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Just Implnted!!!!


Jimit

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After a two months of marathon process from taking a decision to go for CI to whole lot of time exploring the different CIs and finalizing one, I finally got implanted yesterday. 

Day 0 was quite well than I thought. The surgery was at 9am and I got admitted to hospital day before yesterday for pre surgery process which includes hair cut, signing some forms and get some antibiotics to prepare the body for what's coming I guess. 

I was keeping myself positive throughout the day before surgery, was visualising on the things before and after a surgery throughly so I can be prepare for any surprises. It really helps when you have read about stories from other patients.

So, I have been told not to drink water and avoid any food at all cost after 12 am on surgery day (9 hours before surgery). At 9am on surgery day, I was shifted to operation area and kept at waiting lounge. Where I have some time to kill alone, to keep my mind busy I have read the whole file of medical records of mine they have kept in my bed.

By the time I completed the reading, I have been moved to operation theatre. I just walked in and see plenty of doctors preparing for me. I said good morning to them, and assumed they greeted me too as they have a mask on and I couldn't hear anything. I was just hoping they are having a good day so far 😛

So one of them asked me to lie down on the bed at centre surrounded by whole lot of fancy machines I have seen in movies. I have couple of known doctors in the room so that was a kind of relief. One of them is from anesthesia department which is a crucial part in operation. It is something that knocked you off so you won't feel a damn thing. 😂

As soon as I lied down, he injected anesthesia which I knew already. By the time I said "Hey God, just take care it. Will you..", I have been knocked out. 😛 The next thing, I saw was my wife standing by my side in same waiting lounge and I found myself telling her, "Hey it's done. Good to see you. That Anesthesia was amazing". I was kind of high of drugs so I knocked out again. Later I found she was there because I was keep turning my head on the operation side so doc gave her a duty to keep it on right side. I have a loud tinnitus in my implanted ear that I can feel even with half consciousness but I have already knew it's normal.

At around 3pm I was shifted back to my room. I saw my parents waiting there. We greeted each other but I was still high. I just asked for water as my mouth was completely dry and taste like full of medicines but the doctor advised to give it after couple of hours that too just couple of sips at a time. So by 5pm I started intake of waters and by 8pm I was taking my dinner. So the recovery was quite fast.

At 5pm when I started taking water, the room was spinning for me like we saw stars spins in those videos of southern hemisphere. But after the dinner it was quite stable. There was a little to no pain at the side of surgery but that's because I was high on sedatives and still am by the time I am writing this (at 10:40 Day 1). The night went just well, I slept well and in the morning I am in my full senses. I have also realised the tinnitus has become normal by now.

I took my breakfast and find time to write this all down just to kill some time. I have read plenty of "before and after surgery stories" and mine is almost the same. Some takes time to recover and some recovers faster. But rest assured, the body is meant to recover. It's in our DNA and it knows what to do. With the help of modern science, it just make it the whole process painless as much as possible. 

I hope it helps someone who is currently awaiting for the surgery and feeling anxious and nervous.

Will keep posting as I live more with this engineering Marvel in my head. Just super excited about the future whatever it has to offer. 

Stay tuned!!!

IMG_20220731_071854.thumb.jpg.b1b6fa6135a1bbdce994d6546ad6d04d.jpg

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Hi jimit! I loved your story! Especially reading your complete medical file! 

Its great you are now through the surgery, cant wait for the next step! Take care and rest now

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@Jimit

Congratulations!  Rest easy.  The fun begins at activation!

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Glad the surgery went well, Jimit! Hopefully your recovery will be smooth too! Take it easy for now, it's best to let the body rest for a while until the healing process kicks in 🙂

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have been keeping notes on the progress of recovery, just adding it here for someone who wants to know how things looks like post surgery.

Day 2: (31 July)

Day 1 went well. There was minor pain at the side of implant but the sedatives are doing it's job. I took my lunch and rested in afternoon.

At evening I watched some TV, talk to people came to hospital to visit me. I am back to doing things on my own without any support.

However, I found myself struggling with a sleep at night. Mostly because I have slept well during the day. I managed to sleep somewhat but in morning I found the pain is getting worse and I felt some pain building up in throat as well. But apart from that I was all good.

Day 3: (1 aug)
I brushed and bathed myself. Took breakfast and informed the nurse about the pain in throat as well as around implant. They gave me sedatives and the pain was gone again. 

