been recuperating at home ever since. The doctor said I shouldn’t even think about returning to work until Thursday at the earliest.
Originally, I thought I would be able to return to work today, the Monday after the surgery. Now I see that this thought was so, so naive. I underestimated just how bad the side effect of vertigo would be. It damn near killed me. For three days, I was unable to move without experiencing powerful multiple spasms of vomiting. This made going to the bathroom a particular nightmare.
Today I got some food in me for the first time, food that at least stayed put. And I’ve been catching up on the SDMB, although my time tonight will be brief, since I’ve got an amazing headache.
Now I know what it takes to get me to stay away from the SDMB for five days.
I had my stomach operated on in June and have yet to have too many vomit-free days. Last Friday a doctor finally acknowleged that there is still some things wrong down there and is sending me to a new set of specialists. I now have hope…
You’re officially a cyborg, Atreyu. So, can you twiddle with the electronic part, so that you can hear ultrasonic sounds? How does it compare to the hearing you had? Do they do it in one side, or both?
Congratulations on the pukeless day. I’m a huge fan of not puking.
Cochlear implants are traditionally done in one ear only. In my case, it was the left ear.
I won’t be able to actually use it until about 4 to 6 weeks from now, depending on how long it takes for the incision to heal. That means a hard month of not hearing anything at all is ahead of me. That also means I’m going to miss the premiere of “The Matrix Revolutions” in a couple of weeks (dammit!), but I hope it will still be playing in theaters when I’m able to go.
The pukeless day, as you put, is bliss. The vertigo isn’t completely gone yet, though. I’m still unsteady while I walk, and reading is surprisingly difficult…my eyes keep circling around the words. But I’ve been told that the vertigo should gradually diminish with time as I recover.
I remember the dry heaving I did the last time I had surgery (the first time as an adult) and being totally surprised, since I’d never had problems with anesthesia as a kid. It was horrible. And it only lasted a few hours, once the second anti-nausea drug they gave me finally kicked in.
I probably would have rescheduled it just for that. Don’t some theaters have a radio broadcast subtitle doohickey? I guess you’d have to watch it twice then, one to read it and one to watch it.
Hell, it’s the Matrix, the words don’t really matter.
Ah, good. It’s a messing-with-inner-ear problem, rather than an anesthesia reaction, right? Quoting Eddie Izzard:
Can you explain a bit more about what you had done? My nephew has had a few surgeries on his ear because those three little bones were worn away.
Vertigo suck, vertigo sucks bad.
It sucks when you are five months pregnant and wake up to take the oldest child to kindergarten and can’t get your bearings about you to get out of bed.
Went to sleep I was fine, woke up and just felt odd, took oldest to school and had 4 year old and 3 month old with me and made it as far as a block away from the school to a friends house before calling for help.
I was scared.
I feel for you, and I hope that you had someone around to help you out.
I was told that once you get it you are prone to having bouts of it later down the road. Anyone know if this is true?
I had mine years ago from an inner ear infection I didn’t even know that I had, and a couple of months ago I told the doctor that I was feeling light-headed more often then not and was a bit dizzy and she gave me medicine for vertigo.
I also remember with the first bout they gave me Phenergen for the nausia. IIRC a motion sickness pill. I know they also gave it to me for severe morning sickness.
Did they try to give you anything like that? Or maybe you could get something over the counter like Dramamine?
Best of luck with a full recovery and just think how much sweeter that movie will sound after you have recovered.