The Next Big Thing

Hi, everyone!

I have been having a wonderful time reading all the comments, the posts on rec.arts.comics.strips, the emails... I am so lucky to have surrounded myself with such funny, smart and kind people before I was plunged into all this!

Several people have commented on the long and detailed post I wrote post-surgery. I guess it helps to remember I'm not that articulate, especially on drugs :) - it was written on Friday, a full two and a half days after the actual operation. I was not very articulate for the first 24 hours following, I can assure you. The first afternoon in the hospital after the surgery was very weird, in fact; I'd doze off and wake up to see that flowers had arrived; then doze off and wake up again to see that more flowers had arrived; then doze off and awake to see that a card had been delivered... it was quite odd, I never saw any of these things being brought into the room, I'd just wake up and see that another addition had been made to my little collection. "I should keep doing this," I thought groggily. "Eventually jewelry will start appearing, I'm sure."

By Friday night, back in my own home since Thursday afternoon, I was quite content and comfortable and I shooed Husband off to the pub while Sis kept me company. He came back from our "local" with the relief of the worst part being behind us written all over his face. All the staff and our friends - the regular Friday night crowd - were so pleased everything had gone well, he told me. A bunch of soldiers from nearby Base Gagetown, who'd been celebrating their own homecoming, fresh off the plane from a tour of duty in Kabul, had been there. "They're all rooting for you and they bought me rum shots," he wrote, grinning loopily. God-damn. Bless those boys and girls. I think I've got problems.

The next step in our journey is "activation". The implant has, thank God, been installed and that went as well as could possibly be expected, and they somehow tested it during implantation and told Husband that the electrodes were responding well. But without the external apparatus it's like an expensive stereo that hasn't been plugged in to a power source or tuned to an FM station. So I am still deaf, of course. The activation usually happens sometime around six weeks after surgery, and we're waiting for an appointment for that. We have another appointment with Dr. B. in Halifax at the end of March, so maybe we can bundle a visit to the Hearing and Speech Center to consult with them at the same time.

But for now, my job now is to take care of myself and that surgery site and make sure everything heals properly and wait, anxiously, for the Next Big Thing:

turning it on.

ronnie