Folks...I just got back from the hospididdle after getting that little stirrup bone replaced in my left ear. Geez, I can HEAR again...and all my angst and hand-wringing about "the knife" was (now as I see it) quite overboard. Okay...so it feels like a mule has kicked me in the side of the head for the moment...but the quack gave me a packet of some nice stuff to take, so what the hey!
But a point for you folks out there in GN land: OTOSCLEROSIS is hereditary...and COMMON...and it can get you in your late 20's...although I was sorta lucky and got it in my late 40's. (I'm 58 now.) Loud noise has NOTHING to do with it, either. But it's 2009 and not 1909 so it's TREATABLE. If any of you folks are curious about "unexplainable hearing loss"...feel free to PM me and maybe I can help point you in the right direction for truly determining if that's what really might be plaguing your own ears. Nope, I ain't a dock-ter and I speak only for myself...so understand I'm NOT handing out medical avice other than to say that I was misdiagnosed MANY times and had pretty much reconciled myself to being forever deaf in one ear. Believe me when I say that I know all the symptoms first hand.
Ya know...I can hear the parrots outside in the yard right this minute. Awesome, freakin' awesome...
Cat
"Feel what you play...play what you feel!"
whoa. something must be wrong with my hearing.
I can't hear parrots in my yard. I do hear ice rain hitting the roof.
Cat. so happy to learn you are all repaired.
I'm glad things went well for you! Hope they stay that way! :D
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-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´ -:¦:- Elecktrablue -:¦:-
"Don't wanna ride no shootin' star. Just wanna play on the rhythm guitar." Emmylou Harris, "Rhythm Guitar" from "The Ballad of Sally Rose"
Yes, those are good news!
I had a problem with my ears many years ago and I can not hear so well. It was not a comfortable experience. I agree the hearing is precious!
That's great news, we don't realize how precious things are until we aren't able to use them anymore.
So H-EARS to you! :D
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
Good to hear your news, Cat!
I've never been able to resist a bad pun, so ear ear to what CNev said!
(Currently suffering earache due to a build up of wax - doctor told me to put warm olive oil in it every few hours to soften it up then it can be syringed....)
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Thanks, everyone. It's been 48 hours since the whole event. It'll still be a week until all the packing is out and I can play my guitar again. For the moment, noise above only a whisper is like an ice pick in there...and my heart beats in there with occasional mule-kicking throbs...but the prescription stuff seems to work! (Hey! Also figured out that there's other kinda 'portant stuff in yer head, too!)
As the meds kick in...lemme say that serendipity struck me...in the hospital...as I caught up on all sorts of TV...especially the health reforms in the USA. Honest tuh god, folks, being in a hospital bed the same time you ponder that issue gives you a whole new, blatant, black & white, in yer face perspective. The bottom line is...here in Oz...public health would be little concerned with fixing my ear while I still had a good one on the other side of my head! I wonder how fixing a guitarist's hearing would stack up in their reasoning. Eh? No matter, I had the best medical care and access to the best facilities thanks to my insurance. (After I coughed up the $1000 deductible, that is!) Food for thought, America!!!
Cat
Cat
"Feel what you play...play what you feel!"
wow, i had no idea they could do that (replace the little bone)
glad to "hear" you are well.
#4491....
Wow! Amazing ...... glad to hear (no pun intended) all went well.
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Glad the surgery went well! As a veteran of many, I know exactly what you're feeling. Hope it gets better quick-like. What procedure did you have?
I always enjoyed the moment right after surgery when you've got your ear all packed up and there's a cover and such, but you can hear tons better than before you sent in. Instant euphoria. Then there's the morphi....... I'll leave that one alone.
wow, i had no idea they could do that (replace the little bone)
glad to "hear" you are well.
We are in a much better place than the generation before us with regards to hearing and ear procedures. Hopefully we'll be in an even better place when our kids have kids......
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
Wow, interesting that it can be replaced...glad to hear you are on the up and up!!
In Space, no one can hear me sing!
Hope you have a speedy recovery. So, what's the 1st song you're going to listen to with your new ears? :D
"The only way I know that guarantees no mistakes is not to play and that's simply not an option". David Hodge
Very good news :D I'll save the puns for later :D
wow, i had no idea they could do that (replace the little bone)
glad to "hear" you are well.
Neither did I, Matey! I'm on the mend...now going through the seasickness the doc PROMISED would come as soon as my middle ear started to heal. Terrible. But a nurse comes over with a needle every eight hours so...pethadine. (Crappy high but...who cares!)
For the sake of querries such as the one TL just wrote I'll spin out my own dealing with deafness. Bear in mind that I'm an uneducated bum (but I shave every day and dress well) so bear with me...
Some years ago...visiting my brother in NY...his wife brought home a pricey grandfather clock. Big Ben's chimes...except one note was missing...OR SO IT SEEMED TO ME! I phoned my wife in Oz later that day and the #7 was "missing" on the touch tone phone. Weird! I went deaf in one ear in just ONE FLIPPIN' DAY!!!
Okay...back in Oz...saw the GP...and was put on antibiotics for "glue ear"...a term I never heard of in the US but in Oz, it's commonly used. Nope. Didn't work. So I figured I'd wait it out and before I knew it...two years went by. It got worse. Another doc...and I needed "grommets". I looked up that on the net and said "Screw that!" Four years more...I was now having to mix down stuff at work on the right channel...then swap left-with-right and mix/EQ the other side now in the right headphone. Fine for mixes but imposkibubble for live inputs on the fly.
Depression set in. I quit my jingle job and started a prolonged fit of sulking. BUT! At a Rotary meeting a guy visiting us (a doc) noticed I was hard of hearing...and we talked about it. He got on his mobile and set me up with a "crash-hot ear guy".
Nope! No bad fluid in my ear...and a little camera wormed up through my nose checked out whatever else was in there. (Yes! I have brane!) No signs of injuries or pathogens. Off to another specialist. Nope. Eardrum fine...cochlea fine, too.
Back to the crash-hot ear guy: Outer ear fine...inner ear fine...the only thing left is the middle ear and your fluid is okay. It's gotta be your hammer/anvil/stirrup causing the trouble. Off to the surgeon, next. It's your stirrup. Calcium is creeping over it and it starts at the stirrup end. I can swap out an artificial one...tiny, platinum covered with teflon.
Checked in the neighbourhood quack-house Wednesday morning at 6am...knocked out at 11:30...awake again at 1:00. The guy in the bed next to me had a crowd visiting...they were LOUD...and I HURT! I politely asked them to keep quiet...but one j/arse actually SHOUTED "Well, ya kin here now, mate!" I replied with my sincerest NY City "I want to kill you" tone that if I had a baseball bat...I'd fill an empty hospital bed with his &*%#&^ carcass. Two minutes later I was moved to another room...
The surgeon woke me Thursday morning...said all was fine...and I told him I could actually HEAR him say that to me in my left ear! I'll have to admit to having shed a few tears at that point...it was awesome.
On the 21st I get to the surgeon's offices to have the stuffing removed and the ear cleaned up...I dunno if there's even stitches in there...then (if I want to) back to get the ear re-tested to compare with the pre-operation parameters.
So...GNers...loud noise has NOTHING to do with OTOSCLEROSIS. Criminy...forget the grommets or glue ear routine. Sheesh! What a bunch of hooey THAT was!!!
THANKS for all your good wishes...yer a great bunch!
Cat
"Feel what you play...play what you feel!"
good news and a great story.
I turned the volume down for you....
