Scorecard

Well, Saturday morning and here I am hooked up to my morning IV just killing time. So, I thought that it might be useful for the late-comers to see a scorecard of my surgery and progress ...

March 4 - Diagnosis of Acoustic Neuroma (also know as Vestibular Schwanoma) - These tumors are benign 99% of the time, so at least that isn't an issue!

April 30 - Translabrynthine surgery to remove the benign tumor. Surgery involves making an incision behind the right ear, opening up the mastoid bone and removing the tumor using microsurgery. This particular surgery involved taking a piece of the 8th cranial nerve out, so it always results in total loss of hearing in the affected ear. Lots of potential complications, so here's the run down of what did and did not happen in my case:

1) Single Side Deafness (SSD for those of us in the know) - yep, I'm deaf in my right ear - can't hear a thing. Actually, there's some upsides to this - if I don't want to hear what you are saying, I just have to make sure you are on my right side! And, I no longer hear Willie snoring at night, because I sleep on my "good" left side so can't hear a thing. The downside is that in situations with lots of background noise (restaurants, race track, stores) I really can't hear much individual noise - I'll be the one you see constantly spinning around trying to see where voices are coming from... :)

2) Facial Paralysis/Numbness - yep, I got that one too. Basically, I have Bells Palsy meaning that one side of my face doesn't really move - can't smile, can't blink. I am working hard trying to recondition the nerve and am told by the experts that I will eventually be almost as good as new, although it will probably take much longer than I'd like. In the meantime, I'm the one with the crooked smile and one eye that won't close all the way. You can't miss me, honest! Other than my vanity, the biggest downside to this is that my eye doesn't produce any tears so I have to keep it lubricated with drops and gel all the time. Mostly, it's just a pain in the butt! And, my vision in that eye is always blurry now - so basically I'm deaf in my right ear and can't see worth a damn from my right eye - wahoo!

3) Balance - Just a brief lesson on human physiology - the 8th cranial nerve is the nerve that controls hearing and balance. Since mine was cut, I do have some balance problems, although quite minor. Since Ethel (as we affectionately named the acoustic neuroma) was growing all over that nerve, I had been gradually losing my balance over the past year. Now that I look back on it, I can point out various incidents where my balance was definitely off kilter - although at the time I chalked it up to being over 50, being in a rush, not paying attention, etc. Because my brain had all that time to compensate for my diminishing balance, I really haven't had much of a problem with this post surgery. I do have to be a little careful in certain situations and if you know me very well, you may notice that I move slightly slower in those situations than I may have in the past. Otherwise, it's pretty much of a non issue. Score one for me!

4) Cranial Spinal Fluid Leak (CSF leak for those of us in the know) - I dodged that bullet also. There is still a slight risk for CSF, but each day that passes, the risk lowers. Score another one for my side!

5) Headaches - nope, haven't had any problem with this either - Another BIG check mark in the Positive Column.

6) Fatigue - yep, I definitely have that one! However, once I am finally able to discontinue the antibiotic IVs twice a day, that should get better. Must remember, it's just temporary!

So, you see, I am actually quite lucky! The SSD is something I can learn to live quite well with, and the facial paralysis and fatigue will eventually go away. Okay, so once in awhile, when I'm tired or do something too fast, I'll look like I had one too many drinks - but heck, who doesn't stumble now and again?!

Okay, so that's the quick scorecard. I'll post some pictures sometime over the weekend so you can see for yourselves. In the meantime, if you run into to me somewhere (figuratively speaking, of course) just remember to position yourself on my LEFT side if you want me to hear you! Of course, if you want to talk "behind my back" just stay to my right! LOL.

Later!