Post op checks.. continuing the CI journey.. by Eleanor

No need to worry, I am still here!

 I thought I'd better write a lovely blog post to update you all on my Cochlear Implant journey.
It is now exactly 3 weeks since my operation and I'm feeling great. Nothing hurts anymore, nothing aches, nothing throbs or groans or tries to remind me of the fact I have a implant in my head.

However, I am constantly reminded of how deaf I am. I know, I was deaf before the operation, and I'm still deaf now and I will always be deaf. But, having just one hearing aid has hit me rather hard. It's gotten to the point where I don't even notice people chatting away on my right side (the implanted side) until I look round. I'm zoning out all the time because I'm too tired to focus, and I'd much rather be at home in the land of silence and not having to listen to anyone. My world is an oral world, which was why I wanted to take this journey, to be able to access it a little more easily. This isn't forever, I know that, but it doesn't make it any easier in the now. I'm waiting rather impatiently for the switch on date and once I have that, I'll know there's an end to this stage and the start of a new and exciting one.

 Last week I went back to the hospital for a post op check, where I was asked to go to X-ray for a head scan to check the implant was in the right place. I also saw the nurse who checked inside my ear and the wound. Everything is healing so well and I'm amazed by how easy it has all been. It really is just waiting now.

 A few weeks ago there was a programme on Channel 4 called 'Breaking the Silence' which showed 7 people getting their CIs switched on for the first time. It was all filmed live, a brave decision by channel 4. I'm not really sure why they felt they had to show it live, nor why they had to show 7 people getting switched on. Don't get me wrong, it was very interesting and I enjoyed it (apart from the dodgy subtitles...) but couldn't help wishing it had been more of a documentary, showing the journey of CI, from assessments, to switch on, through to a few years later. Hearing is such a difficult thing to explain. I don't know what it is like to be hearing so I couldn't ever be accurate in telling you, but for people who are hearing, that's all they've ever known. How can you explain something that comes so naturally? It's like when you think too much about the way you breathe and suddenly it becomes very overwhelming and you think you've forgotten how to do it.

For anyone interested in Cochlear Implants, Breaking the Silence is a great place to start, but there is oh so much more I could tell you. And pretty soon, I hope there's even more I can tell you, in between listening to your impressions of Donald Duck...