I don't want to go so far as to say 2008 sucks but ....
After thinking that I was home free when I got a clear "no tumor" report from my CT scan, I got the lovely news today that I do need to have surgery. It seems that I have had an infection in my middle ear for most of my 50 + years and no amount of antibiotics is going to clear it up. Furthermore, my hearing loss, which is profound in my left ear and simply bad in my right ear seems due to this infection.
I have been to numerous physicians over the past 25 years and ALL of them have scratched their heads and said "gosh, we can't imagine why you're having this hearing loss. You've got a perfectly normal looking ear. It's 'idiopathic'". The "idio" part of the word should have been a clue to me that the physician was a lazy idiot who couldn't be bothered to find out the cause of why my hearing was going.
Turns out that I have a massive infection in the mastoid part of my ear and need to have a mastoidectomy. The consequences of not having the surgery are hearing loss (check, done that), loss of balance (check, done that), brain infection (uh, avoided that, I think) and death. In the wonderful words of Monty Python "I'm not dead yet".
I am so angry and so scared at the same time. And angry, did I mention that?
So, I'm waiting for a call from the surgeon's office to schedule an appointment for a consultation. The good news is that there is a slight chance that some of my hearing might return. Oh, and I won't die of a brain infection, always good. The bad news is that I'm living on antibiotics until the surgery and there is really nothing to be done for the pain. I do have a scrip for Vicodin with the warning not to overdo it. I'll take the vicodin when I get really tired of feeling like crap.
On a sweet note, my college students have been wonderfully supportive and loving. One of them, a girl who is from Turkey, brought me a bracelet today that is to ward off the evil eye. I am wearing it and never taking it off.
Did you know that mastoiditis was the number one killer of children until the invention of antibiotics?
Next post, I'll tell you about my car accident.
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5 comments:
Sending good thoughts your way - one of the little ones in our class just had a case of that. I'm amazed that you've had it for so very long.
Oh my - that is horrifying! I, too, have hearing loss and a long history of ear infections/surgeries. I would be terribly scared about the surgery BUT the suggestion of gaining some of my hearing back would excite me. Really, that would be wonderful! Keep us posted! ...and a car accident, too? Yikes!
I'm sorry to hear that - sending good thoughts your way. I hope this all is over with soon, and you are on your way to feeling better.
Oh no! Wishing you the best of wishes and hopefully the rest of 2008 will go a lot better.
OMG, your winter is going worse than ours is...sending you good vibes and thoughts and big Golden Retriever smiles.
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