He Gave Me My Ears That I Might Hear

Pre-Op Appointment

by Rebecca J on 2012-10-14

On Monday, October 8, I had my pre-op appointment with my doctor, Dr. Slater. When I checked in, the receptionist handed me a four-page document to look over and sign. The first two pages listed all the things that could possibly go wrong with surgery, the third page described how I should take care of myself after surgery, and the last page was a consent form to indicate that yes, I understood the risks of surgery. I also had to fill in the blank on the signature page: “I want Dr. Slater to operate on my _____ ear.” This would be the first of many times that I had to confirm that my right ear was to be implanted.

Here are the things that were listed on the first two pages of the document:

• Hearing loss: Since the hearing in my right ear is comparatively better than my left ear, so putting an implant in my right ear was fairly risky. In the unlikely event that something went wrong, I would be worse off than I was before the implant.
• Dizziness: The implant goes through the vestibular system and causes a pretty big disruption. For the first time in my life, I would have vertigo.
• Taste Disturbances: The surgery can damage the nerve that supplies taste.
• Ringing: Tinnitus is pretty common and understandably so. Iʼd never had a problem with it before.
• Facial Nerve Paralysis: Same idea as taste disturbances. Some of the nerves controlling the face could be pushed aside since they run through the middle ear.
• Perforation of the ear drum: Ouch.
• Infection and Meningitis: Scary, but good thing I got a meningitis vaccine last week.
• Cerebral Spinal Fluid Leak: My cochleas have a Mondini malformation, meaning that the bones do not have the full number of turns. Cochleas look like snails, at least normal ones do, and they have at least 2 full turns. Mine have 1-1/4 turns. This would put me at a higher risk of spinal fluid leak, hence the need for the meningitis vaccine.

Post-surgery things to remember:

• No hair-washing for 3-5 days after surgery
• Resume a normal diet on the day after surgery
• Do not blow your nose for one week (this seemed to be maybe the most unhelpful thing ever. We are in the middle of fall allergy season here in Austin!)
• Do not bend over after surgery.
• No physical activity for one week, regardless of how youʼre feeling, and no lifting more than 20 pounds (sorry, Emily and Molly.)
• Do not exercise or play sports for three weeks after surgery
• Do not swim or fly until the doctor says itʼs OK

I read through all of these worst-case scenarios and instructions then signed the consent form. No need to fear. Of all the emotions associated with impending surgery, fear was never one of them. However, I wasnʼt sure whether this would be something to show my mother. Ha.

The appointment itself started out with Dr. Slaterʼs PA, who asked me if Iʼd signed the consent form (I had) and handed me a prescription for Zofran and Norco. I had to ask what they were for. (Nausea and pain.) He also told me that the hospital would call with instructions for surgery. Because the surgery would be at a hospital in a part of town that I donʼt know, I asked if they had maps to the hospital; they didnʼt. I guess thatʼs what Google Maps is for.

Dr. Slater came in next and looked at my ears with his otoscope. Iʼm not sure what he was looking for since everything affected by a cochlear implant is hiding behind the ear drum. I teased him about the scary side effects hand out and told him to “Please be careful.” He smiled sheepishly and said, “Iʼve never hurt anyone yet.” And that was about it. Cleared for a cochlear implant on Wednesday.