Something different to share!

Ive been away for a while in the New Forest, Hampshire - been enjoying the countryside and getting plenty of rest. Its lovely down there you cant beat the tranquility and peace ! I live in a city so its nice to get away from it all.

My tinnitus is becoming easier to manage - its still there but toning down and although i am still wobbly at  times i do feel so weak - but I'm beginning to get my strength back.

Ive been going through some of my old things and wanted to share with you a story abt me in my younger years! Ive always enjoyed helping people but when i was attending my local primary/infants school there was a burglary and i wrote to my local newspaper :

They never caught the villains - but we were able to purchase new equipment 

sadly the quality of article is abt 27 years old and not very clear so please see below for the words:

LISA'S HEARTBREAK PLEA

Aged 8

Dear auntie Philomena, I am one of your chipsters and I am hoping you will find room in your newspaper to print my letter. I am also deaf and attend penhale school I am very upset because some robbers broke into my school and stole our deaf equipment. My deaf friends and I find it hard to hear and now we will find it harder.  Please print this little letter in the hope we can appeal too their consciences and most important there ears, because no doubt the can hear or they would of been caught. 

I wonder if  they realise what it will mean to all of us deaf children. Please ask the robbers to return our equipment we need it they don't

Yours sincerely

Lisa Bailey

VILLAINS WREAK LESSONS FOR DEAF

There is a story of tough spirit and determination behind this desperately sad and innocent letter of appeal from a Portsmouth deaf girl whose school was hit by burglars. It was just another computer just a few more headphones to the villains. To the deaf children of Penhale School Hearing Impaired Unit, Fratton  the specialist equipment gave them a better life. Lisa Bailey probably cannot understand why anyone would pick on her and her friends. 'Please ask the robbers to return our equipment we need it they dont' she wrote.

DEPENDANT

Lisa is a tough-spirited little girl who has fought triumphantly against the disability of deafness and she is not completely dependant on the equipment as some of her friends. But that didn't stop her writing for them as much for herself, trying to touch the consciences of the burglars. Life is hard for deaf children 'now we will find it harder' says eight year old Lisa. Head of hearing impaired unit Mr John Clarke knows that plans are well established to replace some of the stolen equipment - but it will take time. We have been given the go ahead by the educational authority to order new equipment to replace that stolen. Hopefully it may arrive for the new term which begins in September. There is no hope of it arriving this time before we break up at the end of July. So the deaf children will be without there valuable aids before then. The burglars stole our computer discs on which we had recorded many hours of work especially for the children. These took years to make and are invaluable to us. 'I don't hold out many hopes that the programme for the children on the discs will still be intact. All the work will be lost' he said.

'I would like to express our gratitude to the people who have made donations to replace the equipment since they read about what happened to us in the news' Until the new equipment arrives the children at the unit will struggle that much more in there day-to-day schooling... unless Lisa's plea reaches the right ears, and brings the right response.

R and R / Xrays!

Named this blog page as R and R as I've been Resting alot in my Recovery period - each day sees an improvement - haven't been allowed out much - feel a bit daunted getting out and about - my husband or friends have been escorting me - its OK after week one but when you get to week two you begin to hallucinate what the fresh air feels like! ) -been keeping myself busy with watching DVDs, reading - but found much of my time sleeping, taking afternoon naps or the occasional nod. They say sleep is a good healer. In my case i cant seem to get enough- my bruises in my arm are disappearing - much to my relief. I'm also starting to eat much better too, still cant eat a full meal yet - but my taste is a little all over the place - another side effect!. Head is still tender to sleep on - but nothing pain killers cant solve. Very wobbly getting up and bending down too quick makes me so dizzy - so Ive had to train myself to do things slowly. Confidence a bit low but I'm focusing on Switch on date!

A special thanks to all my CI friends for being so supportive and also get well wishes to Misty Jacqz who had the same operation i had a week later at Southampton General Hospital - its been a god send - swapping text messages and emails have kept me sane! Mind shes just as nuts as me !!

