The Unpredictable and Unexpected

Since my last posting, things have been interesting. I’ve had a couple of potholes but I’m getting around them and starting to settle into enjoying having both implants. After a month of almost weekly sound mappings, we’ve finally reached a place where I can comfortably wear both implants! They’re loud enough for me to enjoy the directionality of sound as well as increased comprehension in unfavorable listening environments such as loud restaurants or echo-y rooms. But getting to this point was an uphill battle. Ginny reached out to Advanced Bionics, the manufacturer of my implants, for support because we couldn’t figure out why I was experiencing what I was experiencing. Wearing both implants together was creating something called summation: 1+1 was not 2; rather, it was 1+1=3. Having stimulation in both ears was too much for me to handle. I was feeling breathless, my heart rate would accelerate, and I got hot all over my body. In short, I felt like I was having small anxiety attacks. After what feels like 100 sound mappings in two months, I’m doing so much better. The only downside is I still can’t wear both when I’m on the phone. A phone conversation is too intense for me to wear both – but I can control that experience easily by simply taking one implant off during the phone conversation. However, we do have a long-term goal of being able to wear both consistently in all listening environments. Considering I was panicking that I wouldn’t EVER be able to wear both comfortably, I’m fine with taking one off just for phone conversations!

To throw in another monkey wrench, I developed a post-surgical complication. A small air pocket has formed between my skin, skull, and the implant itself. Every time I would blow my nose or sneeze, air would travel up to the surgery area and push the magnet off my implant enough to turn it off. To get my implant to turn back on, I use my fingers to push the air around and squeeze it out. Weird? YES! Of course when this happened the first time, I freaked out because I didn’t understand what was happening. The medical explanation is that the tissue around my wound has not healed properly so an air tunnel has formed. We tried to speed up the tissue healing process by putting a pressure wrap on my head for 2 days. A pressure wrap is what I came home from surgery with (see the picture!). Going to work for 2 days looking like I just walked out of brain surgery was … interesting. Needless to say, I hid in my office behind my cubicle as much as I could. When the wrap came off after 2 days, I was under strict orders not to blow my nose, sneeze, or otherwise create pressure in my sinus area, for 2 weeks. I was a very good patient. However, the first time I blew my nose (GENTLY!) 2 weeks later, I felt that pocket fill up with air immediately. So it hasn’t healed and I see my surgeon on Friday to figure out how to fix this issue. Stay tuned.

While all this has been going on, I’ve been tending to a back injury. (This has been my year of medical issues…I feel like an 80 year old woman with how many times I have doctor appointments!) It started back in April when I started feeling sore in my lower right back. I chalked it up to a pulled muscle and didn’t give it much thought. Well that sore area over the course of 2 months developed into persistent sharp pains that have derailed me from running, twisting my torso, bending, and standing for long periods of time. I finally gave in and went to my doctor…who then referred me to a spine specialist… who then referred me to 6 weeks of physical therapy with a preliminary diagnosis of arthritis. After a few weeks of physical therapy and no relief, my new diagnosis is a bulging or herniated disk. My therapist would love to do an MRI to confirm this but with magnetic plates in my head, this is not an option for me. When first considering cochlear implants over two years ago, the fact that I couldn’t get MRIs did not faze me. I’m a healthy woman in my mid-20s - MRIs are not a part of my existence! Now that I’m actually in a position where an MRI could help me, it’s a tad frustrating. I console myself by saying MRIs don’t show everything 100% of the time. So we’re taking the old-fashioned route by doing physical therapy until something works. Blah. Did I mention I feel like an 80 year old woman this year?

Now that both implants are on and working, I’m definitely enjoying the ease of conversation in group settings. I was at a happy hour last Friday and happened to sit next to an ENT doctor from the Philippines who is observing in our clinic for the summer. She told me all about their health care system and their audiology and cochlear implant practices in her country. I was able to hear her just fine with all the chatter going on and with her sitting directly to my right. Then, my co-worker, sitting to my left, told me all about her fitness competitions, and I didn’t have to swing my body around to hear her properly. It is wonderful to be able to switch back and forth between people on different sides of my body without having to worry about shifting one ear to hear well. It’s a small thing but it relieves so much stress for me in social situations. So despite the air pockets, the weird physical experiences, and millions of mappings, I’m still happy with my decision to pursue a 2nd implant. It has been an adventure and at the very least, keeps life interesting.

Love,
Becky