Hi, this is Susan (my second post) and I am trying to keep up with the 70's music theme here. I now can scratch above and below my ear (where my hairline is) and I can "hear" the vibrations inside my head. Still nothing coming through my ear canal but I am picking up the vibrations from the scratching.
The reason this is a big deal is that the hearing test that I had at the hospital tested my hearing via my ear canal and the vibrations on the bone below my ear and both showed no activity at all. And now my personal version of the vibrations on the bone test (I am scratching the same area the technician was testing) is definitely showing activity!
I didn't go into just how depressing my hearing test was before but it was quite distressing. I was prepared for no activity thru my ear canal but I was not prepared at all for no activity at the base of my ear on the skull (bone) with the vibrations since this would by pass my stuffiness. When I asked the tech what he thought I should do next (I meant--- should I take the results right away to the surgeon? get a more sensitive test? etc) he said, "Well there's been wonderful progress in hearing implants and blah, blah, blah". I didn't hear the rest because I stopped him right away and said, "I'm talking about this minute. What should I do right now?" I think he realized the he was premature with the implant remark.
Anyway, although my care at UPMC in general was excellent, the follow up that day when the hearing tests revealed zero activity was poor. My surgeon had gone out of town and the only person, other than the implant pushing hearing tech, that I could talk to was a nurse practioner who told me that I should wait THREE MONTHS before expecting even a .01% improvement in my hearing or stuffiness. She then said, "Well, you can hear a dial tone in the bad ear, right?" I was very close to giving her permanent hearing loss in one of her ears by yelling, "Have you heard nothing I've been saying? I can hear absolutely nothing in this ear!!!"
Back to more positive stuff. I am picking up the scratching vibrations above/below my ear and I felt this morning like a heard something squishy. Marty looked in my ear and said there's a lot of wax and something quasi wet (not much), so I'm hoping that made the noise.
I know this is a tad gross. But it's very positive stuff because I thought I heard this squishy thing first and then Marty confirmed it by checking in there (the other ear is completely clear). I'll keep you posted.
Love,
Susan
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5 comments:
Hey, don't worry about gross. Tim McGinn is well-acquainted with my pride at the tremendous amount and variety of detritus I am capable of producing when I flush out the old ears. It's one of the few benefits of being over 40.
Tim, if you're reading this, I've been saving up for about a year now just waiting for you to come and stay with us for the 4th. Try to contain your anticipation, brother. It's been quite a winter for the old Eustachian tubes and I expect a bumper crop.
I am thinking of you constantly Susan! I just got back into town and would love to visit this week. I will be in touch. I am so happy that you found the best doctor and that you are now on the recovery side of this mess.
FYI- I have a PT friend @ Hopkins who specializes in vertigo related treatment so let me know if you need her #.
Love-Cindy
Excellent news, Susan! I'm sorry we missed your call yesterday- your Mom was here and we were outside. We tried to call you but got busy signals.
Anyway, great, great news!
Erica--I think you got busy signals because Susan was using the phone to see if she could hear the dial tone. Then she accidentally left it off the hook.
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