The last two days have been filled with pre-op appointments and I must say that it’s quite easy to get worried with surgery; especially an extreme one of this type.
The potential reality that no benefit from the surgery may be achieved has been discussed with me countless times over the last few days. Even though I’m a candidate, the fact that I haven’t heard certain high frequency sounds makes it impossible to know how my brain will react. The discussions did lead to my losing it today. Thankfully, I had the support of my mother during this period and I feel so much better right now.
The retraining process after the surgery will be essential in hopefully making sure my brain doesn’t reject new sounds and instead uses them and distinguishes them.
I also need to be careful how I move for at least a week, as the preservation of low frequency hearing is the point of the hybrid device and certain movements that create pressure in the head can cause the low frequencies to be damaged. So I need to be careful in so many ways.
I can’t lie and say this is not overwhelming for me. It is tough. But I truly believe the surgery will go really well and eventually the risk will be worth the benefits. It will likely take a lot of formal retraining sessions and time, but I look forward to the journey.
