The State of my Ear
I haven't talked about my ear for a while, although it continues to be an Thing I have to deal with. This morning, I woke up around 4 with mild vertigo. Ironic, because last night I was feeling pretty confident. Anytime I get to feeling confident about my Ear Thing, it reminds me I shouldn't. I slept poorly until about 8, things were still spinning a little bit, so I called in sick and went back to sleep. I slept until about 10, which turned out to be good sleep. I felt like crap when I woke up, but clear headed enough to come in and do a 5.5 hour day. I really needed to work today, or I wouldn't get any overtime for the week, and I need the overtime badly.
Things are progressing in the healing department, some recent. I now have almost full range of motion in turning my head to the right. I noticed that over the weekend. Not coincidentally, the crushing daily headaches originating behind my left ear have pretty much completely gone away. No doubt the headaches were related to the muscle damage and the fact that I can turn my head tells me the muscles are mostly healed. If I'm wearing headphones at work, after a while, my ear will ache, but I'm thrilled the headaches are gone.
The cartilege is still numb, and likely to be for several more months. I find myself rubbing behind my ear, because the scar behind my earlobe is thick and sometimes itches. Back in my youth, I was bitten on the face by a dog. I ended up in a private hospital with one of the best plastic surgeons in Miami (he was the only one on call that was anywhere close to us), and he sewed me up, with about 100 stitches on my nose and just under my left eye. The scar under my eye was very thick and bright red and I used to rub at it, not even intending to. But by doing that, it broke down the scar tissue, and even today, you really can't tell I have a huge laceration on my face.
In the last few weeks, I am able to sleep on my left side a little bit, without being awakened by stabbing pain. Since I'm used to sleeping on my left side, this is a big relief. (It's the little things.) I've also found my stamina is increasing, and in the last 10 days or so, I'm not falling asleep at 8:30, which I had been doing almost nightly since the surgery. I'm still not back on the same sleep schedule I was on before, still falling asleep relatively early (for me), around 10 or so, but the fact that I'm able to stay awake is good. I've also been able to start exercising again. Since it's been almost 2 months without any exercise, I'm being very cautious, starting out very slowly and conservatively and building myself up.
Even though I've had some on/off earaches, my ear doesn't hurt anymore. I don't feel the shunt like I did in the first few weeks.
However, my hearing still continues to be an issue. I feel like it's reached a plateau, and it's not at where it was pre-surgery. At some point, I'm sure my doctor will do a hearing test. I'm supposed to go back in about a month and see him, so I'll ask him then. It's possible that there's still healing going on that is affecting my hearing. I still have issues in crowds distinguishing what someone is saying to me. If I lay on my right side, I can hear my ceiling fan, I can hear the cat purring. But there's a lot I know I'm not hearing, and it's a little frustrating. There is a slim possibility that there will be permanent hearing loss. Hopefully not. Or, if there is, that there is a mechanical device to help. I feel pretty confident driving around, and have done some nighttime driving (although not much because I've been so tired lately). But I'd like to get this sorted out as soon as possible.
As for the attacks, what I'm finding is a high correlation between sodium and the attacks. They're not as bad as they were before the surgery, so all told, this is still win. But I'd like to stop them as much as possible. I'm finding a correlation between individual meals that may be higher in sodium and the attacks, and not so much increased sodium during the day. Last night I was at a Mexican restaurant with some friends, munching on chips. I'm sure that plus my dinner had a lot to do with this morning's attack. I ate a dip last week that was probably higher in sodium than I should have had, and the next morning I had a very mild episode. It's enough of a trend to get me to try to be more cautious about how much sodium I ingest at a single sitting, as well as overall. While I'm not ready to go raw or give up eating out, keeping sodium as conservative as possible is probably wise. Plus increasing my potassium intake, which will help balance out the sodium. If I keep having the attacks with any kind of frequency, as I am now, I may opt for a steroid injection in my ear, which I really don't want to do (because the thought of a needle in my ear while I'm awake makes me very anxious). But if I have to, I will.
And that is the State of my Ear.
Things are progressing in the healing department, some recent. I now have almost full range of motion in turning my head to the right. I noticed that over the weekend. Not coincidentally, the crushing daily headaches originating behind my left ear have pretty much completely gone away. No doubt the headaches were related to the muscle damage and the fact that I can turn my head tells me the muscles are mostly healed. If I'm wearing headphones at work, after a while, my ear will ache, but I'm thrilled the headaches are gone.
The cartilege is still numb, and likely to be for several more months. I find myself rubbing behind my ear, because the scar behind my earlobe is thick and sometimes itches. Back in my youth, I was bitten on the face by a dog. I ended up in a private hospital with one of the best plastic surgeons in Miami (he was the only one on call that was anywhere close to us), and he sewed me up, with about 100 stitches on my nose and just under my left eye. The scar under my eye was very thick and bright red and I used to rub at it, not even intending to. But by doing that, it broke down the scar tissue, and even today, you really can't tell I have a huge laceration on my face.
In the last few weeks, I am able to sleep on my left side a little bit, without being awakened by stabbing pain. Since I'm used to sleeping on my left side, this is a big relief. (It's the little things.) I've also found my stamina is increasing, and in the last 10 days or so, I'm not falling asleep at 8:30, which I had been doing almost nightly since the surgery. I'm still not back on the same sleep schedule I was on before, still falling asleep relatively early (for me), around 10 or so, but the fact that I'm able to stay awake is good. I've also been able to start exercising again. Since it's been almost 2 months without any exercise, I'm being very cautious, starting out very slowly and conservatively and building myself up.
Even though I've had some on/off earaches, my ear doesn't hurt anymore. I don't feel the shunt like I did in the first few weeks.
However, my hearing still continues to be an issue. I feel like it's reached a plateau, and it's not at where it was pre-surgery. At some point, I'm sure my doctor will do a hearing test. I'm supposed to go back in about a month and see him, so I'll ask him then. It's possible that there's still healing going on that is affecting my hearing. I still have issues in crowds distinguishing what someone is saying to me. If I lay on my right side, I can hear my ceiling fan, I can hear the cat purring. But there's a lot I know I'm not hearing, and it's a little frustrating. There is a slim possibility that there will be permanent hearing loss. Hopefully not. Or, if there is, that there is a mechanical device to help. I feel pretty confident driving around, and have done some nighttime driving (although not much because I've been so tired lately). But I'd like to get this sorted out as soon as possible.
As for the attacks, what I'm finding is a high correlation between sodium and the attacks. They're not as bad as they were before the surgery, so all told, this is still win. But I'd like to stop them as much as possible. I'm finding a correlation between individual meals that may be higher in sodium and the attacks, and not so much increased sodium during the day. Last night I was at a Mexican restaurant with some friends, munching on chips. I'm sure that plus my dinner had a lot to do with this morning's attack. I ate a dip last week that was probably higher in sodium than I should have had, and the next morning I had a very mild episode. It's enough of a trend to get me to try to be more cautious about how much sodium I ingest at a single sitting, as well as overall. While I'm not ready to go raw or give up eating out, keeping sodium as conservative as possible is probably wise. Plus increasing my potassium intake, which will help balance out the sodium. If I keep having the attacks with any kind of frequency, as I am now, I may opt for a steroid injection in my ear, which I really don't want to do (because the thought of a needle in my ear while I'm awake makes me very anxious). But if I have to, I will.
And that is the State of my Ear.