For those of you who are curious of the little details of the day and the day after. Sorry, it is a little long...
The day of surgery was a long one, more so for my parents who was at the hospital for 12 and half hours. Staff were great for me, but they drove my parents crazy by not giving specific information about how I was doing or where I was. I really admire and appreciate my parent's patience through this whole process. They said they were just glad I was being properly cared for.
On Thursday morning, we arrived at St. Mary's Hospital at 8:45. A man met us in the lobby and gave us a mini tour of the hospital. I thought this was odd because I thought that I would be an outpatient. Right away, I was checked into a room and was told to change into the hospital gown and robe. A nurse came in and asked a few questions, then started an IV drip of fluids since I was not allowed to eat or drink since midnight the night before. She explained the basic process of the day: an hour with anesthesiologist, an hour prepping, two hour surgery and then an hour of recovery. She said I was second case to go into surgery.
The waiting period began...an hour went by and no one came back to the room. Then two hours went by and nothing happened. We asked another nurse what was happening and she explained that the wait was normal. My parents and I were getting a little antsy and excited. I was hoping that the surgery was still going to happen that day and not be rescheduled. I just wanted to get this over with!
At 12:20, a different nurse came into the room and said, "Kristine Cinealis, they are on their way to get you, so if you need to go to the bathroom, go now". So, I thought this is it, I went to the bathroom, said goodbyes to my parents and waited. And waited...we saw many people come back from their surgeries. By this time my dad is cracking sarcastic jokes left and right to make light of this situation. I was confused, then finally at 1:30 a gurney showed up at my room. At this point, I was ready to go. I said my goodbyes to my parents once again. As I rolled out, my dad had tears in his eyes, so of course I am fighting back tears. I signed "I love you" to both and went to the operating floor.
The operating floor had 41 operating rooms so close to one another connected by small hallways that had display boards connected to the ceiling with various codes and numbers. It was a maze, every room was visible through the glass windows. I observed numerous operating teams standing around a patient with a large monitor showing whatever part of the body they were operating on. This was not exactly comforting, I was becoming nervous by the minute. Outside of my operating room, I met two women who were there to assist with the surgery. They asked a variety of questions and calmed me down a little bit.
In the operating room there were three posters of the ear which are actually the same posters that are hanging up in my deaf and hard of hearing office, I thought this was funny. A table on my right side had a TON of tiny tools and equipment that would all be used during the surgery. Two other staff came in, the anesthesiologist and a nurse who organized the items on the table. One of the women, fingerspelled the names of the other two individuals. Then, she pulled down her mask and said the names again. Afterwards, I removed my hearing aids. It occurred to me that it would be the last time I would use a hearing aid on my right ear, it was a weird feeling.
Then, they put six adhesive monitors on my chest and an oxygen monitor on my finger. (After I am out, they will put two metal probes on my forehead and near my eye to monitor the nerves during surgery.) One of the nurse's put the oxygen mask on my face and the three of them waited for me to breathe enough oxygen so they could go ahead with the anesthesia. I started to pray, then the nurse grabbed my hand and held it while I was given the anesthesia. This was very comforting. Once the anesthesia was put into my IV, I started to feel woozy and started to flutter my eyes. All the sudden, I was out.
The next thing I remember was being woken up, I was surrounded by a couple of nurses and my hearing aid was on my ear so I could hear talking. I felt so incredibly sick to my stomach and very nauseous. It was a horrible feeling! I kept saying, "I feel so sick, I think I am going to throw up". They worked on getting some medicine in me to reduce the nausea. I kept going in and out of sleep. I could not keep my eyes open and felt so sick and tired. I remember looking at the clock each time I woke up and couldn't believe how late it was. The severe nausea seemed to stay with me during the four hour recovery period. I remember hearing a nurse saying, "she can't go home, she has to stay here". I thought what is wrong with me and where are my parents?
My parents on the other hand had some very frustrating hours to deal with. They talked with my doctor at 5:20. He said everything went very well and the electrode slid in easily in the cochlea. Then he said I would be out of recovery within 15 minutes to an hour. So, my parents waited and asked various nurses of my status. The nurses did not seem to not know what was going on. They told my parents I was not yet in recovery, then I was, that it would be an hour and then it would be a couple of hours. At 7:30, they told them that the ward was closing and that I would not be returning to my original room. They had to report to a different floor in the hospital and waited in the waiting room. At 9:00 p.m., I was finally brought to a room, I guess they had to wait for one to open. I was happy to see my parents but I still was not feeling well and could not keep my eyes open. My parents said that I looked terrible, very pale and obviously not well. They understood why I was in recovery for so long and was happy that I was not going home to the hotel that night. They said good night to me and said they would be back in the morning.
During the night, I had very kind nurse, Kristin who checked in on me every two hours. She checked my blood pressure and my temperature. Whenever I went to the bathroom, I needed her help getting out of bed because I was very light headed and uneasy. She wrote on a white board to communicate with me. At 1:00 in the morning I had some vanilla ice cream. It was good to eat something cold. Then at 4:30 am I had crackers and pudding before I took oral painkillers, Vicodin which I have stopped taking due to making me even more sick. At 6:45 a.m., my doctor came in while I was sleeping to look at my vitals and sign the release form. Once I woke up, the nurse asked me to close my eyes, which I could do and smile, which looked good too, I guess. They ask this to make sure none of my facial muscles were affected from the surgery. The side effects of this type of surgery is not being able to open and close eyes on my own and smile. Good thing I passed that!
My parents showed up at 9:00 a.m. and I was taken out of the room in a wheelchair. I still could not walk on my own. I still felt very dizzy and unstable. I was terrified of the five hour drive home and prayed that I would do okay since I usually get motion sick even without having surgery! I sat in the front seat for the whole trip looking only at the road with the cool air conditioning on my face. I hugged a pillow the whole way home and my dad drove carefully trying to avoid the bumpier sides of the freeway. We stopped twice and I am sure I looked scary to a lot of people. I was so out of it, I really didn't care. I was so happy, when we finally arrived home.
I spent a lot of time during the first two days sleeping and felt very nauseous, dizzy and light headed. At times I felt like I had ringing in my right ear, like electronical whirring. I am not sure if I was imagining this. It sounded like something that started soft then went loud. It was as if sound was going through my 22 electrodes. The sound was unpleasant and I have not heard it since the first two days. I had to call my parents to help me up and down the stairs to avoid tumbling down. It was funny to call my dad on my cell phone at six in the morning to tell him to pick me up at my bedroom. It was also hard to move my head. During the first few days, I did not feel like doing anything.
I am happy to report that four days later, I am starting to feel a heck a lot better. I have a little pain, but have been taking extra strength Tylenol. I have been drinking a lot of 7-UP and eating crackers to help with the nausea. The sleeping is still tough since I am used to sleeping on my right side. I walked outside for the first time down the block and joined my mom on errands around Sheboygan. I am confident that tomorrow will be an even better day. Thanks again for your support.
Photo #1: My mom and I waiting for surgery to happen!
Photo #2: The huge bandage!
Photo #3: My shaved head and scar
Photo #4: I am feeling good today!
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