More About CI Surgey

The Cochlear Koala. This is what the processer will look like.

Cochlear Koala and backpack.

Feeling better.

This is without the ear cup. It looks good here but you can't see behind his ear where all the work was done.

Bleeding after surgery.

Nicholas and Daddy sleeping in the PACU.

Right after surgery and the morphine.

Right after surgery in the PACU.

We headed down to Charleston on Tuesday to stay the night since Nicholas had an early surgery. The hospital called and said we had to check in at 7am. We left our hotel at 6:30 and the pre-op nurse called to see if we were still planning on coming for the surgery. I told her yes and that a nurse called the day before and told me to be there at 7. She said we were actually supposed to be there at 6. So the day started off in a stressful rush. We checked in at 6:50 and they started the pre-op. They had to go over his medical history and access his port. The anesthesiologist talked to us and said that he would like him to stay the night for observation. We were fine with that. He has never gone home the same day as surgery so we preferred he spend the night. The doctor doing the surgery also talked to us and said that it should take about 2 hours. We said goodbye and went to the waiting room. The anesthesiologist came out and said he went to sleep without a problem. A little after 10am the doctor came out and said the implant went in beautifully. He said to leave the cup dressing on for at least 24 hours.

We were able to go back to the PACU (Post Anesthesia Recovery Unit) a little while later. Nicholas was really upset so they gave him some Morphine and Tylenol. We both held him and when we put him back on the bed his gauze cup was full of blood. They called the ENT doctors in to look at him. The bleeding had stopped but they added some more Sterile Strips. The stitches are all internal and he has a bunch of sterile strips on the outside. We were in the PACU for about 4 hours waiting on a room in the children's hospital. Then they moved us to Same Day Observation to wait for a room. Nicholas slept most of the day and seemed very uncomfortable when he was awake. While he was in SDO his monitor showed his blood oxygenation was in the low 90's so we were a little worried about him. Then it showed his heart rate kept going over 200. He wasn't acting like it was that high so I asked the nurse if she could check. She listened and counted and got 120. She also put leads on him to monitor his heart rate that way. The pulse ox sensor on his foot wasn't picking up right and he was fine. One of the nurse in SDO used to work in the PICU at the children's hospital in Columbia.

We finally got moved to the children's hospital around 6. There were quite a few empty rooms so I don't know why it took so long to get him in one. The room was similar to the hospital here. It was a newly renovated room too. The nurses were all great and it was a good hospital stay. He finally started perking up after 7pm. The ENT resident did rounds at 6:30 am on Thursday and wrote up his discharge. We were on our way home by 9am.

Nicholas was ready to start playing and rolling around right when we got home. He even rolled with the ear cup on. He got a blister on his forehead from the pad under the elastic band. He also had a lot of swelling on both sides of the straps. I undid it to take it off since it had been 24 hours. The cup was stuck after I undid the straps. I pulled it back and the gauze was stuck to his ear with dried blood. I didn't want to hurt him or pull off a sterile strip so I strapped it back on him and was going to try again today. I had him in his crib and went to look at him a few minutes later and he was playing with the gauze and cup. I guess he wanted it off. He never cried so it must not have hurt pulling the gauze off. He seemed a lot happier without it on so I left it off. His ear looks a little black and blue and there is dried blood around it. He isn't playing with it which is a relief because we thought he would trying to play with his ear. The incision goes from the top of the top of the ear all the way to the bottom and it is right where the ear meets the head. So you can't see it unless you look from behind his ear and the scar won't be visible. The surgery was to implant the piece that goes under the skin and connects to the nerve. We will go back in about a month and get the processor which is the part he will wear and they will activate it at that visit.

Nicholas got a Cochlear koala and backpack. The koala has a cochlear implant too- it is cute. He also got a little stuffed bear they call a prayer bear that a church group makes for the kids. He is doing well. We have been giving him Tylenol because he has been little fussy. For the most part he is back to himself and should be good to go for therapies next week.