Drying Out

The water stated to recede, albeit very slowly, yesterday late afternoon.  At 8:00 PM our street was still flooded and we had water standing in the back corner of our lot.   At 6:00 AM this morning, there was no water in our street or intersection, nor in the houses/yards on our block.  But one street north everything remains flooded for the 2 blocks I can see.

So we are back to business as usual this fine Saturday morning.  Only problem now is a minor one.  The yard hasn't been mowed for over 1 1/2 weeks so my lawn guys will have a job whenever they next show up.  

Good News ... Bad News

Good News... saw the doc this AM... all looking OK.  No need to return until the activation in August.

Bad News...
 This was taken this afternoon about 1:40 PM looking East down our street from our upstairs window. There is one house you can't see here between us and the white one in the picture. That is our pine tree in the foreground.


If you want to see a series of pictures on my web album you can click HERE

This is what about 9 inches of rain over 2 1/2 days does when to our West.  We are one block west of the Jones Road and Fawnview intersection at the end of Fawnview.  Cypress Creek and "Anderson Ditch" are about 2000 feet and 200 feet respectively behind our yard to the West and they both run South to North.  The ditch feeds into Cy Creek about 1/2 mile North of us.  The houses one street to our North (the left in the picture) were all bought out and removed by FEMA as they had all flooded several times in the past few years.

We have seen this kind of thing about 5 times in the 31 years we have been here.  The water gets into the NW corner of the back yard, but has never come close to getting into the garage and the house.  The houses you see above will likely get a few inches inside.

More Good News... amazingly, we still have power.

4th Week Check In

I have just been reminded by a caring neighbor that I haven't been keeping this up to date.  Thankfully, that is because there isn't much new to report.  It is now 4 weeks since the surgery.  I am almost back to normal.  The only restriction being that of keeping water out of the bionic ear for another 4 weeks.    I am scheduled for the "activation" of the device on Aug 13.  They wait this long to ensure fluid and other issues from the surgery to the middle ear have resolved themselves before applying the power.

So I continue to shower with the Vaseline/Cotton Ball "plug" in the ear.  And of course, can only hear (poorly as usual) from the one ear.  I have no sense of direction, even with the one hearing aid in. This is illustrated by my wandering in circles the other day when Carol was honking the horn so I could find where she had stopped the car while waiting for me in the supermarket parking lot. It is clear that few people think to help a hearing disabled person.. several just walked on by and looked at me strangely.  Guess I need a white cane.

One minor issue remains.  A small portion of the scar in the hairline behind the ear is healing a bit slowly.  Carol applies hydrogen peroxide and antibiotic cream 3 times a day and it is getting better.  I have been seeing the doc at the Woodlands each week for a brief followup check. He isn't concerned.

Thanks for checking in.   Feel free to leave comments or questions below...  

Two Week Check In

Things are coming along fine.  I was encouraged to stop by Envoy to have the doc take a look at my progress if we were in the area.   Carol has wanted to visit the brand new Trader Joe's in the Woodlands so we had planned a trip.  It is a really nice store. We wish there was one closer than 45 min. away.   Anyway, one of the first things we encountered was a TJ's staff member sitting on the floor (wine section)  in about a pint of blood, while two others were wrapping his arm in gauze. There was a suspicious looking box cutter on the floor at his feet.  It looked rather serious to me, but they helped him to the back somewhere; dripping all the way.   

So since we had planned to go to The Woodlands anyway, we had made an appointment with the doc there at Envoy Medical. My visit was not nearly as exciting or bloody.  As to my head... all seems to be doing fine, at least in terms of the operation.   He took the tape off and the incision is healing  nicely.  I can't see it of course, but Carol says I really don't look too much like something out of a Frankenstein movie with the 4 inch scar on my skull behind my ear.   It lives !!  It lives !!  Yes, thankfully.

I am doing just fine. Six more weeks until they "turn my ear on."

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.
 

Doing Well

Yesterday I actually got a little work done around the house and garage. Not anything very impressive.  Just hanging a few racks on a pantry door for foil and stuff.  Charged up the car battery in the Toyota that never gets driven.  Repaired a 12 volt plug on the tow car break system.. etc.  I am looking forward to getting out in the RV again.

We will likely do our exercise walk at the mall again today, although we took the day off from that yesterday.  I'll shoot for an easy two miles.

As to the head/ear.  Not much pain any more.  Just a little.  It comes in the form of a slight "twinge" that lasts 2 or 3 seconds, every couple of minutes.  It is hard to tell just what the origin is.. either the implant site for the processor or from the middle ear work.   I take a couple of Advil about every 12 hours and it helps, noticeably.

The tape over the incisions is still firmly fixed, as I have avoided getting that wet.  Starting tomorrow, I'll return to showers instead of a bath, and I expect it to start to come off.  A plug to keep water out of the ear is made of Vaseline soaked cotton ball, then covered with another glob of Vaseline.  That all seems like a good tradeoff to be able to have a real shower.

As expected... no hearing at all in the ear they worked on.  Will have nothing there until the device is "activated" in early August.  (that is when I will be able to hear whispers and read your thoughts if within 7.5 feet)  The right ear still uses a hearing aid so I can get by OK.  I'll have both aids set up for the right ear so I'll have a spare.  I still use the "TV Ears" and the wireless Sony Headphones, on our TV sets as the hearing aids have never given me very clear input when listening to TV or radio. Of course, those too, only work for the right ear.

But I don't want to miss a bit of anything Eric Witholder, Chairman Issa, or the Mystic Leader might have to say.  At least I have been healing in interesting times.

Slow Improvment

Yesterday was a bit better, and today is starting off that way.  Head isn't very sore but still have "twinges" of ear ache.  I think that is normal for quite some time from what I have read. Today is the last of the various antibiotics, but I am still not to get the stitches wet for another week or so.  The tape is showing no signs of coming off and I am supposed to leave it on until it does.  And no water in the ear for 7 more weeks.  That is about the time they are supposed to "turn it on."