For now its the tinnitus that's causing me difficulties - an explanation : tinnitus is its abnormal sounds in the ear - no one knows why it happens but it tends to be a continuous ring, buzz, hiss or drone - that can be intermittent! I did ask my surgeon abt this as and he said it was normal and will disappear once I've been switched on. Ive been speaking to other CI users they to had similar experiences ( not everyone!) but someone described  it being similar to loss of limb syndrome -  for example :a person may feel the need to itch when  they have no leg! in our case the nerves have been touched and cut so my ear and brain probably trying to work out why i cant hear anything hence phathom noises alike tinnitus. I'm sure many people will now be saying in response to this 'Shes deaf - she would of had this before the operation' or ' if shes deaf then surely she wouldn't hear anything?'  the answers to this : Yes i did have tinnitus but it was controlled very well and mild in comparison to now - so Ive been keeping myself busy- distraction is the key and no stress!. And yes I'm deaf but i did have some residue hearing left - not much but I had adjusted accordingly. For further information about tinnitus please follow this link its a useful site and may be of some help to you: http://www.tinnitus.org.uk/

Nows the good part of my recovery : I cant hear the daughter and hubby moan!- bonus, he can have his car radio on full blast without annoying me!- BONUS ( anything to keep him happy!) and i keep shouting when i speak more often then i did before - this did often happen anyway before my operation which did give me a sore throat but this time is always - so i call it an excuse to get away with shouting -DOUBLE BONUS!!- and i kept loosing my voice ( bonus for hubby!) so i now know why deaf people use sign language more often  - thankfully my husband is able to sign so weve been locked our own world communicating this way. Noone knows what we speaking about - so SUPER DUPER BONUS!

MY XRAYS
Received a email from Mr Pringle whos kindly sent me a copy of my xrays - have a look below if  you like - I think it looks rather like a resemblance of frankenstein haha! My father joked - how good it was to see something in my head! Its amazing what can be done in this century and my operation is one of them :

With Many thanks to Mike Pringle for copies.


Meanwhile im being spoilt by my darling husband tonight with my favourite all time food:

YUMMY!!

Post Operation Stage and recovery !

Apologises to all - haven't had the time nor energy to update. Been pampered by my darling daughter and husband so beginning to feel much better. Still tired and weak but each day becomes much better. I'm not a very good patient.

Sadly a few days after the operation I was rushed back into hospital , i had a bit of a temperature and discomfort in the pain i was having on my right side of my head. So I was on put on IV( intravenous) antibiotics- yuck!!!, not nice i know but it did make me better in the long run despite feeling so dopey . I must say Mr Pringle was ace - he did say this type of thing was rare and also kept an eye on me on a daily basis.( I trust him hes been implanting along time so I guess he knows his stuff!) Please don't let this put you off - like any surgery there is risk and I'm typical - as anything that happens has to happen to me ha ha! I'm sure the staff saw me coming and thought 'here we go again!!' Especially when i asked for vodka to be put in the IV drip - NO CAN DO - was there response!

MY IV DRUGS - YUCK!

Thankfully the CI centre they inform me of the risks and symptoms for post operation period -  which i had noted, having that knowledge helped me a great deal. I'm also thankful to my GP for checking on me on his rounds by chance ( I was intending to ring him so it was quite spooky him turning up like he did!) he didn't mess about , believed in me  and referred me back to hospital very promptly - that takes some dedication. - sadly hes retiring soon so I shall miss him - I want to thank him hes been  the best to me throughout my health and ear problems- I really do wish him all the very best x

I also had a nice surprise when admitted to hospital 4 doctors appeared on there knees to trying to find a vein in me( i have small veins! -maybe that's why the vampires haven't had me yet!) - wasn't nice but i was making them chuckle when i said ' gosh I've never had 4 nice men on there knees to me before - i must be some lucky lady!' 

The lovely view from my hospital bed - this is what kept me going!( my escape mission !!)

