I did it. I made it through the surgery. My head is killing me, and I have this huge bandage around my whole head. I took a picture of the scar when I ripped the bandage off. I'll post that and a bunch of pics from the day in a second.
But first maybe a little bit about how the surgery turned out first:
The surgeon said that he was able to get the whole electrode array into my cochlea, and that they were all sending strong signals to the auditory nerve. Still have to wait two weeks before they turn it on, hearing sounds probably has me more worried than I was about the surgery.
After they activate the system I start a whole new chapter in my life. I am a year old in true age, but my hearing age is like... well zero... or negative something because sounds are heard in the womb. So kind of crazy. I am sure I will be posting any verbal achievements I make.
OK, now for pics. Here is the start of my day:
Oh but, first I must say there was this amazing moon out this morning but no one could get a good shot of it so I will do it some injustice by trying to describe it.
OK, the moon was a sliver of a crescent that glowed with a magnificent yellow. The whole shape of the moon was lighter then the blackness of the sky giving perfect view of the perfect gray circle that was being hugged by the glowing crescent. Even more amazing was the perfectly placed glowing planet that appeared just off to the left of the moon. The whole scene was pure poetry.
It is early, I am a bit cranky, and no one will feed me.
Me in my room at hospital after they took off my kick ass shirt for this lame robe.
Then they gave me some pink medicine, and it was definitely NOT my usual pink Tylenol medicine. Everything became really laid back, and people kept coming in and doing stuff, and I was just like "whatever". And then some dude with glasses and a crazy hat took me into the long hallway and my parents were totally beside themselves. I was just like "you got to ride the wave man".
Here is a picture of the big babies moments after my departure.
This is what they were looking out at. (click on it to check out the full res version... pretty tight) *also note in last picture my dads failed attempt to try to block the sun before the picture was taken.
Me after the surgery. I am pretty out of it.
Here is where they operated, I have a closer pic and if you want to see it I can email it to ya, but it is a bit hard to look at for me at this moment.
and here I am on the car ride home. I look pretty happy here, but I was pretty friggin far from happy. *Oh there is my new bear in the pic.
So to help me with my sleeping issues my parents decided to take me out to find me a stuffed animal that I could bond with. We must have went to a million stores, and I saw more animals than I knew existed. They were cute, and soft and fluffy, and my parents would comment and say stuff like "oh look at this one it sure is cute" or "this is soft and you love _____ (insert animals name here)"
But I was not having any of it. My parents were right, they were soft, they were cute, and I am sure all great but they were missing something... I did not know what it was but I knew something was wrong.
That is when we went to the last store, and on the last shelf, of the last isle, sat the last one of its kind...
It was blue It was a bear and it was beautiful
I had to have it! This one I pointed out, as I tried to rip the bear out of the package through the little port hole in the box used for sample feels.
My parents looked at me like I was some kind of alien. They kept asking me if I was sure and repeatedly took me back to the other stuffed animals. Pulling random ones out of bins, are you sure? are you sure? I finally was like, OK guys listen, why would I want to trade my superior bear for a lesser creation?
They looked at me for a few minutes, and saw that I was not going to back down. I had made my decision. I f-ing love this thing
Holy crapcicles we have had some incredibly sunny days! What the hell outside rules!!! I have no idea why not one of you told me how awesome it is out there.
Ok, concentrate,... must.... slow down....
Yea, so it's been incredibly sunny and awesome, and I have been so busy that I have had zero time to really write anything. However, know that I have been collecting and documenting all of my adventures so that when I get a second I will have some sweet stuff to post.
One week from today I will be having my Cochlear Implant put in. In fact, the current time as of writing this is 9:05, which means right now I will probably be done with my surgery and resting quietly while my parents are pacing back and forth out in the waiting room, biting what little nails they have left, while pulling at bloody and bruised cuticles.
The only real big danger and tricky part of the surgery is that the surgeon needs to drill right next to a major facial nerve. One little tick and one side of my face would be paralyzed. Which would suck, I'm not going to kid myself here, but I think its a good trade off for the ability to communicate with my family and all the rest of you.
Anyway I wanted to post some things about the implant so that everyone reading this can get some ideas about what it looks like, what it does, etc. etc. Here is an article you can read, there are many other articles that are probably better but as you hunt around the technology changes so rapidly a lot of the info is out of date or biased in some way.
This is an article going over the basics of the surgery and what will be happening in the weeks to follow http://www.mayoclinic.org/cochlear-implants/procedure.html
and as always a nice little wiki site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlear_implants
Here is a video with info on the implant and how it works
Just so you all know, you have to realize that a cochlear implant is a controversial thing to the deaf community. In short, a lot of articles written are from that biased standpoint and the whole issue is very complicated. Just know that the implants are not a cure, but a tool. I will always be deaf, and when the implant is off I will be deaf. When I am swimming, I will be deaf. Even with it on I will be deaf, but I will be able to hear sound.
