All Photos if you want to skip the reading crap lol

The Day of my operation, check out the sexy

stockings I had to wear!!

After my operation, head swathed in bandage

and knotted (blue knot)

My the scar covered in plaster

Bruising has started to appear on my neck and check out the wadding I had to have inside my ear for 12 days!!

Extortionate rates to watch telly at the hospital!!!

My scar on day 12/13 just after the plaster was taken off.

Week 3

I have decided to update my post on a weekly basis as most days are the same....more or less

I had booked a Pampered Chef Party for the 9th - my birthday but decided to cancel it as I wanted to concentrate on getting better and be 100% better to entertain my guests so will have it on another date....I still felt dizzy and trying to recover from my long day out on wednesday the 7th in which I visited Ikea before my pre-op and visted a friend at the hospital...I was out of the house for a total of almost 7 hours!!!
Friday 9th March was my birthday so I thought I would have my first shower and hair wash (like a present to myself) - 2 weeks to the day of my operation - I felt fantastic, leaning back to wash my hair in the shower, I felt heavy headed and as if my ear was going to fall off and my ear canal pulling back which is a weird sensation (my surgeon said that he had scraped the muscles off at surgery and I guess it's still rebuilding), my husband said that he would come up and check on me to see if I was ok and stayed with me throughout to make sure I was ok, my scar smarted after I washed my hair, felt like vinegar was being poured over a cut, I quickly patted it dry after and it felt a bit better..upon washing my hair, I had noticed the difference in the lenth of my hair, it was considerably shorter on my right side than my left side because it was shaved off and am now contemplating shaving off the other side of my ear to make it even....I also smelled tobacco again, it was coming from my ear, the water must have contributed to it starting the smell again....ho hum...

Later on in the day, I thought to tidy up the living room so it looks presentable, I had a pounding headache immediately after even though I felt fit as a fiddle :-( so had to rest for the remainder of the day, my brother visited after work which was a nice surprise as not seen him for a while and was nice catching up, then my mum came with my step-dad and they stayed for an Indian takeaway - my choice as I felt that I could taste spicy foods more than normal everyday food and boy, I did enjoy it very much - was shattered that evening!!

Weekend was a little hard as I was easily worn out and having the kids at home - phew! Had debated on going over to my mums a few times to get away from it all and bless my husband, he struggled to keep up with everything and has been a star...on Sunday we all also went to visit a relative in southampton (perhaps I should move there considering the amount of times I've spent going there lol) and spent all day there, was nice and relaxing as they have a garden and the weather was fabulous, kids played outside almost all day, chatting to my relatives etc etc, totally chilled but by evening, I was shattered and just wanted to go home and once I got home, I vegged out on the sofa leaving hubby to sort the kids out..bless him x

Monday morning, I still felt light headed and dizzy if I turned my head too quicky - I was desperate to get better as missed going outside on my own and also being able to drive as my surgeon had said to me at my pre-op that only I will know that I am ready, and I wasn't yet.....my headaches came in waves, esp trying to tell my son no, no and him wanting my constant attention (he is 2yrs old and too young to understand - yet!) and me telling my husband to see to him instead...ughh!!

Tuesday, I felt brighter but still not yet 100%, I have now re-discovered 'The Sims 2' and been hooked on my laptop almost all day yesterday and today - determined to get better and rest loads, which is now starting to show results (yay!), dizziness subsiding unless I'm walking around too much and the headache comes on suddenly rather than gradually, it pounds on my head until I sit down for five or ten mins then it gradually calms down. My ear is improving greatly, scar is healing really well, it feels bumpy to touch and dry in places where it's healing. I even managed to give my two youngest boys a bath.

Wednesday, it was coffee morning at the deaf club in Reading, was debating on whether to go, Lee said that I should as it'd be good for me to get out of the house and I had missed chatting to my friends as well as wanted to see my other friend who had her implant 11 days after I had mine, it would be great to see her and compare notes..I felt fit enough albeit a bit dizzy upon setting foot out of the house and that was nice!
Saw quite a few people at the club and was great to catch up and they all seemed pleased to see me, I had felt a bit isolated since the operation, so it was nice.
Upon catching up and comparing notes with my friend who had the implant - she had the same surgeon as me and chosen the same device as me (AB Harmony), it was interesting talking about how her recovery was and her feelings etc - she had a massive bruise on her forehead from where they probably tied up the bandage, took a while before it went down and because she was lying on her good side (the left side, her implant was done on right like me), fluid was going to her face, I had recommended getting a V-pillow, her mum went out and bought one, lying on her back helped it go down...
Comparing other notes as half of my tongue feels numb and can't taste much, her's feel fine, my head feels fine and only numb on the top of my ear alone whereas half of her head feels numb all down to her ear....she feels when she stands up for too long - like five or ten mins, her legs give away easily and I feel fine...we both have the same pins stabbing in the eardrum, I can only say to her that it'll get better once the wadding comes out as it did for me, she looks like as if she is recovering better than I am, probably due to having no partner and only has one child at home.
I got back home from the club feeling shattered, probably due to the fresh air and chatting too much! Rested for the rest of the afternoon - playing the Sims2 again :-)

