Wednesday 14 September 2011

The Six Million Dollar Man

14/09/2011 - Well as I mentioned in my previous post I underwent surgery to try and restore hearing to my left ear.  As the surgeon had no idea what he'd find when he took a look there was no guarantees that he'd be able to do anything.  At the very least though he'd patch up the perforation in the ear drum.   So off to the Pinehill Hospital I went and got booked into my nice room with LCD TV, my own bathroom with shower and comfy bed.  I must say it was nice going private.  Any way the operation was uneventful in that I came too, head heavily bandaged and taken back to my room to wake fully.  Later that evening after the evening meal (one nice thing is you get a very nice pot of filter coffee and biscuits whenever you want them) the consultant came round and said that he'd repaired the ear replacing one of the bones with a tiny "piston".  Only time would show if and by how much my hearing had been improved.

After op, trying to eat a meal, wife's there with camera.
So a week and a half later and I'm back in the hospital having the packing removed from the ear and for the first time in 14 years I can hear in stereo again.  It's amazing.  The hearing is slightly less than the right but it's only marginal and the difference to my overall hearing is stunning.  I am over the moon and I'll be treating myslef to a couple of music CD's as I all but stopped buying music because of the hearing loss.

It's also nice not to be wearing the dressing anymore.  Though the bandage came off the day after the operation the ear had dressing on which my wife would replace when required. Unfortunately she would get a little carried away with the adhesive tape.  Just a good job the duct tape was hidden away.



The only downside is that I can't do any running for a while.  I need to ensure that not only does the ear dqrum properly heal but that the piston does not slip until it's fully integrated.  So I'm going to be off running for about six weeks and no martial arts for a few months (the consultant was keen for me to avoid being punched in the head for a while).  So I'm hoping to be running again by December and probably have to leave my martial arts till next year.  It'll be tough as I'm already itching to do something - oh well perhaps an enforced lay off is a good thing for the body.  Especially as I'll be training for the Milton Keynes marathon in May next year.