Mark's 12 year post CK status

[Mark]

Long time since I've surfed the forum, but as I committed back in 2001 when I was first treated by CK, wanted to post all my follow up results following my MRI and meeting with Dr. Chang yesterday.

I was happy to see Tumbleweed's post from last month recapping her successful 5 year update with Dr. Chang and am equally pleased to add my 12 year results ( hard to believe it has been that long  )

AN size - stable to slightly smaller than 2 years ago. currently at around 1.5-1.4 cm. Pre-treatment size was around 1.9-2 cm and, like tumbleweed, my reduced in size significantly in the first 18-24 months

Facial nerve function - no issues pre or post treatment

Balance - no issues pre or post treatment.

Hearing - Highly usable at time of treatment at around 85-90% SRT despite high frequency range loss, actually improved to 100% for the first few years after CK. Have not done an audiogram in the last 4 plus years, but subjectively would say it has degraded somewhat since. still usable but noisy places have become more challenging. Then again I'm also 12 years older 

Obviously , continue to be very thankful for the good outcome. Have been on a 2 year cycle and will be pushing out to 3 year , so next check up will be at 15 years

best to all

Mark

[Jim Scott]

Mark ~

Congratulations on your excellent 12-year update and thanks for sharing it with those who are most interested.

Jim

[sandyinwisconsin]

Congradulations Mark,

I have 4 more treatments to go out of 26.  I hope I'm on here in 10 years saying the same thing.

So far, I have a little more ringing, but nothing else to report.

Sandy

[leapyrtwins]

Congratulations, Mark!

Glad things are still going well for you - and just as glad that you returned to the Forum to report that 

Best,

Jan

PS - I think Tumbleweed is male 

[Tumbleweed]

PS - I think Tumbleweed is male 

Last time I checked, that was true!

Thanks for the update, Mark! And congratulations on your lasting success.

btw, your word recognition score -- I believe this is what you were referring to, as you cited percentages -- can vary depending on the presentation level. Unless the presentation level (i.e., how loud the audiologist plays the recording of the words for you) is the same in all your audiograms, you're comparing apples to oranges. All other things being equal, a louder presentation level will result in a higher (better) word-recognition score. In plain English: if the words are played louder, they're easier to recognize. For this reason, I always note the presentation level that was used in my last audiogram and request the audiologist use the same level. That's the only way to tell with certainty whether my word recognition is actually improving or worsening.

Best wishes,
TW