My BAHA Surgery

[Catflower]

My BAHA implant surgery is scheduled for April 7th.  My doctor prefers general anesthesia.  I was hoping for the La-La Land sedation, but he want's to make sure I don't inadvertently move my head.

I'm excited.  I tried the demo band yesterday and couldn't believe the difference.

[OMG16]

Catflower that is great news.  I will add you to my prayers and will look forward to your post baha surgery post.  Kisses to your forehead.  16

[leapyrtwins]

Catflower -

that is great news!!!  I knew you'd like the demo; I'm so glad you tried it.

I had my BAHA surgery today w/local anesthesia and it wasn't a problem at all.  Some interesting sounds and smells; but I didn't feel a thing.

If your doc prefers general anesthesia, then obviously, go with it.  As I told my doc, I find it's always a good idea to defer to the person with the sharp object in his hand 

Jan

[Kate B]

I had my BAHA surgery today w/local anesthesia and it wasn't a problem at all.  Some interesting sounds and smells; but I didn't feel a thing.

If your doc prefers general anesthesia, then obviously, go with it.  As I told my doc, I find it's always a good idea to defer to the person with the sharp object in his hand 

Jan

Jan,


I was just writing you and couldn't get it to post...doodoodoodoo....
I was wondering how it went today and it sounds like it went well.
Yeah.
Kate

[leapyrtwins]

Yes, Kate, everything went incredibly well.  Thanks for thinking of me 

Doc was great, hospital staff was great, procedure went off without a hitch!  I spent about 90 minutes in the OR, 30 minutes in the recovery room, and then they let me walk out the front door - no wheelchair.
 
While Dr. Battista told me he's performed over 200 BAHA surgeries, I was actually his first at Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village.  He generally does them in Hinsdale, but hopefully I'm the first of many to be performed at Alexian since he now has an office located there.  It was kind of interesting; a lot of the nursing staff had no idea what the surgery was and I ended up telling them what was going to be done to me and why.  One of my nurses told me she read about BAHA surgery just last night because she had no idea what it entailed.

Currently I have a white plastic "cup" - kind of like a plastic kneecap - on the left side of my head that's attached to a wide elastic strap that is wrapped around my head and fastened with velcro.  It doesn't look as bad as I thought it would; I even went to my son's volleyball game about 4 hours post op.  I was prescribed Vicodin for the pain, but don't plan on getting the Rx filled as Tylenol is taking care of what little pain I currently have.  The bandage comes off after 24 hours and then I can shampoo my hair by holding a styrofoam cup over the BAHA site.  Sounds kind of weird, but sure beats not being able to wash my hair - the 9 days post AN surgery was horrid 

First followup visit is a week from tomorrow.

Jan

 

[lori67]

Jan -

I knew you'd be okay!!  I'm glad everything went well.  I think we BAHA folks are a learning experience for a lot of people!  I had to go to my primary doc for a check up today and I mentioned I had gotten my BAHA since I saw him last and he said "That's great news.  What's a BAHA?".  It was funny.

Take good care of the surgical site so it will heal as planned - that will mean you can get your processor as scheduled!

And washing your hair with a cup on your head doesn't sound odd to any of us!  We can be creative when we want to be, can't we?  I once took a shower the day after knee surgery when I was told to keep it dry - I put a lawn chair in the bathtub and stuck my leg out of the shower curtain.  Probably not the safest thing to do, but I think it was pretty ingenious.

Lori

[zjane]

Hi Jan,

I was just thinking of you!  Glad to hear you had a smooth surgery.  I'm waiting for insurance again and it seems they need documentation to prove I have normal hearing on the oppsite side.  I just called the office.  I hope it get approved so I can move forward with the surgery.

Jane

[ppearl214]

jan!!!! YAY!!! Done deal!!!!!!!!!!!  thrilled to hear all went well!

um, can I get pics of you with the white plastic cap?

Be well hun... and congrats!

Phyl

[leapyrtwins]

Lori -

thanks for the encouragement.  Just took off the lovely white dressing about 1 hour ago and showered - not as bad as I thought and I definitely feel much better.  It's nice to be able to educate people.  My internist, my medical insurance broker, and my regular ENT (the one who sent me for my MRI and referred me to my neurotologist) all had no idea what a BAHA was.  One of them even thought I said I was going to Baja LOL

Question - did your BAHA site itch?  Mine is itching like crazy, which I'm attributing to healing, but maybe I should check with the doc?  He said to call him with questions, but I hate to bother him with little stuff like this.

