Post Surgery

Hi there! It has been 3 weeks since the surgery so here is a little update! We removed the bandage a couple of days after coming home and this is how the incision behind the ear looked then. I was actually surprised by how less hair had been shaved off for the procedure!

A slight bulge can be felt on the head a little above the incision, that is the internal magnet. We did not wash his head for the first few days but after that things were pretty much back to normal. We stayed at home for the most part however.

Here is a picture of the device which has been surgically inserted now.

Inside his head, it rests as below. The circular magnet is just beneath the skull and the electrode arrays are nested inside the cochlea like a spiral. The external piece can also be seen.

Check out this video about how an implant works- truly amazing!!

There are 3 major manufacturers of cochlear implant devices – Advanced Bionics, Cochlear and MED-El. I was reading a little bit about the history of ‘Cochlear’ (based in Australia) and it was just so fascinating! The inventor embarked upon a journey of “finding a cure for deafness” when he saw his father struggling with a sudden onset of hearing loss in his forties. He pursued medicine, specialized in ENT surgery and studied speech science from the UK to make possible his dream of finding a cure. After a decade of learning and experimentations, finally in 1978, the first cochlear implant surgery was performed in Australia thereby creating history! Thanks to the vision and dedication of this remarkable person, ‘Dr. Graeme Clark’, today more than 300,000 people have received the priceless gift of hearing!