First, I want to take just a moment to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers, love, words of encouragement, etc! I wish I could thank each and every one of you in person and keep you informed of what is going on, but knowing my luck the first person would have swine flu, pass it on to me and I would contaminate all of you. So lets not go there...
This blog will be a spot for me to update all of you on our decisions and my progress. I hope it is a very short lived blog, with a happy ending for all. In the meantime, for those of you not familiar with the events, here you go, here is the best "short version" of my story I can provide.
In September 2006 I woke up one morning with a ringing in my right ear. It was louder than the normal ringing that seems to effect most people on rare occasions, but not so loud that it made me think anything other than "Wow, that is odd." It lasted throughout the day. I went to bed that night thinking it would be gone in the morning. I was wrong. The next morning my ear was still ringing. My concern mildly escalated to "Wow, that is kinda odd." I mentioned it to my wife and even went as far as to Google "tinnitus" (but only after she spelled it for me.)
The ringing in my ear was easy to write off for several reasons. At the top of the list of likely causes - repeated exposure to loud noise including but not limited to heavy equipment, firearms and loud music. Hmmm, so maybe listening to the Twisted Sister cassette at really high volumes on my Sony Walkman while operating a bulldozer and shooting a 12 gauge shotgun WAS bad for my health. I guess Mom was right about a few things.
Another, more likely, cause was medications. A few years earlier I was diagnosed as being pre-diabetic. After weight loss and diet changes failed to keep my blood glucose levels in control I began taking prescriptions to help control my levels. A few weeks prior to the onset of tinnitus I changed medications. It was easy to associate the ringing with the new medication. When I checked with my doctor he confirmed that in some rare cases tinnitus was a reported side effect. Unfortunately this, plus a hidden love of Twisted Sister and really, really loud noises, kept my concern at the "Wow, very odd" level for almost three years.
This year in early July an apparent ear infection finally got me to act. Driving to work one morning my right ear suddenly "filled" (think of the sound your ear makes when water rushes into it) and the ringing became incredibly loud. Between the fluid and the ringing in my right ear hearing was limited to the left side. That was the final straw. I agreed it was time to visit an ENT.
I went to the ENT office wondering how often ear tubes were inserted in adult patients. A short visit with the doctor and one hearing test later I learned that I was recovering nicely from an ear infection and that tubes were not necessary. However, the doctor was mildly concerned about a measurable hearing loss on the right side. The hearing loss was unusual for someone my age, but not very noticeable to me. In fact, the same test showed I had 100% word recognition in both ears. I was unconcerned but agreed to another round of tests.
A few weeks went by between appointments. The "fullness" subsided and the ringing level decreased. The next test came and went. To my surprise the test results were abnormal. An MRI was ordered. On August 5, 2009 I discovered I have a tumor.
My tumor is an "acoustic neuroma." As brain tumors go, this is about as good as it gets. Why? Two major reasons. The first reason is that it is benign. The second reason is it is usually a slow growing tumor. My personal "trifecta" is that we caught it early. Its fairly small, as acoustic neuromas go, only 11mm X 9mm X 9mm.
So... what now???
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