Monday 3 December 2012

Day 26 stapedectomy recovery

Feel completely normal except for my hearing.  Trying to be patient but it's not changing at the moment.
When I lie on my op-ear it goes blocked/muffled although I can still hear low frequencies loud.  When I play from the bottom of the piano to the top it gets more distorted the higher I go.  Can't bear to hear whistling.  The actual decibel level is sometimes good, but it's not quality sound, and I feel distressed about that.  I suppose if I had been profoundly deaf before the op I wouldn't care so much.

I can't play the piano at the moment anyway because I have an RSI related thumb complaint (yawn) so I have to wear a contraption that immobilises my thumb, day and night, for 3 weeks.  It's bloody inconvenient when changing nappies, washing up, doing up buttons, doing up my bra, putting on shoes, picking things up such as drinks..etc etc.  I'm allowed to take it off to shower (but then I have to put the cotton wool and vaseline and cling film on my ear - argh!).

Bloody stupid.  Feel like a hypochondriac but I am not!

In other news we got the survey results back from the house we are (supposed to be) buying.  People had warned us, as first time buyers, not to sh!t ourselves too much when we saw it, but I certainly failed at that.  Was close to tears yesterday as we researched such f*ck ups as foam roof lining, what to do about it, and the costs. 

Two nights ago I slept through the night for 8 hours.  I haven't slept through the night since April, so this was pretty big news.  Last night sadly was completely back to normal: struggled to get to sleep, then woken by C at 12.45am, struggled to get back to sleep again, then woken again at 3am, 5am then awake for the day at 6am. G also woke a fair bit but Adriano saw to her, thank goodness.  Think I need some sleeping tablets but I am scared of the idea of them and also then I wouldn't be able to have C in my bed which sometimes is the only thing that works.   I am not leaving them to cry.  They share a room and it would just be ridiculous and completely opposite to what I would do if they were upset in the day.  When they are older I will say 'your sister's there with you, go to sleep' but for now there's a 1 year old who occasionally sleeps through but most often not, plus a 3 year old with a very vivid imagination.  People whose children sleep from 7pm to 7am have NO idea how lucky they are and those who have 'children who sleep plus children who don't sleep' realise that sometimes the only thing to do is to accept that your children are not good sleepers and get on with it. 

It was my birthday on Friday.  Adriano took us all to Wagamama's for lunch which was truly lovely.  Sadly we all have/had colds and felt like cr@p so we didn't do the early evening trip to the Enchanted Woodland with fairy lights etc.  So gutted we missed it as I keep bumping into my friends who went and said it was brilliant.  Next year we won't be here then. 

Can you tell I'm feeling a bit sad?

Good things are still alive and well in my life though.  I have a caring loving husband and two amazing funny bright loving girls who I will never ever stop being grateful for. 

6 comments:

Plummy Mummy said...

I think you need to run out now and hug some trees. It may be snowing where you are so the trees need hugs even more. Careful of your thumb.
And then you may forget about your ear for a while (trees are deaf but their leaves whisper but makes my head go whirly so I don't think about it).
I hope this bit of silliness cheered you up.
And don't think about what you are going to miss in your current area but look forward to the new fabulous things you are going to be doing that you can tell those you leave behind all about. It's great to have kids as they can open doors in new communities that maybe those without kids cannot even get into (does that make sense?)

Lucia said...

Ah, thank you. Hugging trees is ALWAYS a good idea :))) Hugs to you too xx

Unknown said...

Hello, Bonnie in Texas facing a stapedectomy next week. How is your improvement at this point? I use hearing aides and can get by without them, just makes everyone else crazy, when I'm at home alone. My second question is it worth it, would you do it again? I'm not sure I want to take any chance with the hearing I have. Thank you so much I will so appreciate hearing back from you, no pun intended.
Regards, Bonnie

Lucia said...

Hi Bonnie, best of luck for your op next week. My hearing now is overall pretty great in that ear. There is some distortion when I sing and play piano in the highter register but apart from that it's all good. I am really glad I had it done. It has become my new normal and now my other ear seems very deaf to me. I don't know if I'm ready to go for the op on the other ear yet, but I suspect I will do in the next few years. I hope it goes well for you. Best wishes xx

Amresh said...

Hi There from Doha

Been following your blog for a while.Has been very helpful. I had a stapedectomy done on 22nd Dec 2015. It's always a relief to know you are not the only one experiencing post op anxiety. I can very much relate to a lot of details you mentioned.

Day 12 for me and I can feel the hearing much improved.Glad I took to the decision. Just hoping everything goes smooth before I reach full normalcy.

Thanksfor sharing the experience.

Gr8 blogging.

P.S. Underwater feeling in my op ear ☺. Doesn't feel weird anymore.

Lucia said...

Hi Amresh
I'm really pleased this blog has helped you!
Good luck for further swift recovery x

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* proud new mother * last child * youngest daughter * tallest sister * favourite auntie * honest lover * furtive photographer * diary writer * compulsive dancer * tree hugger * mooncup promoter * chocolate taster * house plant murderer *