So thankful that 8 days have passed. I am now starting to feel more normal and am off all the meds! The pain is down to a 0 or 1 depending on the day / moment. My biggest problem at this time (besides the lack of hearing) is sleep. I’m not sleeping as well and at first I thought it was the meds. But now the problem continues and am wondering if it is the tinnitus (ringing) that I have. Since I was 16 I have had tinnitus due to a football accident. Over the years it has increased in loudness as my hearing has decreased. Now with no hearing it is quite loud and at night when I’m trying to sleep – it is downright annoying. Once I have the CI, the ringing will subside some but will come back when I take the CI off for sleeping.
The one interesting aspect about my sleep is that, ironically I have not been as tired. In talking this over with Karin today, I’m wondering if it is because my body isn’t as tired these days because I no longer have to strain / struggle to hear! That is the one true blessing with my current deafness. The very thing that I now don’t have has been a burden and a blessing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very much looking forward to hearing again but the lack of straining in every single conversation is now GONE! My prayer, of course, is that the Lord will provide enough hearing through the CI for communication to no longer be a burden. I do need to mention though that the burden may have simply been passed to Karin. She is overburdened with the communication now because she is the one having to strain in every conversation with me AND the children, trying to articulate, through the small amount of ASL that her and I both know, all of the daily things her and I and the children need to converse about. And guess who’s napping right now…
A little over 2 weeks left for activation / mapping! We look forward to that with great anticipation!