The doNExT is in

Yeah sorry, that was just a followup to my dumb doughnut joke

Oh yeah, I didn’t see the donut emoji next to it.

I’m taking that partially back: the chip is in fact not at all where it was installed. It’s slipped a good half inch back towards the entry point, and it’s backed up so much it’s passed under the stitch apparently. In fact, it’s now unconfortably close to the wrist joint. Also, if I push on it, it makes a strange gurgling sound.

Anyway, the range isn’t great, but when I scan it exactly over the sweet spot, it’s a bit better than my glass implant. I still have to search the sweet spot for a while though.

If you can slip it back, I would put a pressure wrap on starting at the incision point. Might keep it from slipping back forward?*

  • I am not a doctor, that is not medical advice, but an idea.
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I tried it. It ain’t moving. I think the pocket was too small to begin with, because Lassi seemed to have a lot of trouble fitting it all in. It was probably just long enough when he installed it, and now it’s possibly shrunk some.

Anyway, it’s not hitting anything it shouldn’t hit (yet) and it’s not coming out. So I’ll just leave it be and see how it turns out.

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See updated post below

I think the skin has reconnected through the hole. It seems to have slopped slipping, and I can definitely feel a dip in the skin there. I can even see it in grazing light. Anybody know if it’s possible after only 30 hours?

Since the doNExT is very flat, this is absolutely possible - but be careful about it, the skin might already slowly reattach, but it will not stand much yet^^

Yeah yeah, I’m not yanking on it. Just slightly feeling it. I know the pocket around it has already shrunk, because if I push sideways on it a bit, it bites now. Didn’t used to until this afternoon.

I can’t feel any biting in the middle, so if the skin has started to reattach, it certainly isn’t finished doing it yet. Or the nerves haven’t reconnected, more likely. I expect that it will bite there too, in time, which I assume will be the desired result.

This might actually take some time… with my silicone implant (which is a lot thicker, though), it took weeks to get the feeling completely back. It’s in for about 11 weeks now, and it’s still not completely reattached in the middle - but the sensitivity is already back, strange enough… guess nerves connect horizontally, too? Dunno :smiley:

The skin over my doNExT is almost completely insensitive right now. But the skin over my flexM1 is absolutely fine. Zero differences in sensations. So I suppose nerves run at least partially horizontally through the skin.

I can’t edit the follow-up post anymore. So I’ll just continue in this one (if someone with the adequate rights wouldn’t mind deleting the other one):

  • Day 1: The implant went in with the two LEDs closest to my wrist in a line perpendicular to my arm. Within a couple of hours, the implant had already rotated some 10 degrees. I couldn’t take a photo of my arm right after the installation though…

  • Day 2: it’s definitely turning. Funny cuz I really haven’t done anything today other than laying on the couch doing jack squat, yet the implant is spinning…

  • Day 3: it seems to have pretty much stopped turning. Only rotated a couple degrees today. Maybe it has something to do with the skin reconnecting through the center hole. So today, it’s rotated exactly 30 degrees counterclockwise from where it started from.

  • Day 4: the implant definitely has stopped spinning for good I think. No movement whatsoever today. And the skin over the center hole definitely feels like it has reconnected.

SEE UPDATED POST BELOW

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Yep, that’s similar to what I have experienced - and on the wrist, there should be even less movement than on the back of the hand. Guess nothing can keep those guys from spinning around…

What I find interesting here - mine rotated counter-clockwise as well… might be coincidence, but maybe there is a reason to it? No idea… :woman_shrugging:

Oh, and your arm looks really fine! Almost no swelling, no bruising - your artist did a great work, I think!

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My experience is that nothing can prevent an implant from going where it wants to go, apart from parylene. You can try all you want, it’s more stubborn than you.

In the case of the flexNExT with blinkies, it’s a disk with 3 raised bumps and a bundle of tendons running parallel underneath it and pushing it up and down. It stands to reason that it’s going to align itself so that 2 of the 3 bumps line up and “fall” between two tendons, overcoming whatever counter torque may be created by the 3rd bump.

