Finally, ENT referral to House Clinic!

[anothereveryman]

Even though it took a hospitalization and several injuries related to vertigo attacks that have hit me out of nowhere where I'm unable to stand and walk for minutes at a time, I finally got an appointment with an ENT that wanted me to go to House Clinic in LA. He was baffled that I wasn't recommended for surgery sooner, which was both distressing but in a weird way encouraging.

I'm scheduled to take a long car trip to get there (I can't drive anymore but I have some help) in about a week. It's not for surgery, but an assessment where I bring in the MRI disc and other documentation, and from what I understand, part of the process is going over whether my Medicare/Medi-Cal will allow me to have the surgery if they agree it should be done. The entire process feels alien and I'm not what else I can do, already over my head with anxiety and exhausted by all the calls I had to make to get this far.

Any experiences with this process to House Clinic? Anything I should expect or be ready for? Will I have enough coverage?

[jeninla]

I had retro sig surgery last week at House and the insurance process (knock on wood) has been surprisingly smooth.  While I cannot speak for Medicare/Medi-Cal, when you do meet with them for the consultation, make sure you ask to speak with one of the surgical counselors about insurance.  (I did not have to commit to a surgery before they talk to me)  They got all of the authorizations for me prior to the surgery and I had a very short lead time (3 weeks from decision to surgery date), and was covered because House was contracted by Blue Shield.

Sorry I'm not of more help.  But just make sure you talk to the counselors when you are there since they do this everyday.

Good luck!

[Archer]

What Jeninla said I would say is spot on.  I had my surgery done with House two years ago.  They dealt with my insurance for the whole works.  I only paid my deductible.  On my initial visit, House had me scheduled to talk with every department necessary to have everything lined up.  Schedulers, Counselors, Doctors, Audiologists, and anyone else you could think of were all waiting to visit with me that day.  When I left I only had to decide if I was going to have the surgery done or not.  When I decided, I made one phone call to the Scheduler and it was set up for me. 

The only other arrangements to make were for lodging for my wife at Seton Hall and they made that easy as well.  One or two phone calls and that was set up as well.

House makes it easy as possible.  No need for much anxiety.  There is enough of that in just making the decison, let them take care of the rest.

[anothereveryman]

I want this surgery, desperately. I'm losing the ability to take walks safely and have scraped my knee pretty badly on a minor errand when I suddenly fell over with a balance attack. I also feel pressure around and behind my eye, which I hope dearly is not related to the tumor.

I feel assured, thank you. I will post here after Monday if I can with my experience and hope it's as smooth as its been for the others here.

[anothereveryman]

One more thing: I've been feeling a pulsing sensation around my left eye, which is the same side as my tumor. I've read that these can be stress related, but I can't help but wonder if its related to the tumor growing. My facial muscles seem to be working and responsive, and my tumor is supposedly in a "safer" area (the vestibular cavity and the cochlea) but the vertigo attacks and dizziness alone are enough for me to want surgery now instead of later. I don't want to lose an eye too!

[ANGuy]

What meds are you taking for the balance issues, are they working?

[jeninla]

Good luck  Anothereveryman.  I'm dealing with very bad nausea issues now 11 days post op.  If it is some conciliation, I wish my balance nerve was more compromised prior to surgery so I don't have to deal with the full load of recovering from that as well as the surgery. 

ANguy, they only gave me steroids and nausea meds for that.  I was miserable the past two days when my steroids were gone and my body wasn't ready to cope.  I was just sick, couldn't get out of bed sick.  The nausea meds, ondansetron, works for lighter nausea not full blown vertigo, throw up feeling sickness.  I just hope my body will be able to do it in another week.

[ANGuy]

Antihistamines like meclazine or even benadryl work great for me as well as diazepam for the dizziness.   Zophran is an instant miracle cure for nausea and vomiting.   The zophran works even before I am done chewing it up.

My symptoms are sporadic and very sudden.   I carry the meclazine zophran and diazepam with me in one of those key chain pill canisters and only take them when I have an attack.  The zophran keeps me from puking while I wait for the other drugs to stop the dizziness.

Ask your Dr about these meds.

[anothereveryman]

What meds are you taking for the balance issues, are they working?

I have a non-refillable(!) prescription for antivert(meclizine), and it seems to somewhat help, making me feel foggy-headed instead of dizzy and it also seems to push back the vertigo attacks at least a little. I'll need to ask for new pills when I see the doctor again in a few weeks (which is after my House visit coming up). I have no idea why no refills were offered so I have to ration the pills carefully.

[anothereveryman]

Good luck  Anothereveryman.  I'm dealing with very bad nausea issues now 11 days post op.  If it is some conciliation, I wish my balance nerve was more compromised prior to surgery so I don't have to deal with the full load of recovering from that as well as the surgery. 

ANguy, they only gave me steroids and nausea meds for that.  I was miserable the past two days when my steroids were gone and my body wasn't ready to cope.  I was just sick, couldn't get out of bed sick.  The nausea meds, ondansetron, works for lighter nausea not full blown vertigo, throw up feeling sickness.  I just hope my body will be able to do it in another week.

If I do get surgery and they send me home that nauseous I hope I have some medication on hand for that too. Nausea is very hard for me to bear for long and my vertigo attacks trigger it, with vomiting and an inability to keep things down, even water at its worst.

[anothereveryman]

One question to everyone here: is a sensation of "quivering" or vibrating felt around the eyeballs a part of the AN experience? My face seems to function as expected, and I was given no particular advisory about eye problems. I am wondering if its stress or allergy related, but it seems to be focused on the deaf/tumor side.

[ANGuy]

Antivert (meclazine) is sold over the counter as "Dramamine Reduced Drowsiness".  It is an antihistamine so it is not "controlled" like narcotics.  Since it is not an abused drug, your Dr should have no problem renewing your script with a phone call.  Often, it doesn't take much to help.  Even a half of a pill might do the trick.  But, you need to take it as soon as you feel symptoms as it takes time, maybe even a couple of hours, to work.

Also, it may reduce your brain's ability to compensate, so I don't know that it is a permanent solution.  I manage to get through the day with as little benedryl as possible and only take the antivert when I have an acute episode.  A normal dose of benadryl is 50mg every four hours.  I usually take 25mg of benadryl once in the morning and once at beadtime.  I need this for my allergies anyway and it is no where near the max dosage so I don't worry about being loaded up on meds all the time.  Also, I got used to the drowsinessand it doesn't really make me feel "stoned" like it did.  A slight bit of drowsiness is much better than a dizzy attack IMO.

Anyway, it's something you can play around with and discuss with your Dr.  It's "safe" in that it's not a benzo like valium or a narcotic.  I only need a valium maybe a few times a year, one dose. 

I realize my balance issues might be much less severe than yours, so I'm not trying to say "it works for me, so it will work for you", I'm just saying that it gives me relief and it is worth exploring since it may help you.

By knowing I have rescue meds on my keychain, I don't have to worry about leaving the house and having a dizzy, vommit fueled emergency somewhere.  It's terrible when you feel a little "off" as you are about to walk out the door.  Do you go?  If you stay home, and you don't get sick and the feeling passes, you wasted the whole day.  When you stay home, you have nothing to do but focus on your symptoms and can even make yourself sick by thinking about it so much.

[anothereveryman]

I'm hoping I can get surgery done and have this thing removed, and I'm hoping past that that some of these balance issues will improve. I hope that's not too much to hope for.