Okay, pretty impressive MRI picture from last year, eh? I definitely count myself lucky after seeing those pictures. My surgeons were PHENOMINAL!
Now, an update after my doctor visit today..
Overall, fairly uneventful. A few stand outs, though. One, he noted that on my MRI from this year, there's a cyst growing in the same place where the tumor was. Currently, it measures smaller than the tumor. He said that likely nothing would have to be done about it, however we'll watch it to be sure it doesn't grow or causes any problems. I go back for another MRI and appointment this time next year.
I asked specifically about my sinuses being pretty clogged on one side but not the other and he said that it was likely due to sinusitis or a sinus infection beginning to form. My MRI was within a week or so of when I thought I had a sinus infection starting, but then went away. The MRI showed that it hasn't gone away. So, I plan on hitting my regular doctor up for the steroid nasal spray or something to kick the sinusitis.
Another key highlight was that we started talking about BAHA and TransEar (and Cros Aids).. He then asked me if I wanted to try the demo of the BAHA they had. Of course, I said yes. To my surprise, he told me to walk around the hospital, go down the cafeteria for lunch and give it a good try before bringing it back. Jenni and I walked down to the cafeteria to have lunch. It was an Intenso processor, btw. I wasn't really convinced that it was helping or that it was really even working, but then I covered my "good" ear making myself now completely deaf. To my surprise, I could hear! I could hear the conversation at the table, conversations at other tables, background noise, etc.. I also let Jenni try it so she could see what I deal with although she covered both ears to hear it. She said she could very plainly hear two women talking behind her and when she took it off to her "normal" hearing, she could no longer hear what they were saying. It really impressed me!
Now, the TransEar works off the same technology, so now it's down to how it looks. As most of you know, I keep my hair buzzed pretty close most of the time. So, I'm leaning (still) towards the TransEar, however insurance should cover it better with BAHA. So, I'll take some time to think about it and talk to Jenni about it and then decide. Today's demo really showed me that I'd benefit from having one of the two so I'm just about convinced that I want one, but I have to decide on which one.
Overall, a good appointment. I came away from it very enthused and positive.
Regards,
Brian