Thursday, I rested all day, was itching to get going but decided to sit on the sofa on my laptop playing my games, my ear seemed fine, scar feels tender to touch, neck feels stiff if I get stressed - that comes from having two little boys at home who are little monkeys!! I can still wiggle my ears to my delight, still numb in parts but feeling more, my ear canal feels weak when I lean back in showers, it feels as it is falling out of my ear...wonder how long it takes for it to stop feeling like that and for my muscles to repair itself....

Friday, writing all this today, my memory is so good now and recalling events in the past week, am glad my memory is still sharp even though I have days when I feel like an old woman! My legs feel stiff from moving about a little more than usual in the last few days, it'll go eventually and I'll be back on my feet.
I cleaned the kitchen today, put one wash load on, felt fit and wanted to make the most of it and I like seeing my kitchen clean, after I had done that, I felt a bit sweaty and light headed, I knew it was time to stop and sit down with a cuppa tea, I have to remind myself to take baby steps and now have a headache!!
My scar doesn't hurt so much now, the swelling has gone down loads and has a little bump, the bottom part of my scar feels itchy and one area feels like as if I have a spot and am trying not to itch it! Annoying, will see how it is tomorrow and perhaps take a picture later on....I really need to put pictures up on here rather than rely on facebook - I'll have to try and find that cable to upload from my phone, I hope I haven't left out any details...if so, I'll update it..

Will update if I can tonight and close it for another week or earlier as I have another appointment on 21st to see Mr Hellier for my follow up appointment from the pre-op, if all is well, my switch on date - already booked for the 28th March will go ahead. Exciting times ahead and I have no idea what to expect!

xxx

Day 12 and my pre-op assessment

Had been looking forwards to today for ages, arranged for my SIL to have my youngest, the other 5 were going to school so it was perfect except that she was going to take my youngest with her in the morning - I thought hmmmm, we'll pop into IKEA for lunch before going to the cochlear implant centre - meatballs nom nom! After my assessment, we had planned to visit a friend who had her implant yesterday and she needed a few things so was going to drop it off.

Felt surreal going out of the house, had a cap to hide my really greasy hair, didn't wobble to the car, I walked perfectly as long as I didn't turn my head too quick. Popped into sainsburys for a few bits my friend asked for and we were en-route to southampton.

Ikea for lunch mmmm, I felt a bit wobbly with loads of people around, I knew I wasn't ready to go out but I wanted my meatballs! Held onto lee's hands most of the time to guide me and often had to tell him to slow down with his walking as was struggling to keep in line with him, he was more or less pulling me along and at the same time trying not to fall (bloody men!)

Arrived at the cochlear implant centre, saw my surgeon who removed the wadding from my ear, ah ah ah ouch ouch, it was yellow and approx 30-40cms long (how they managed to fit it in my ear canal - I have no idea), Mr Hellier seemed pleased with the insides of my ear and then proceeded to take the plaster off my incision, I kept telling him to be careful and going ohh oohh oh ow ah ah when he just pulled it off with ease and no stickiness at all, except for my plaster that I had put on top of the existing plaster because it was falling off and my hair stuck onto the plaster and pulled most of my hair out! Ooowwwwwwwwwwwww!

He seemed pleased with how well the scar is healing but wasn't impressed with the soft lump on top of my scar next to my ear, on my head and said there's fluid inside, it's normal and sometimes can happen. I explained to him that it was hurting a lot and when I got stressed at home after doing some stuff, he gave me a ticking off and said I should be resting and resting a lot more in order to get better so I think I did too much too soon! :-( a lesson in life learnt.

Said I can wash my hair but to keep the scar dry as it's still healing and for the lump of fluid to go down with ease...how can I do that in the shower or in the bath, I'll work that one out tomorrow even though I made a promise to myself that having a shower will be the first thing I do, but no, like I said - too much, too soon....and have been told to come back in two weeks to see how my ear is doing and whether if the lump of fluid has gone down, not been given a switch on date so I left my surgeon's office feeling a bit dejected.

I had another appointment while I was there, took a bit longer than planned as I wasn't given choices for the AB Neptune device as it's to be used for swimming and I was offered that as well if I do go for AB Harmony in which I did and had to go through all the forms of choosing colours etc etc which I should have done at my last appointment.

Upon visiting my friend, she seemed fine and said she had no dizziness etc and felt fine and have been told that she could go home, I warned her, it'll come and have advised her to rest and told her about my appt with my surgeon and my mistake for not resting as her mum said that the best thing for her was to keep going as normal while recovering - said that's the worst thing to do, but upon my leaving, she got up and said oh, i feel a bit light headed! Told her good luck at home and I left.

