On the other side

Well the surgery went smoothly and it was definitely the right thing to do to have the second surgery. When they reopened my scar, they discovered bands of scar tissue had wrapped themselves around the battery and the wires. This was the source of my discomfort and apparently it was quite tricky to extricate the battery from it all. Anyway, they created the space in the pocket slightly differently this time so we are hopeful that the same problem will not occur again.

I had a lovely room-mate in hospital, a 39 yr old lady who was having the implant put in for the first time. She was keen to ask me lots of questions and it was so great to talk to someone else who is bionic too! It also helped when we were both awake the whole night afterwards to be able to chat to someone - it was like a pain slumber party!

9 days on and I'm gradually getting less sore each day. Had my weekly check-up which went well and can now shower again - oh so lovely to feel fresh and clean! The recovery so far has felt quite different to last time. I am definitely less weak this time around although still very tired and dozing for most of the day. I have been walking with a walking stick although can do short distances without it. This is mainly due to the sharp, stabbing pains I have felt in my hip/leg joint whenever I put pressure on my right leg. This is all normal since my battery has moved closer to my hip but has been very painful. Although it is a lot better now, Tim and I decided we needed a bit of creativity to deal with the pain as I was extremely reluctant to even go to the toilet.

So I now have toilet theme music!! Chariots of Fire or the theme song from Rocky are my soundtracks - we press play and Tim and I sing along mimicking the slow motion effect (since I am so slow anyway) as I hobble to the toilet and back. It definitely distracts me from the pain and always makes us laugh. You gotta find things to make you laugh!