9 weeks post op

[dpericoni]

Getting ready to head back to teaching. I am nervous about the noise level. With a hearing loss, I am still having problems with being in a room/area with a lot of noise.
Balance is much better. Still can't turn my head fast. Rode my bike for the first time on Sunday (27 miles). Went to my first movie last night. I was shocked to realize that I don't hear surround sound anymore. I knew that would happen but it's still caught me off guard. Eventually, I got use to the sound difference and enjoyed the movie. I don't have facial paralysis but, since I cried at the end of the movie, I noticed that only one eye teared. 

I have also notice that my good ear seems to be picking up sounds better. Certain sounds now seem louder than usual.

Darlene
Tempe, Arizona
5mm by 8mm
Middle fossa
House

[Jeanlea]

Hi Darlene,

Good luck going back to school.  I wish you only the best.  I have been back teaching 3rd graders since the beginning of November.  My hearing has not been a big problem in the classroom.  I told the students that I can't hear out of my left ear and if they want me to hear them they should talk in to my right ear.  I also remind them to only talk one at a time so that I can hear them.  Sometimes I tease some of them and tell them that even though I'm half deaf I can still hear them talking too much.    

The only place where I really notice my hearing problem is in the lunchroom, but then again I never really could hear in there.  School is really good.  It's one place where I am so involved in teaching that I tend to forget about my AN and surgery.

I will be thinking of you as you head back to the classroom.

Jean

[Rc Moser]

Get you a good ear plug for you good ear ( I use MAX made by Howard LEIGHT. they are orange and soft with the maximum NRR rating. the softness helps out won't my your ear so sore from wearing one all the time if you have to)   it will filter out all the abnoxious noises, you can adjust them by pulling them out alittle till you get the filteration you like. I have to wear one 90% of the time. I can't even stand silverware clanking and I've not even in the kicthen.  Hopefully your ear won't be as senitive as mine. I also notice the louder the noise the louder the rush, swash, static, or what ever you want to call it in my removed ear,  which makes it even harder to hear. I quess the nerve ending left on the brain are still firing IMO.

It's a big problem for me cause I work around Indrustrial Noise all day long. A constant battle with headaches. No one will understand your delima IMO if this is a problem for you. A word of caution; I can't tell which way noise is coming from. Someone can yell at me and I turn the wrong way 99% of the time. This can be hazardous when crossing the street or walking through a parking lot or I'm the only one this happens to.                                                                                                       Rc.

[Boppie]

I am 3 weeks post op.
I have noticed this directional thing from the beginning...neighbor's lawn mower could be coming from any of three yards behind or to the side.  Phone ring bounches all over the place.  Oddly, I look to the good side for the phone when by memory I know very well that the phone sits on my deaf ear side.  That's where the sounds bounce to when it rings and so I look over there every time.  It will take some retraining.

I haven't yet put the phone up to my bad ear, but that will be a laugh!  It astounded me that I can't even here my fingers on my deaf ear when I touched the lobe the first time...can't hear my fingers stroking my hair.  But of course!

How does driving feel on the multi lane roadway with heavy trucks going by on your deaf side?

Not wanting to scare anybody, these adjustments are not impossible.  This is our life, now.  Move ahead. 

[Rc Moser]

Boppie, I wish you good luck in trying to adjust! let's put that question hold and Reenter that one in about a year or two or three...   A wierd one for me: when in the shower the water makes the splashy sound on the right but nothing on the left.

[okiesandy]

Which way is the danged ambulance coming from? What is that strange motorcycle noise and where is it coming from? I am learning to use the rear view mirror more and look around more.

Guess if I don't want to be a hermit I had best learn to navigate with my eyes because eventually I will be totally deaf in both ears. Bothers me because I fear I can not hear motor noises coming from my car and what would I do if I broke down? Talk about waiting for the other shoe to fall. Be very glad you have hearing in one ear. Mine fluctuates because of AIED along with the AN.

