Follow up MRI

[tweety]

 I havent posted in awhile but am a little apprehensive tonight as tomorrow I have my first post op MRI since middle fossa surgery June 8th. Dr. Chen said he removed it all and I hope that is the case. He also said my hearing nerve responded the same at the end of surgery as at the beginning but I can't hear much out of that ear.  I am starting to notice some voice recognition on the phone in my affected ear.  Don't know how long hearing can continue to improve but am hopeful for  a
 little more.  I have been doing better each day. I am back to work fulltime since Aug 23, 2010. (How ironic on our 35 anniversary.)  I have some hearing in my operative ear but not much and the tinnuitis is still there.  Sometimes I wander if the sound wlll ever stop and realize no it won't.  It does not bother me to fall asleep but when I am in crowds it can get loud.  I have a follow up appt with Dr. Chen and Dr. Aziz  November 11th.  I am hoping I can get some kind of hearing aid to help with my right side defecit.  It is amazing how you just don't know which direction sound is coming from.  Does that ever improve?  My husband gets a chuckle watching me try to locate my ringing cell phone.  ALthough I haven't posted, I get on nightly to read any new updates.  I am glad the surgery is past and I am doing everything I did prior to surgery.  I was fortunate not to have tooo many balance issues.  The daily walking helped with that alot. I still can tire easilly but it is not extreme.  I also find my balance affected in the dark.  All in all I feel very fortunate and thank all of you for the support.  I have met 3 people in these past 4 months diagnosed with an AN and have spent some time telling my story. It is amazing in our little FAmily Practice office in Blairsville Pa. we have 5 individuals with this diagnosis.  One had radiation, 3 of us surgery and one wait and watch.  I really think this diagnosis is more common than 1/100,000.  Our practice is certainly not that big as our town only has 5,000 residents.  This experience has given me a whole new prospective on surgical patients and the apprehension one has.  Well let you know the outcome of the MRI.  Tweety 

[Trackman]

I had both Dr Chen and Dr. Aziz for my Translab in March of 08. Dr Chen implanted a BAHA on my left side April of 09.
I got use to the SSD, you will also. The BAHA helps with the sound but not the direction. I am having a MRI on the 4th. Additionally, I also have a follow up appointment with both Dr's on Nov 11, Dr. Chen at 1 and Dr Aziz at 2.

[CHD63]

Tweety .....

He also said my hearing nerve responded the same at the end of surgery as at the beginning but I can't hear much out of that ear.  I am starting to notice some voice recognition on the phone in my affected ear.  Don't know how long hearing can continue to improve but am hopeful for a little more.   

I had 80% hearing in my AN ear pre-op, 20% post-op but with 100% speech discrimination.  My neurosurgeon said to wait for six months after surgery to allow the auditory nerve time to heal and my hearing to settle before exploring hearing assistance.  I have perfect hearing in my non-AN ear and still have about 20% in the AN ear with good speech discrimination.  About six months after surgery, I was fitted with my first digital hearing aid, a MicroTech 7 Curve.  For a whole lot of reasons I will not go into here, I was fitted with my second digital hearing aid, a Widex, about four months ago.  What a difference!!  I can now hear one on one (or small group) conversation perfectly.  I still have problems in a noisy environment.  The tinnitus is better when I have the hearing aid in, but noisy environments still cause increased tinnitus.  Directionality is still not always accurate but it is much better when wearing the hearing aid.

Give yourself a couple more months and then find a well-trained audiologist to assist you with what is appropriate for you.

Clarice

[Jim Scott]

Nancy (aka 'Tweety') ~

Thanks for the update!  I'm pleased to learn that your doing so well but try not to fret about the upcoming MRI.  I'm sure it'll not show any growth.  To answer your question regarding hearing directionality being restored - I'm SSD so of course I have no hearing directionality but if you have some hearing, I would assume you might retain a bit of directionality but if not, then directionality must require near-normal hearing acuity.  I'm sure an audiologist or ENT could answer the question with far more credibility than I can, so you may want to consider asking.  Meanwhile, thanks for the kind words and I trust your recovery will continue and your MRI report will prove uneventful.   

Jim

[JLR]

Hello everyone.. Next week I have my MRI. I am very anxious about it. I did have a "stand-up" in Sept and was perfectly fine. Not anxious.. But being I am going to have Cyberknife in a few weeks, I need another MRI but this time a closed one.  Any tips to get thru this.  The doctor did give me a low dose valium 2mg to take prior to the MRI but Im still nervous.. you know closed places..yikes! Thanks for any support.