Painting Your Tongue with Chloraseptic

Today was my doctor appointment at Dr. Berryhill’s office. For the first time, the office was almost completely empty and no one was in front of me! I was early and sat out in the waiting room for all of five minutes. Dr. Fredrick the PA saw me today and said everything looks good. I have blood behind the eardrum, which is the fluid I’ve been feeling and this is normal and expected. The incision is slightly swollen but this is also normal a week post-surgery. I have stitches on the inside that will not need removal and surgical glue on the outside of the incision that will fall off on its own. He suggested I use aloe vera on the incision when it feels dry and itchy and warm compresses instead of ice packs. My follow up appointment with Dr. Berryhill is July 12.

My appointments with the audiologist are June 9 and June 10 at HELP at Integris Baptist. I will not know the name of the audiologist until I get there or Charlie calls in advance. Is there even a guarantee I’ll see the same person each time I go in?

The taste issues are completely normal and can last anywhere from 3 – 6 months. In simplest terms, there is a nerve that connects the tongue and the ear and when the implant was inserted, it affected this nerve. I am going to lose SO much weight because food taste like SHIT (excuse my French). Why is it that the ONLY things that taste good are cheese and candy? (Picture this: Cartoon character having her tongue pulled out and painted with chloraseptic instead of paint. That's how my tongue feels.)

This week’s major challenges will be:

• Find foods that taste good
• Stay awake for more than 2 hours at a time
• Try to get on a more “normal” schedule.

Thank goodness I do not have to work right now! I can get started on my volunteer work for OAD next week. And once I’ve been activated and comfortable with the implant, I will find volunteer work outside the home. I’m going to focus on libraries but find one that will allow me to do shelving or something “behind the scenes” for now. I’m not ready to face the general public yet. Maybe the state library for the disabled will have something for me or one of the public schools. And after activiation, I will make an appointment to speak with the OU Grad School about going there next year.

One thing I want everyone to know about getting a cochlear implant is that no one has the same experience, because every individual is unique. The basic process is the same for each recipient, but how the process affects us is different.