One helpful hint is a panasonic voice enhanced phone. I have always used the phone at my left AN ear. I have put the phone up to the deaf ear many times at first. The other day I put my bright red KX-TG5428 phone up to the bad ear and could hear. Not! Just bone conduction hearing. I put it on speaker and put it to my left ear and can hold a conversation and write at the same time. Love to do this it makes me feel almost normal again. This phone is clear as a bell and voice definition is excellent. Every hearing person that uses it remarks on how clear the sound is. Just a plain old Walmart phone. Also so has a light that helpls you find it when you lay it somewhere and a seach button that rings and lights up for about as long as it takes to find it. Sometimes a long time for me. What foolish pleasures we find at times.

Sandy

[luv2teachsped]

Hi- Yes locating sound is very difficult.  Something the Doctors never mention!  Especially traffic , ambulances etc...  I guess this is where we learn to rely on our "other"senses.  I am almost 8 mo. post op and I still catch myself  putting my finger in my deaf ear when I am on the phone and can't hear over my class.Like that's going to help!!! Or better yet, running to my phone, only to find out it's not mine, but the teacher's next to me or across the hall!!   We all just laugh!!!  If we can't laugh at our selves, who can???  Luv2teachsped

[Joef]

Yep.. even with the BAHA hearing aid ... I still can't tell which direction the sound comes from .. Ive learn never to run for a phone .. if it is mine , thats what voice mail is for!! 

[JHager]

Hey, All!

I had mostly lost the hearing in my AN ear before surgery, but I still notice a difference.  Oddly, it is often when I'm wearing my headphones.  (Not quite sure why I'm using two!  )  Anyway, many songs are purposely recorded so that portions of the music play through each headphone.  When you can't hear one side, it's WEIRD!

For example, John Mellencamp's 'Peaceful World' is mostly acoustic in my good ear, and I can't hear Pete Townshend singing on the Who's 'Eminence Front', as his voice comes through the 'wrong' headphone.  Come to think of it, Pete can't hear himself sing, either! 

SSD has many peculiar side-effects, don't it?

Josh

[Larry]

Josh,

I think you were better off not hearing Pete Townsend sing! as for his guitar work, well that's a different story!


cheers



Larry

[Desiree]

HI Darlene - I'm from Arizona too, moving back to tempe/scottsdale in a month.  Anyway, I lost my left side hearing and now 5 months post op it doesn't bother me too much.  Mostly when I am at functions for work and sitting at a round table.  I try to situate myself with my good ear to as many as possible, I can't hear anything of a person sitting directly to my left.  To be honest sometimes I like that it's a little quieter.

Definatley get tinnitus after noisy days, and definately find it hard to hear people with a lot of background noise, restaurant, bar settings etc.  It's really made me a bit of a homebody.  I just make sure my Fiance is on my left side and notice that we argue less because I can't hear him:)  haha, it's our running joke but sometimes I think its' true...I bet everyone gets really tired of saying What?  Constantly!

My dad has been deaf in one ear since he was 4 years old so I used to make fun of him for looking up,down all around when I couldn't figure out where a sound was coming from.  Now i'm the same, but at least I had a role model going in.  Anyway, I just wanted to wish you luck and let you know that at 5 months out it really doesn't bother me much anymore. 

Oh and I forgot!  I could only cry out one eye and one nostril was very dry too for a couple of months but now they both work normally.  I remember the first time I cried after the surgery, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry more because it seemed that nothing worked right anymore, not even my tear ducts

Good Luck:)

[dpericoni]

Now, it's 15 weeks post op. I made it back to the classroom. My new word is Huh? That's all I say all day long. If it gets noisy, I can't hear anything. At the end of the day, I notice the ringing more than at the beginning of the day. I started coaching tennis and notice I don't have a great backhand anymore. Hopefully, that will come back. I still have tearing problems. Hopefully that too will go away. I'm back biking for exercise. So all and all doing great with just a few minor adjustments.

Darlene
Tempe, AZ
5mm by 8mm
Middle Fossa
House
left side deafness

[Randy]

Hey Josh, I like listening to music with headphones also.  I sometimes use them when I try to watch TV and others are talking or there is alot of noise going on in the background.  What I did to make the all the sound come into one side of the headphones is I went to a radio shop and had them make and adapter jack that I plug my headphones into and then I plug that into the stereo.  Basically I turned my stereo headphones into mono headphones, too bad you can't find mono headphones these days.