Hello Again,
Thank you for your support and concern and humor. I'm a big fan of humor.
I'm going to officially join the club today so I can get the literature.
Vancouver, Washington is located just to the north of Portland, Oregon across the mighty Columbia river. Lewis and Clark traveled through here on their way to the Pacific Ocean.It was Ft. Vancouver and later just Vancouver. I am a native Oregonian however and lived most of my life in that state. There used to be only one major bridge between Portland and Vancouver; the I-5 bridge. The inconvience of using just that bridge kept Vancouver and Clark County (named for the before mentioned Mr. Clark) small and very rural. Then the engineers figured out that they could put in a second bridge along with a new freeway, known as the 205. Because of the new access to Clark County, this has become Washington State's fastest growing county in recent years. It's become quite the boom town and it's still developing and changing. Like many Portlanders, we followed the migration north because housing costs and utility costs were cheaper over here. But it is catching up to the Portland market and I don't know how anyone will be able to afford a house pretty soon.  Vancouver, Washington is often confused with Vancouver, British Columbia. But once you SEE Vancouver, WA you would certainly know you are not in Vancouver, BC!! LOL But if you ever get to Vancouver, BC you will certainly want to get on the ferry and go to Victoria, BC, arguably the prettiest city in the Northwest.
I will admit that I got a bit depressed yesterday after reading some of the material on this site. I saw that my "visitor" is bigger than others and then decided that I was upset with my ENT guy for not getting me a MRI instead of a CT scan, because he said, "No tumors!". Oooops. Then I thought, well, some of this is MY fault, because I didn't go back to the ENT last FALL/winter for a follow up. I had been to some sites regarding tinnitus and so I thought...well, I'm stuck with THAT for the rest of my life. So, I have some guilt here that I didn't go back when I should have. The facial stuff came on so slowly that I really can't remember when I first noticed it....but sometime this last winter I guess. So I went for my physical January 6th and that's when I mentioned it to my doctor. I couldn't get into the neurologist until MARCH 3. MRI on the 9th, and a name for my "visitor" on the 13th. Miss AN, or Annie. I really hate the word tumor. Perhaps if I'd gone back last September or October I'd have had an MRI sooner, but would those few months made any difference? Probably not. They tell me I've had this for 15 or 20 years. Do most people have tinnitus as a first sympton? Mine started up sometime early in 2005. I went for an ear cleaning because I thought I had wax in my ears. Then I had the ENT appointment April 19, and a hearing test May 16. What bothered me the most was the feeling that my ears needed to "pop". So, see, perhaps I had two different things going on that confused the issue.  It was June 6th, 2005 that I had the CT scan. And June 14th the ENT put a tube in that ear. Eventually that feeling of fullness and needing to pop my ears went away. I would have gone in for a follow up appointment 4 to 6 months after that, and never did. So, I guess I'm writing all this junk out to put the time-line in order for myself and not to feel so guilty about not going back for the follow-up appointment, because I don't think those few months would have made much difference. And besides, there's nothing I can do about that now. That's water under the bridge, wax over the eardrum, whatever!!
My stepmom said, well, honey, maybe eventually you will just forget it's there. I said, I didn't know how that could be because I feel it every day. This AN whispers in my ear constantly and she's getting damn annoying!! This gives a whole new meaning to Snap, Crackle and Pop! Any tricks of the trade to deal with it better? I sometimes think I've done really well in managing it, since I haven't jumped into the Mighty Columbia River yet!ÂÂ
Well, sorry about this. I guess I've vented and whined enough for one day. I was diagnosed with Diabetes two years ago last November and I manage that with diet and exercise..I just figured my plate was already full and didn't need anything else! But, that's life. What will be, will be.
Thank you for the kind welcome.ÂÂ
Sue
