2004-10-3rd and 4th - Post-operation

Here are pictures on the day of the operation (Pre and post-op), and here on the second day. The third day she went home and was greeted with cake by her brother and sister...
For the interested; have a look at the wounds. There was hardly any bandage around it and if you compare the first three days, you can see that apart from the swelling, it looks fine.

Regarding pain:
The only painkiller she got was 1 asprine. And this after getting 2 implants in one go.!! She was annoyed by the IV-drip/fluids that she got (via the foot) and a bit groggy for the first 2-3 hours. But when the IV was removed, she was up and going.
To give an illustration: She was using the tricycle in the hospital after about 4 hours. Much to our despair, trying to hold her back - to no effect.

So glad nobody filmed us.... running after her!

Nog geen 4 uur na de operatie zat ze op een driewieler met twee ouders om haar heen, omdat we zo bang waren dat ze ergens tegenaan zou lopen.

Opgelucht waren we; we hadden immers geen idee hoe we haar aan zouden treffen, en we hadden ons voorbereid op een hoopje ellende. Maar Lotte, die wilde spelen. En koekjes! En het infuus eruit... Dus maar snel van de verkoeverkamer naar de afdeling getransporteerd...

2004-10 (October) - Pre-Operation

The operation was scheduled in October 2004. 21 months after we discovered "officially" that she was deaf. She was 26 months old.

A preop/intake friday 1st of October, and the operation on the following monday, the 4th of October. We didn't stay in the hospital, but went home in between.


Finally - she was operated. And, as one of the first in Norway, she was offered bi-lateral Ci in 1 operation.... YES THANK YOU!!!!
We thought about that allready, and decided that in time we probably would do it.



Here's a picture of an X-ray with bi-lateral CI. (Not Lotte) It gives a good impression about the size of the actual electrode..... (n.b. the big round circles are the eye-sockets. Behind there you can see the small spiral of the electrode.. )

Why would we want bi-lateral CI??
It's controversial because the idea is that the first CI is really a major improvement. The second one has less effect. The benefits are obviously that with bi-lateral CI one can hear where the sound comes from. Also, noisy environment is easier to handle because the brain can filter out a lot of the noise. This is obvious when listning through a phone. Noise on the other side is heared clearly while the person on the other side might not be bothered.
But in addition, when one CI fails, the other is still available.
Obviously, it will be two operations, but I don't believe it's double the risk. Another argument against might be that when CI is implanted in both ears, there is no option when new techniques arrive. (Stemcell for example)
But, if this would happen in 10 years, the auditory nerve would not have been used for 10 years, and who knows what the effect of that would be.

So, when we were offered bi-lateral CI in 1 operation, we gratefully accepted.