Meeting Dr. Neff

My last stop of the day was at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology to meet Dr. Neff, the cochlear implant surgeon. Amy and I arrived at the waiting room, it was massive! The largest one I have ever seen. I was given a pager to let me know when I should report to the front desk for the appointment. Once the pager went off, I went to a very small office within the clinic. The first doctor came in, asked me a few questions, looked in my ear, felt the bones behind my ears. It turned out he was not my doctor, he was working on his residency.

Next, three more people came into the tiny room. It was crowded! Dr. Neff introduced himself and I had no idea who the others were (it turned out that it was a nurse and an audiologist in case I had any questions). Dr. Neff was all business and explained things with a lot of facts. Amy and I asked many questions and he answered them confidently. One thing I remember is that Mayo does 100 cochlear implants within a year. Dr. Neff explained the process and then asked when I wanted to schedule the surgery. WHOA! I haven't even decided if I am going through with it! Yikes! I was not expecting that at all. It was odd having four people look at me while I fumbled with the question. I told him I needed to think about it. He suggested that we set a date in case I was interested. So the date was set for May 28th.

Dr. Neff explained that I needed to get the Pneumococcal (PPV23) vaccine prior to the surgery to prevent Meningitis after the surgery (I got the vaccine the following week at my clinic). Also, he explained that I needed a CT Scan to make sure my cochlea is formed correctly with two and a half turns. Fun fact for you...the cochlea is found in the inner ear, it is a spiraled hollow bone. Cochlea comes from the Latin term for snail. If my cochlea turns only one and a half or one turn, then it becomes a little bit more risky. I would stay overnight one night after the surgery. For two weeks, I am to take it easy and not lift anything more than 10 pounds due to all the muscles connected to the ear. After my incision is healed, I will be able to get "hooked up" to a speech processor. This is anywhere from 3 - 7 weeks after surgery. Oh, the whole process costs a whopping $55,000!! Agh! Luckily my new insurance, Health Partners will cover most of it, otherwise I was going to do car wash fundraisers or benefits. My mom had just recently quit smoking after 50 years, I am so proud of her, anyways, my parents agreed that whatever they saved from buying the cigarettes would go to the surgery. I thought that was very sweet of them.

Anyways back to the Mayo visit... Amy and I headed back to the Twin Cities. I called my family and told them that I was a candidate. My Dad told me that it is ultimately my decision that he will support me either way. Then, Amy called our personal audiologist, Claudia to give her an update on the visit. During that time, I told Amy and Claudia that I am pretty much considering the implant. I surprised myself of my decision, but I thought why not try it, since my right ear is not providing huge auditory benefit for me and it has been a frustrating year hearing my students. Wow, a huge chapter has just opened in my life. Hopefully, this is the right decision!