5 Months post op - a few questions

[cobbler]

Hello!

I am 5 months post-op. On April 17th I had the second part of my BAHA surgery - Monday I actually received my BAHA - strange, but still adjusting. Just wondering if anyone else experienced the same things as I have listed below
 
Feeling of pressure in the ear that I had surgery on - almost as if something is stuffed in it??

The top of my scalp is still very sore - nowhere near the incision area. almost at the center of my part

I lost my sense of taste following my first surgery. Getting slightly better but how long should it take??

During my second surgery, my tongue was trapped between the air tube and my teeth - soooo as a result, the tip of my tongue is numb. I have asked my doctor, but they seem puzzled?? Also, just had my teeth cleaned last week and they were also puzzled as to time frame. Obviously there was damage to the sublingual nerve under my tongue but will it get better??

As a whole, the experience has not been too bad (not that I want to do it again!) and I feel fortunate that I only have some minor issues.

Thanks for all in this forum!

[Jim Scott]

Hi, Misty - and thanks for posting!

You do seem to have had a relatively good AN surgery experience and I'm pleased to learn about that.  

I, too, have a slight 'numb' spot on my tongue but as a result of AN damage to a tiny section of the trigemanal  nerve, not any mishaps.  My ability to taste basically disappeared in the 6 months prior to my AN diagnosis and subsequent surgery/radiation but it returned immediately following the surgery.  I assume yours will, too.  I'm sure you'll be pleased with your BAHA and look forward to seeing more posts describing your experience with it.  

Jim

[leapyrtwins]

Misty -

congrats on the BAHA.  I hope you love it as much as I love mine 

As for your post op questions, everyone is somewhat unique.

I didn't have pressure in my ear, but I did have soreness (and major numbness) for quite a while post op.  Wish I could tell you how long "quite a while" was, but I can't recall.  To this day (I'm almost 4 years post op) I still have some numbness but nothing compared to the early months. 

My taste buds were all screwed up post op.  At first they didn't seem to work - I couldn't taste anything and had no appetite whatsoever - then I got over that and experienced "metallic mouth" where everything just tasted strange.  Over time that went away and things got back to normal.  I'm thinking it probably took at least 6 months for me to reach that point.  Someone told me to try zinc - which I did.  I'm not sure if it helped or not, but it definitely didn't hurt.

I didn't experience any damage to my tongue so I can't help you with that; sorry.

Five months post op is still fairly early in the recovery process.  I found that it took about 12 months to get completely back to "normal". 

Hang in there,

Jan