They took me for CT scan and some X-rays in afternoon. The x-ray guys took more time than expected. Some how they couldn't manage to get my head to position right and keep turning it all around. Thanks to sedatives, I have no pain otherwise this would become a nightmare.

Day 4/5: (2/3 aug)

I have been feeling a sharp pain around the implant time to time but it was manageable. And since I was consistently given sedatives to cope up with the pain it went well. The throat pain is also there but while I was on sedatives, it too hardly comes to notice. Due to sedatives or other medications, I have mouth ulser building up back of my upper lip. I have informed to doctor and they have changed diet plan to handle it. 

I was discharged in afternoon of Day 4. I was bit afraid of going back to home as this means there is no immediate assistance available in case of anything but I was feeling much better so thought it's time to go. They prescribed medicines for next 10 days and we headed home.

First night at home was terrible, the pain around the implant is at worse and I have some fever as well. But after taking prescribed medicines the fever and pain went away in few hours and I was able to get some sleep. 

Things started changing at day 5, the last episode of the pain around the implant was at Day 5 evening. The evening and night of day 5, I felt like coming back to a normal self. The mouth ulser is still there but the throat infection and pain is getting better. 

So looks like it is almost over now. Hoping to resume the work in next week.

Day 6 (4 aug 10:10 pm)
I wake up earlier than usual today because I slept well. Have spent my day like normal. Have watched couple of movies since I wasn't feeling sleepy in afternoon. Have read books to pass time. Overall the pain is almost tends to 0 now. Just having discomfort from the bandage I guess. 

I also found the bandage is moving upward day by day but it still covers the wounded part well so will be fine till next dressing. Planning to resume work from tomorrow.

Day 8 (6th Aug)
Day 7 was like a social get-together day. Have met plenty of relatives who came to check on me. 

The down side of the medications is, I have a hearing attack on my non implanted ear which brought the remaining hearing down as well. I haven't had any attack in my right ear since long so wasn't expecting it but anyway that came as surprise. So I am 99% deaf now. Was able to hear the thunder while it was raining yesterday which felt good. Looks like I will need to wait for activation to hear any sound now unless my right ear just recover from attack and start functioning a little bit. Ah and while we are discussing the downsides, I need to add that the mouth ulser on my upper lip is still there. Throat infection is also there but it's manageable.

14 Aug 22 (Day 15)

It's been already 15 days passed now. The pain in second week seems to be more irritating than the first. But it's not the implant area that was having a pain but my throat. It has kept worsening over the last week and the pain was so intense that I had to call the Doc and ask to do something about it. 

He prescribed local anaesthesia but it is just a work around to reduce pain while eating. Also, the food taste shit when you eat after applying anaesthesia. I have tried it couple of times and then gave up. Fortunately the healing started after 2-3 days of intense pain. And within next couple of days I was started eating non spicy food. Today looks like I am back to eating the regular food. 

Apart from those horrific few days when the throat infection was at pick, the recovery was usual. There was no other side effects of any kind. So looks like I have the timing right to resume the work. It's better to take atleast 15 days of rest just in case of any side effects. Otherwise 7-8 days are enough for recovering from the surgery.

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@Jimit

I am glad you are feeling better.  It is so interesting how cochlear implant surgery protocols vary so much in different countries.  In the US, cochlear implant surgery is an outpatient surgery.  A few hours at the hospital and we return home the same day.  I was very fortunate with both of my cochlear implant surgeries.  I only took Tylenol a couple of days and was feeling fine.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

It was an activation week and I just wants to put some details here on how it progressed so far.

So, I was activated on 31st Sept Wednesday. The first day was way more exciting than I have imagined about. I have written whole experience here. 

https://link.medium.com/1eJthQx00sb

The fun continues and magnified from day 2. The voices of people started to sounds familiar from day 2 which was a robo voice at day 1. I still couldn't differentiate between male or female on day 2 but it sounds more human than machine. 

At the end of the day 2, I was able to correctly identify the voice of the person even if it's less clear. The voice recognition is getting better at every hour if not the minutes.

The aha moment came when I managed to link audio link with my mobile and started my favourite song which I haven't heard clearly since 14 years. Not just I was able to hear the lyrics clearly, but also able to hear the sounds of the instrument playing the music. I have never experienced the kind of melody of the music in ages. 

It's already Day 4, and the people are already sounds like I know how they sound before my hearing loss and the known musics and songs are so beautifully sound that I can dance while listening to it. 

Haven't thought the progress was this fast. It's nothing less than a miracle for me. 

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