I did end up going into the office yesterday, just 2 days after my surgery. Still feeling fine; the right side of my head is tender and I’m getting some twinges of pain, but they’re pretty mild and they go away when I take Tylenol. If I had a more physical job I’d have taken more time off, but sitting at a desk all day is not exactly taxing, so it wasn’t a big deal.

The hearing in my right ear was not very good before (hence the second implant), but now that it’s completely out of commission I’m realizing how much I was actually depending on it. My CI ear was definitely better, but I could hear much better with both it and the hearing aid than with either one on its own. So now I’m hearing only with the CI and it’s definitely more of a struggle; I’m missing more during conversations with only one ear in play. Of course this is only temporary, until my second CI is activated, so I can deal with it for a month (plus whatever ramp-up time the second one requires).

Being completely deaf without my processor on is seriously disconcerting. My right ear wasn’t that great, especially with no hearing aid, but it did still have a little bit of hearing. But now when I take off my processor, there’s absolutely nothing at all.

Having eaten a few more meals since my surgery, I now realize that I can’t taste anything with the right side of my tongue (same side as the new implant). It’s definitely making meals less enjoyable, though I’m getting better at chewing on the other side. I do hope it’ll come back, though.

The other thing that’s been driving me nuts is having only one arm on my glasses. I definitely do not want to put the other one back on yet, because the incision is nowhere near healed and as I said, that side of my head is pretty tender, but my glasses don’t sit right and they get smudged more easily. Again, I keep reminding myself that these are temporary annoyances and I’ll forget all about them when this is over. It was about 2 weeks after my first CI surgery that I was able to put the arm back on my glasses without it being uncomfortable, and that’s not a huge amount of time.

My newly implanted ear is also really numb at the top — can hardly feel it at all when I touch it. The left was a bit numb too, but I don’t think it was quite as bad. But the left feels normal, or nearly so, now, so hopefully that’s another thing that’s temporary.