Upon coming back home, I really wanted to rest as it was a long day, so have been ordered to bed early, about 8pm armed with my laptop and got the telly on, my ear felt heavy as if I have weights tied to my ear and was pulling it off - not a nice feeling and the numbness is subsiding on the sides of my ear alone, just the top part of ear but can feel the rest of it no problems, I don't like the taste of coffee anymore so have been drinking a lot of tea and I am NOT a tea drinker LOL......

I intend to rest a lot more this week!

Day 9, 10 and 11

Sunday - we all agreed that we would have a 'brunch' today the night before, but waking up at 10am thinking that it's all gone out of the window as the kids will all be up and have helped themselves to breakfast. Upon coming downstairs to find all my 6 kids were watching television and still in their pjamas, no empty bowls of cereal in the dining room - they didn't have breakfast and was waiting for us to come downstairs, bless them, so we all helped each other and cooked it while Lee popped up to the shops for extra bits for our 'brunch', ate at 12 which was perfect and everyone had clean plates :-))

For the rest of the day I had complete rest and my eldest daughter has been a wonderful godsend, she did loads round the house and did uniform washing and some other stuff so I wouldn't have to do anything and I just sat on the sofa with the other kids and playing games on the computer....

My 4th child was sick in the evening in bed, poor Lee had to clear it up and I felt really really bad and got upset because I couldn't do it - well, I could but decided not to for my sake. I really did feel for Lee, he slumped on the sofa shattered later on as he had been on the go all day.

Monday - it was Inset day for the kids so we all stayed in our pjamas except for Lee who had to get changed to take my eldest to school and basically had a lovely day at home, I felt fab, so did a bit of housework, washing etc as you do...

Tuesday - felt really well and was eager to get back to normal and cleaned up the kitchen etc etc, my head was hurting a little, but being a woman and I've given birth to six children, I can put up with pain as I think birth has the worst pain...again, didn't have a nap then which I should have done as was shattered in the evening. Didn't think it would take this long for me to recover.

Day 8

Woke up in the morning with a headache - all I could think was about the cupcakes needing icing....managed to get them done and they were picked up and the recipent was pleased with it - phew!!

Rested as much as I could today, the wadding I had in my ear kept sort of coming loose and am having to push it back inside my ear - it smells of tobacco which is probably why I keep thinking someone had been smoking grrrr, can't wait for it to get taken out and can get my hair washed as it's really really greasy.

Tried using Batiste - dry shampoo - wasn't impressed at all, sprayed it on my hair and it turned my hair white to my horror and the kids thought it was hilarious! Gave it a good massage as ur meant to massage it in your head - yeah right, that's a bit difficult when you have a great big scar behind your ear and having very very greasy hair that has a mind of it's own!! Had to admit defeat and brushed my hair instead then tied it back.

I think I tried to have a nap but I had lots on my mind as well as the side of my head having sort of a thump thump sensation which was annoying.

Day 7

Woke up feeling fabulous - the complete bed rest I had yesterday did me wonders and was raring to go - I had a cupcake order to make along with the round cake yesterday - 72 cupcakes (24 each of chocolate, baileys and vanilla) for my stepfather's son's 30th birthday on the saturday - 3rd March....I had ordered all the bits I needed, I just needed to get baking but to my shock, Lee volunteered to do the baking while I rested so I took the opportunity to do that and helped when I could.


I had no option but get icing the round cake which is the important part of the cake order and made a ew mistakes - comes from being tired and knackered but I got there in the end and went to bed at 12.30am after I had finished it. Thought to ice the cupcakes in the morning so I could get some sleep, my head was hurting so much,stress and rest is what I should be having but I stupidly agreed to the order thinking I'll be fine after a week - how wrong I was and I didn't have a nap at all that day when I should have done - that's my regret!

Day 6

After such an eventful day the day before, I am paying for it today and feel that I am run down and Lee has ordered me to bed and to stay in bed in which I had been most of the day trying to recover...all I can think is about the pain I have on my head where the scar is, especially the top part of my scar which hurts more and it feels swollen :-((

I had an order to bake a cake for a party on saturday and Lee volunteered to bake the cakes for me and do the cupcakes tomorrow so I left instructions on how I do it - to my surprise, it came out beautifully and he seemed pleased with himself and said he actually enjoyed it (I may get him baking more tee hee)

In the evening, Lee cooked up a lovely meal of steak, chips, beans, mushroom and topped it off with a lovely pepper sauce - have to admit that it was gorgeous and tasted every single mouthful even though half my tongue was a little numb.

Am sorry for late posting, it's been a mad few days and on day 6, I did feel ill!! Think the stress didn't help at all - now I know the meaning of REST!!!! Being a mummy of 6 as well as a husband probably didn't help and I grabbed the chance to do some stuff around the house when I thought I was fit - how wrong I was!