Modest Milestones

I am up and around just fine, and sleeping well. I still can't lift much (I could, just not supposed to) but otherwise doing well.  We got our two miles in at  the mall on Friday and will do so again tomorrow. 

I finally got a shower after 12 days  (yes.. I took a bath each of the 12)  The idea was to not get the surgery area wet at all, thus the bath. But that prohibition ended Saturday.  And I still have to not get ANY water in the "new" ear until early August.  The procedure to prevent that when taking a shower works quite well.   You take part of a cotton ball, work some Vaseline into it, and place it in the ear canal. Then you take a glob of Vaseline and seal up the ear over the cotton ball.    Only modestly messy.  The tape over the sutures did get a little wet and I thought that might hasten its coming loose.   It didn't.   I am supposed to let the tape come off by itself. 

Almost all discomfort is gone with the exception of one issue which I haven't discussed much. TASTE.   As indicated in one of the earlier posts, one of the things that has to happen is they must sever a nerve that goes to the tongue when the make the entry to the middle ear.  It is one of a number that impact one's sense of taste. The tongue feels "barely numb"... a bit like it feels after you eat some kinds of fruit or something, or when your mouth is really dry.   Things don't taste bad, the sense of taste itself just seems to be somewhat less intense.  Nerves do not regenerate, but I believe this does go away over time as the brain adjusts a bit.  It is certainly I am glad to live with if the tradeoff is "better hearing through electronics".

By the way... the bull frog is still out there but the heron remains absent.