Today's activation went well... it was different from the first one.  I didn't get the sensation as bad like I got with the first one.  Steve programmed me with Fidelity 120 instead of 90K since he knew that I would improve faster since I am already using Fidelity 120 in my right ear.

He had an assistant in the room and was teaching her how to use the AB's sound wave software on his computers.. I believe thats she is a teaching student at Johns Hopkins. I didn't ask many questions since I was more focused on getting activated :)

I could hear the sounds this time rather than feeling the sounds but it did sound very different.  But since this is my 'bad' ear, it may not jump as high with my 'good' ear. We will see next week and the upcoming mappings!

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Surgery was successful!  No problems with my sugar!  The OR nurse LOVED my CGM.  Well worth it!

I was up and going home before 1155am!  Got home at 1230pm! No complications, less bleeding than the other surgery which was less bleeding than normal.  Thats pretty good!  Dr. Limb liked how the procedure went and was pleased with the results. He's excited for me for my activation!

I woke up with NO pain at all!  I was such a happy camper! Will do a posting on comparison from both surgeries. And was able to walk to my second phase of recovery!  From waking up and getting over there was about 15-20 minutes apart.  When I woke up, i immediately saw the nurse and asked for a drink and crackers.  I was smiling away cuz I was pretty numb  this time.  Really nice nurse.

One bad thing... I got stuck 3 TIMES for a IV!!!!!  This pre-op nurse must have been new and was not experienced in doing IVs.  But I asked for my old pre-op nurse, Victoria.  She didn't come in til later but she was able to get in a nice line for me and was happy to see her again.

Had the same anesthesiologist!  It was a small world!  She was glad to see me again!  She was like number two already?  I was like up, lets get the show on the road!

Didn't even say bye to my parents.. only my fiancee. I was put under about 10 seconds. This was so much smoother than the last time.  Had a good surgical experience.

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I got my bilateral surgery! Its on May 18th! I am psyched! Ill finally be 'stereo'! Dr. Limb will be doing my surgery again. He did a great job with the first one and has awesome bedside manners.

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I watched the progress of my surgical incision with the help of my fiancée Tom. Since I could not see it well, he took photos for me so I can see how much better it looked.

August 6, 2009 - 2 days post-op. Finally took bandage off.

Whew....the pressure off of my head is finally gone!!

August 8, 2009 - 4 days post-op. Saw the surgeon on

August 7, 2009 and was pleased with progress.

August 16, 2009 - 12 days post-op. Looking better!

August 19, 2009 - 15 days post-op. My first attempt to wear earrings!

August 29th, 2009 - 25 days post-op. Looks so much better!

You can see the scar has flatten out over time. And hair slowly growing back!

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The post-operative visit with Dr.Limb went very well. He was pleased with the outcome of my surgery. No complications during surgery. Also said that I had less bleeding than normal.

Here is a photo at the hospital. You can see that my face is swollen on the left. Surgery was on Tuesday morning, this photo was taken on Friday morning... not too bad 3 days post-op.

But I did have some dizziness that day and a few bloodsugar drops as well. But it was my first day out...did some errands with mom and picked up a big bottle of Tylenol for pain management for the next week or so.

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Post-Op was an challenge for me. I had problems with pain management during the first phase of recovery.

I remember bits and pieces coming out of the OR and the first hour of recovery.

I vaguelly remember seeing my surgeon, Dr.Limb saying that everything went well. Also his sidekick visiting me as well. I was so out of it during that time.

The nurse kept asking me if I was in pain. Scaling 1-10, I was always at 8 for a few hours maybe. But after a few times of waking me up, one of the nurses told me that in order to see my family and fiancée, it needs to be below 5.

Ok. Thanks SmartyPants, I just found a loophole to get outta there faster. The next time she came up to me and asked me what my pain level is, I told her it was between 4-5. Found my ticket home.

During that time, my pre-op nurse, Victoria visited me. I thought it was so sweet of her.


My mom took a picture of this photograph of Victoria that was on one of the walls in the pre-op area. She was so nice to me and I was scared shitless. She kept telling me that she would take care of me. She did.

Alrighty, back to the subject; another nurse comes by and prepares for me to WALK over to the second phase of recovery. And I was a little dizzy at the time. (I'm thinking how in the heck am I gonna get there safely??) So, I gently asked the two nurses if they could bring the chair to me and I'll hop on it. I was still in my sleepy stages during this time.

Got over there and got a spanking brand new nurse. Much nicer than the other one. She brings my family and my fiancée. Then my MOTHER starts snapping away her photos with her phone. I'm like what is SHE doing?!?! From the pictures below, you can obviously see that I was not in any mood to smile.



Told ya!

But here is a lovely photo of my fiancée, Tom.


And another of me and my dad.

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What a day.... this morning, I had a bad dream/nightmare... I dreamt that I was at JHH and there was this really weird people... and then waiting in pre-op area and a woman named Mary Rattell came out and told me that the surgery was cancelled cuz Dr. Limb was sick.

Good news that I had my surgery (performed by Dr.Charles Limb) this morning. I was in recovery for sometime cuz of the pain levels...well bad news the pain meds aren't working for me. I have been dealing with the pain since I woke up at the hospital.

I am at my place, my mom is staying with me for a few days to make sure I am ok. I am just trying to stay busy by watching tv, chatting with friends to kill time on the pain.

We will see how tomorrow goes.

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Sorry for not posting... I finally had my appointment with Dr. Limb. Quite a remarkable guy with a great academic background from Harvard and Yale. My parents were pretty impressed with him. He asked a bunch of questions about how I grew up, how I became deaf, etc.

I was almost 3 months premature baby which gave me a few health problems. My hearing loss and diabetes. The doctors (back in 1977) believes that I have a nerve damage (Nerve Deafness).

On the other hand, today...I am trying to find out the real cause of my deafness. I am so curious but there isn't any answers now. Maybe in the sometime future, I will know. The technology and the science is so much better today than 32 years ago.

Back to Dr. Limb; he answered my parents questions and mine too. He said that JHH has never damaged anyone's facial nerve up to this point. He also said that he will shave hair on the implanted side, not much... but he will shave a tiny amount on the non implanted side that way they can keep in track of my facial nerves and make sure they aren't damaged thru the surgery. At the end, he feels comfortable doing my surgery and will see me next time in the operating room....

Surgery date? He said that it can be end of July or sometime in August... I was like REALLY??? I am looking forward to getting this done and hear the trick and treaters for halloween.. one of my favorite holidays. But... it all depends on my last appointment at the end of the month with my audiologist, Steve Bowditch for the auditory testing.

So far, its been going well and smoothly.

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Here is the article on John Hopkins Magazine on Dr. Charles Limb.  Click to read article.

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I am in graduate school at University of Baltimore.  Taking two classes, Typography and Creative Concepts.  I was in my last Typography class on Thursday night with Maxwell Boam.  

Max Boam also works with the JHH magazine.  My classmates asked Max to show us his work that he has done.  One of the pieces that he showed us was a article of Dr. Charles Limb, my surgeon for the upcoming CI.  I found out that he was a musician.  I thought it was so interesting! 

I am still awaiting for the article to be found on the JHH website..  Once I get it, I'll put in another blog post.

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