As I'm sure you all remember I had surgery on my ear three weeks ago. I had been deaf in my right ear for several years and when Lisa finally talked me into going to get my hearing tested I was diagnosed with otosclerosis. I was reluctant to go because I just assumed that no one could do anything about my hearing. After all, I've known many people who were deaf and I didn't know anyone who had their hearing repaired. The one exception is a cochlear implant and I was pretty sure I wasn't a candidate for that. As it turned out I had a choice of getting some hearing aids or they had this cool surgery that could restore my hearing. In the end I chose to go with the surgery.
Immediately after the surgery my doctor whispered in my ear as a crude hearing test and I could hear everything he said. It was literally a miracle. He then proceeded to fill my ear canal with antibiotic cream and told me to keep a cotton ball in my ear for three weeks. He also warned me that swelling would cause my hearing to temporarily get worse. It was a cruel thing to give me a taste of normal hearing and then take it away again.
I've been wearing a band-aid on my ear for three weeks now to keep the cotton ball from falling out. Since I never see it I sort of forget that it is even there but apparently it has become a part of me in other peoples eyes. Let me give you an example.
A few weeks ago one of my guys drew a picture of Fred Flintstone on the white board in one of my labs and wrote "Hey Fred" next to the picture. I thought it was pretty cool and just left it there. Earlier this week I walked by the board and saw that some one had modified the drawing and made Fred Flintstones hair style more closely match mine. I thought it was funny and snapped a picture of it. It wasn't until the next day that I noticed Fred Flintstones ear. Do you see the band-aid on his ear? I laughed out loud.
Today was the day I've been waiting for. I went to see the doctor to get me ear cleaned out. Actually my hearing has been steadily improving as the swelling has gone down and as the ointment has slowly drained out. My hearing was better than it has been in years but it still wasn't as good as my left ear. I was worried that when he cleaned everything out it would still be worse than normal. Well I needn't have worried. Today he sucked everything out of my ear with a tiny little vacuum hose and gave me a simple hearing test. Both of my ears hear perfectly normal. I am so excited.
--------------------trivia--------------------
You are 37 times more likely to be killed by a drunk driver than by a gun.
You are almost twice as likely to be killed by a hammer than by a gun.
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4 comments:
Congratulations! Modern medicine can be so amazing! What a wonderful feeling that must be to be able to hear for the first time fully in both ears.
You need to post a picture of your implant card :)
That is so exciting for you! I had my own "miracle" surgery 3 years ago. I have worn thick eye glasses ever since I was in grade one --- with each succeding pair even thicker!
Well, after I retired from nursing, I went for yet another new pair of glasses as I was having difficulty seeing small printing. Diagnosis - cataract in my left eye. The doctor did a catarct removal and lens implant -WOW! I could see across the room and read the clock! However, I now had a problem, as the right eye was still very bad at -13. So in i month he did a lens replacement on that eye as well, giving me a lens that was keyed into closer vision. Our brains are wonderful -- the total picture is now I no lot wear glasses for distance or reading!!!! It is wonderful. Roselynn
That is amazing!!! I love learning about the ear/procedures to improve hearing/etc... I guess that's why I'm studying speech pathology and audiology :)
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