The implants that are being implanted today are much more complex than those being implanted only a few years ago (2005). So if you read an article, read a current article, and make sure the author isn't biased against the idea of the implant. People are having great success with the implant, especially when it's implanted this early. It will be extremely hard work, but hopefully with a lot of dedication I will have a lot of success too. Only time will tell.
Ok so here is the actual implant I will be getting. It is made by a company called Cochlear, and the implant itself is called the Nucleus Freedom. Here is the website for Cochlear http://www.cochlearamericas.com/
Here is a technical drawing of how its implanted and how the implant will look outside of my head. Notice the actual implant is kind of drilled into my actual skull. I am totally going to be a cyborg!!!! Ill be back!!!!
This is a kid after the surgery, which is probably what I will look like... maybe not that happy.. this kid is clearly still on drugs!
Here is a picture of a deaf cat with an implant... which apparently works for deaf animals as well. Crazy huh?
It was very overwhelming with all the people around and the fact that Friday and Saturday both were filled to the brim with tons of activities made it hard for me to find the energy to really be the usual party animal that I am.
Here are some pictures from the party, I wasnt able to get a picture with everyone but a lot of people were there, twenty or so. So pretty much anyone who was anyone was there to celebrate my first year! I can hardly wait for the next one.
Me with Cupcake
My dad wiping me off after my extermination of the cupcake, you can also see maya and my mom in the pic
Gina, Mom, Seth, and Maya
Me and My bud Jack opening up my gifts, I let jack do all the work while I checked out the sweet ribbon. You can see his dads legs in the background.
More Ribbon Excitement, awesome!!!
Thats Avery (my ex girlfriend, I had to break up with her at the party, there were a lot of hot chicks there to see me and I couldnt be tied down) and her dad Jason, and in the background her mom Midge.
Me chillin with big foot grandpa after most of the people had left.
Me and my Grandma Steph she had the sparkling water which I LOVE TO DRINK because it foams up in my mouth
Check out my sweet sleevless shirt!!!! who F-ing rocks?!?!?!
This is me with my elephant Toy that Cam and Vicki bought me, it vibrates and I think its hilarious!
Maya, My mom, Brooke, Jack and his Mom Allisa, and my dad in the background.
Dad and Sco talking about Austin and his bitches
I really wish I would have gotten pictures with everyone who was there but it was hard to remember to take pictures with all the excitement. Oh, well, maybe they will turn up from other cameras. Next year Ill hire someone to follow me around to document my every move.
Oh, and I received a birthday card from my Aunt Evie, she sent me fifty bucks as well!!!! perhaps a slide right next to the Dizzy Spin.
This was my actual Birthday and it was the first nice day in a really long time, warm, sunny, and incredible. I went to the first Saturday Market and I had a raspberry icy thing and it RULED!!!! My lips turned all Red and I got all hyper. If you havent had one you must try these things... incredible!
It was also a really nice day. I feel bad for all the bitching I did about how the weather was so bad but it looks like my parents were right to spruce up the yard. The weather guy said it was supposed to be in the 70's for my party tomorrow. Apparently my parents arent as clueless as I had once believed.
I also went over to my Grandma Jaz's house for some cake. The cake was suppose to be a Boston Creme Cake, but it didnt turn out or something. I wasnt really sure it tasted great to me, but everyone else was kind of laughing about how the pudding filling looked like tapioca...
After we had the treats we went outside and sat in the sun and blew some bubbles. Jim was there hes pretty funny. I like him a lot, hes growing this mustache that looks totally sweet. My dad cant grow facial hair.
Heres the Raspberry Icy stuff (apparently its from Italy or something)
This weekend was my birthday (Saturday actual birth day) and I was so busy I didnt have any time to write. I did jot down some notes so that I could retell my tales for all my fans.
Ok so on Friday there was a lot of cleaning and my dad was busy trying to do some drawing for one of his art classes (boring!). I got a birthday card from my Grandpa Jones, he sent me fifty bucks!!! I have no idea what I am going to spend it on, but I really dig little Lego dudes so, you know, thats probably what Ill spend it on. My Great Grandma Jones also sent me twenty bucks so... once again who knows. I really love the Dizzy Spin (my parents call it a Merry-Go-Round but my name is more fitting), not sure how much they cost, but if I can get one for under 70 bucks, maybe on craigs list, or ebay, then screw the lego dudes, Im going with the Dizzy Spin.
Anyway that night my mom made me Tofu, corkscrew pasta and spaghetti sauce, with some little veggie patties that taste like onion rings, or egg roles. None the less its really really good, as you will be able to see from these amazing pictures! They had to hose me off because I was such a disaster!!!!
