CI Follow-Up

I had a Ci follow-up appointment today. This was my 10 day
post-op check-up. We were expecting a fast and easy appointment,
just to check on the incision.

But the office was in complete chaos. I knew the doctor was
leaving the clinic. He's taking a job with Cochlear Corp of
America. As it turns out, today was his last day. He was trying
to cram in as many surgeries as possible while also seeing
regular patients. As you can imagine, the office schedule got
very messed up.

It's not like I could cancel and come back next week. He won't
be here next week. His replacement won't be there until
September 15th. I haven't had a check-up since I underwent the
operation. I couldn't postpone it that long.

All the patients were in the same boat. We sat there just
waiting and waiting. The doctor would come in from a surgery,
see one or two patients, and then head back to do another
surgery.

My appointment was for 11:30 am. I didn't see the doctor until
3:00. My interpreter went to lunch and never came back. SO I
didn't have an interpreter for the appointment. My mother had to
tell me what was going on.

The incision is healing really well. The stitches are
dissolvable but since I was complaining of itching, he cut them
out. I sort of freaked during that procedure. It's not that it
hurt so bad. I just really dislike the sensation of removing
stitches.

He played around and found my magnet. That looks fine, too. I
asked about the pressure I feel in my ear. Sometimes it seems
to be pushing in and sometimes it feels like it's pushing out.
He said that is fluid in the ear from the surgery. It is normal
and will go away over time.

The doctor told me it will take about nine months for my sense
of taste to return to normal? I balked at that idea.

My mother said, "You will lose lots of weight now."

Not really. The only thing I can taste right are pretzel M&M's.
I've been eating a ton of them. At the rate I'm going, I'll
weight 300 pounds before my taste returns.

I have an appointment with the audiologist on August 24th. She
will hook me up, turn this thing on and see how it does. Can't
wait... Can't wait!