Update

[Catflower]

I saw the neurosurgeon that "cleaned out" my incision and removed the wire mesh yesterday.  He said everything looks good including the CT scan. 

I will see the surgeon that removed the AN on June 6th.  I had four really good days in a row, but they have been followed be two of those sleepy, fatigued days.  As long as I can have more good days than not so good ones I'll keep my chin up.

[Yvette]

Hi Catflower-what is going on with you? Hope things are greatly improved. Yvette

[Catflower]

Hi Catflower-what is going on with you? Hope things are greatly improved. Yvette

I'm still having some balance problems and recently have had pain in my "good" ear.  I'm seeing the ENT this afternoon.  I've been able to do Grandma Duty again and kept my 1 year old granddaughter for 5 days without collapsing so I guess you would call that progress.  I'm still adjusting to the single sided deafness.  The neurosurgeon says it's too soon to consider a hearing device since he's certain he preserved my hearing nerve, but I still can't hear out of my right ear.  Maybe he thinks it will come back.

Thanks for asking how I'm doing

[Yvette]

I'm glad you are seeing the ENT. We ANers have to guard our last good ear very carefully. I had custom earplugs made, and even wear one on the deaf side-it helps keep a lid on the tinnitus. 5 days with a granbaby is definitely progress! Wow. And with SSD you can't quite tell which direction the little buggers are getting into. Let us know how it goes today. Yvette

[lora]

Cat--After a bumpy post-op glad you are getting back into the swing of things!  If you can survive 5 days with a grandchild you have MY utmost respect--That is hard to do at asny time!  Keep doing well...

[Catflower]

The ENT I saw Monday said my pain is not from my "good" ear (thank goodness) it's TMJ pain.  My thinking is that due to the weakness on my right side my left jaw is taking a beating from chewing.  I can't chew very well yet on the right and I'm also a "clencher" at night.  He suggested I use a bite block at night.

Of course, they did another hearing test (I just had one in June) and have started to talk to me about hearing aides.  They are suggesting the bicros type, but I don't know that I want to have my "good" ear occluded just to get something from the right.  At this point I'm more intersted in a trans ear I think.  I've thought some about BAHA, but I'm not real anxious to have something put into my skull given the problems I had with infection.

[Yvette]

They asked me about BAJA before I went in for surgery. I guess some people do it at the same time, but I just couldn't handle any more than what was happening at the time. I needed more time to process. I think I'm happy as is. I'm not much of a social butterfly anyway-prefer quiet evenings at home, good book, good wine, lap cat, bookworm hubby-I guess I'm boring. haha