The only downside is that I wanted the chip over a bone to limit how much bending it can experience, and now it’s more over flesh than bone. I’ll just have to be careful I guess…

By that little theory of mine, it’s not too surprising that it stopped turning with the two upper LEDs perfectly in line with my arm. I may or may not be right, but I can’t think of any other rational explanation for the realignment and sudden braking into that perfect position: if it turns, something must cause it to turn, that something can only be my machinery underneath it, and it can’t be a coincidence that it ended up lining up with it.

I think so too. Obviously very competent. I’m totally amazed by how precisely he managed to drop the implants exactly where I told him I needed them to be. Especially considering how forceful a job lifting skin is. I’m even more amazed by the complete lack of drama of it all, during the act as much as after.

The only “interesting” moment was when he had to slide the skin lifter under a bit of my arm that hadn’t seen much lidocaine. That got my attention for a minute. And I think the stitches are a bit too tight. Other than that, like I said, I’ve had much more trouble with simple injections.

I most definitely will visit him again. Too bad he’s so far away…

That must have been fun… ouch. I know why my artist checks 2 or 3 times if everything is completely numb :wink:
Though the last time, I bled a little more than expected, so the anaesthetic faded a bit faster than we imagined, and I actually felt a little sting when he made the last two stitches of the suture. Nothing bad, but interesting to see how this all works, in a way.

Yeah, I think we just have to live with how our implants like to settle^^ Guess it finds its best placement anyway, I mean, the one with least stress on implant or body.

That was a bit my fault: instead of freestyling the intended position of the doNExT over my arm with a pen, I proposed to stick one of my bullseyes on my arm at the exact location I wanted the doNExT to be. He said good idea, so I did.

I told him to be careful though, because the doNExT is in fact 4 to 6 mm larger in diameter. But I probably didn’t say it loud enough. By the time he was done carving a space large enough for a bullseye, it was too small for the doNExT. So he had to enlarge it, but he hadn’t poked lidocaine that far.

So he just sais “sorry…” and proceeded to yank real good right and left and everywhere until it the pocket was finally large enough. And then he peeled me off the ceiling :slight_smile:

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Mhm… always important to draw the right size, otherwise things go “not so nice”
For my silicone implant, we were able to use a 2-euro-coin, it had exactly the right size :smiley:
For the flexNExT, I actually made a little cardboard-thingy with the right size, so it could be used to find the right location and draw it on without using the acutal implant and making it way-less-sterile that way^^

Hadn’t he been poking around in your hand, I’d have considered punching him hard for that :smile:
But I guess, that way was faster and less annoying than having to re-numb everything - considering there might be a small timeframe until the anaesthetic starts to fade out anyway, which would be even more uncomfortable.

Yeah, you’ve been cleverer than I’ve been on that one. This is especially stupid of me considering that I actually made a 1:1 model of the thing to test placement before ordering it, and left it at home on D-day.

Do I really want to punch the person who’s just opened up my arm wide with a sharp scalpel and large scary shoehorn-like tool and hasn’t cracked out the suturing needle yet? Hmm… Maybe not :slight_smile: And the thing is, he wasn’t even taking it lightly or anything. Really nice guy. I couldn’t possibly hold it against him.

That was the thread that made me actually build my little cardboard-thingy :wink: Didn’t have the idea before - so, you gave me the idea and than forgot it yourself :smile:

Ah no, was just kidding - things like that can happen, things can always go wrong a bit, and I guess as experienced as he seems to be (took a look at his work some time ago), he just came to the assessment that you were stable enough to take the pain without problems with circulation or anything. And since he was right, everything’s fine :wink:
Best artist are those that react correct if something goes wrong.

Got to share the vCard on the doNExT with a customer for the first time. I had a long sleeve shirt on, a jersey and my coat, and I didn’t really want to strip. So I told him to scan through my clothes. It beeped, and the guy said “Cool watch!” and walked off.

Dammit… :slight_smile:

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