Jane -

where have you been??  I've been trying to find you for months; I'm so glad you're back!!  You kind of fell off the face of this forum    I am so glad that you are still looking into the BAHA surgery.  Don't let the insurance company get to you, be persistent - Diana in Dr. Battista's office will be a big help in this.  If you do have the surgery, I'd be thrilled to come to the hospital and meet you - if you wanted me to.  We AN patients need to stick together.

Phyl -

I do have pictures of me with the white plastic "hat" that I talked my unwilling daughter into taking last night.  I also have some of the BAHA site that I took myself today when I took off the "hat".  All I can say is it's a good thing I don't have a weak stomach - it's not too pretty at this point - but I have faith it WILL look better.  I can PM you the pictures later.

Jan

[lori67]

Yes, it looks pretty nasty at first, doesn't it?  It'll get better.

Mine did itch quite a bit, and still sometimes does, but not as bad.  If yours gets really itchy, I'd call the doctor - maybe he can suggest something that might help.

It's good to let your family know that you itch - it will give you an excuse to casually reach up and turn off your processor when you don't want to hear things!  My husband finally figured that out and told a friend of mine "if you think she's scratching her head - she's not - she's turning off her hearing aid".  Darn - my secret is out.  I guess turning off the processor AND sticking my finger in my good ear might make it too obvious that I'm not listening, huh?   

[nancyann]

Jan:  So glad to hear everything went well - the plastic 'cup' bandage reminds me of those white plastic things they put around a
dog's neck to prevent them from biting a wound.    Guess they didn't use a bandage because they'd have to tape it to your hair - wouldn't work.

I can't believe you were at your son's volleyball game - sounds like local anesthesia was a good choice for you.

Well, continued healing,   Nancy

[leapyrtwins]

Guess they didn't use a bandage because they'd have to tape it to your hair - wouldn't work.

I can't believe you were at your son's volleyball game - sounds like local anesthesia was a good choice for you.

Nancy -

actually they did use some tape.  The doc bent my left ear forward and taped it down, I'm thinking to move it out of his way.  He also taped the drapes to my face and when he pulled them off at the end of the surgery it felt like when you pull off a bandage that's stuck to the hair on your arm - only 100 times worse.  OUCH!  It was the only pain I felt though.

Local anesthestic turned out to be marvelous!  As soon as the doc put on my lovely "head dress", I sat upright on my nice bed with wheels and couldn't get to the recovery room fast enough.

Another great thing was that the doc turned out to have a much better sense of humor that he did at my AN surgery.  I'm the type of person who tries to deny to myself that I'm nervous or frightened by turning into a comediene    Thankfully, instead of letting it aggravate him, he followed my lead and turned into a funny guy himself.  It made the entire experience much more pleasant for me.  At my AN surgery, and during my AN recovery, I found him so serious that it really worried me; I was grateful that the doc who did my fat graft provided the laughs.

Jan

[nancyann]

Well, the tape on/tape off does NOT sound pleasant at all,  but glad you got in a few laughs during the procedure.

Can you 'hear' a difference with your hearing yet?

People on this forum are saying such good things about the BAHA.

[leapyrtwins]

You know, I can't hear a difference yet, but then again I still have a pink foam bandage on the surgery site which is stuck on with the BAHA cap that others have referred to.  Thankfully it's covered up nicely by my hair, so people have no idea it's there.  Despite the doc telling me that my hair had grown a whole lot since my AN surgery and therefore he needed to shave a lot off, it's not nearly as bad as I imagined.  The pink foam and the cap will be taken off on Wednesday morning by the doc and from there I guess I'll go with the bacitracin, wash cloth, toothbrush routine that Lori talked about.

I decided today that the BAHA surgery is one of the best things I've ever done.  It's strange, but all day I've been describing it as a pleasant experience to my coworkers.   I am just so thrilled at the prospect of being able to hear better.  The diagnosis of my AN came at a particularly bad time in my life when I was just getting back on my feet again and I didn't realize how much it affected me emotionally.  I was in major denial about how depressed I had become after the surgery and my subsequent SSD.  I woke up this morning feeling very enthusiastic and I have a whole different attitude towards my life.  I feel like I'm starting a new chapter - and a very positive one at that.

Now if I could only get the doc's initials off my left ear where he signed it in purple prior to the surgery

Jan

[zjane]

Hi Jan,

Dr. Battista can be Funny???!!!! That's good to know!  He was always so serious!

You know Dr. Battista and Wiet's office moved to a new building right?  Well my family doc moved also and is now right across the hall from them!  So today I went to see my doc for sinus inflammation and then went right across the hall to check on the Baha insurance status.  Barb told me Blue Cross Blue Shields had called her and told her they've reconsidered and approved it!  I guess I can schedule my surgery soon!

How's your surgery site now two weeks post-op?

Jane