My  stitches came out on the 8th August in the care of Mr Pringle , it went OK bit tender but total relief ( thanks to Emma my friend for holding my hand!) - the ones behind my ear are dissoluble but the top of my scalp they had to be removed - I did gently remind Mr Pringle ' If you've implanted devil horns! I wont be impressed!' - I'm terrible aren't I? but that's me full of humour - it keeps me going ! I bet he was so glad to see me go too - and the outpatients must of thought i was mad when i yelled down the corridor with my mate saying 'yay they're out - No stitches woop!'.

RIGHT EAR

LEFT EAR

RIGHT INCISION ON SCALP AFTER STITCHES ARE OUT!

LEFT INCISION ON SCALP- AFTER STITCHES ARE OUT

My reasons for being so hyper? well It was jolly uncomfortable to sleep on !!Thankfully my mate lent me her v neck pillow it helped me place my neck in between so i didn't have to lie on my side! Naturally we as humans do lay on a side and I did find i was tossing alot in the night ! Getting the painkillers stopped me winching and whinging in the night and also made me comfortable. the pain was subsiding each day - much better and much more comfortable - so if you do a have a CI Operation - please don't suffer make sure you get the right medication and pain relief - a bunch of grapes come in handy too! ( email me if you need to know why cos I'm being polite on my blog!) Also i discovered Arnica - a herbal redemy - it helped alot of my swelling go down - please however seek medical advice before taking

Over all - I'm still recovering, a bit dizzy some sounds tinnitus in my ears but that's normal for post operation, I've just finished 14 days of antibiotics ( purple mission here we come!!)- they don't like you to go out for that period for fear of risk to infection - lots of reading, drawing and day napping for me - but  today was bliss my first day out- my hairdresser washed my hair! Cant tell you how wonderful that was ! I must of sounded like Meg Ryan in that film 'When Harry met sally'! when she does her fake expression ( those of you who know the film will know what i mean !). knackered me out afterwards i was sound asleep when i got home ha ha! I feel like an old aged pensioner -but happy dreams and happy thoughts!

Meanwhile - Ive been overwhelmed with all the gifts, cards and messages from all my family and friends - i feel strange as its usually me who's Florence nightingale - visiting them making them comfortable - so I'm blessed - a quote for you :

"Friendship makes prosperity more brilliant, and lightens adversity by dividing and sharing it."
-- Cicero (44 B.C.)

As for me - the only way is up now - I had a special letter in the post today -  my switch on date for the 16th September - I cant tell you how much I'm looking forward to it - I know i wont hear perfectly to begin with as i will have to learn sounds again which may take time - but I'm just excited about this adventure!!

The operation on 27th July 2011 @ approx 1.30

The big day came and i was feeling very excited no nerves just panic I might not come around, but i had faith - in my surgeon - I was his 4th neurelec patient and although he did say he was thinking abt trying a different technique with me - i had total confidence that he knew what he was doing. Like they say the more experience the better you do it each time ! 

Lots of prepping before the operation, usual check list of, stockings to put on, gown to wear, blood pressure endless forms to complete - allergies list, wrist band ( gosh theyve changed then alot since i last went in haha!) - walked down to theatre in my dressing gown and slippers - saw Mr pringle before hand for him to reassure me and i even asked him why they didnt do coloured stockings - in stead of the usual white ones haha! I also allowed him to take some hospiatl photos of my operation so maybe when i get round to it i can ask him for some of them.

The operation lasted 5 hrs and went very well, i was administered morphine to begin with but Mr Pringle explained that he didnt need to cut on the top of my scalp just at the sides so i was well happy ! The pain wasnt too bad - and was monitored very well - I was taken down to the ward at 8pm that night and was apparently high with the floaty effects of pain relief!

This is it now the begining of  a whole new adventure - The CI world!!



Ive attached a  photo of my surgeon ( dont worry i did ask him if I could place him on here haha!), i know ive told him this personally but i want to thank him again on here for doing the operation - Im one very lucky lady - thanks to this very clever man.