Post op

So, the operation day came, I was surprisingly calm about it.  I think I had done all the worrying in the lead up to the day.  The medical staff were absolutely fantastic, made it feel so routine, answered any questions I had.  Mr Irving was very relaxed, which made me relaxed too.  I had been nervous about a general anaesthetic, but there really is nothing to it, you go to sleep, and you wake up, having lost a few hours in the meantime.

As I came around from the anaesthetic I started to laugh, whether that was relief or just the fact that I thought it was all very funny, I'm not sure, but it seemed to amuse the recovery team! I discovered that those that were in the operating room were learning a lot about SCDS too, and were asking questions as I continued to come around.  The overwhelming sensation though afterwards was the split in my head. Prior to surgery the internal noises had been all encompassing, now I had one side that relatively quiet, and the other side that was screaming! My right side (unoperated side) was incredibly noisy, but this did subside over the course of a week or so.  My left side was wonderfully quiet (apart from some run of the mill tinnitus, which did seem quite intrusive at times)

After a night on the ward, I was discharged home.  My balance had taken a real knock. Needing to walk with two people holding me on the evening of my op, one person and my stick on the day after, and then once I was home (and everything was that bit closer) I could manage with just my stick for a few days.  So my balance slowly improved, I am now at a point where I feel pretty comfortable in the environment of my own home, going out can have some challenges, but as long as I am sensible, I can cope. My hearing in my left ear has started to come back.  I had some fantastic nights sleep after the operation, as I had to sleep on my good ear, which meant no external noises could disturb me!

As my hearing came back, it sounded so very distorted for a while, varying from it sounding like a babbling brook in my head, to some robots trying to talk. But that has all passed now, I am beginning to hear discernible speech again.  Although trying to judge wear sound is coming from is frustratingly  slow at coming back.

I was surprised at how little pain I was in.  There was a little discomfort at times, but nothing that paracetamol or nurofen couldn't sort out. I had to adapt my glasses, so that the arm didn't irritate the scar.  So we took the arm off, and then weighted it with blue tac, so that the glasses would still sit relatively straight on my face.

So that is where I am at now.  I have another few weeks before I go back to see the surgeon at the balance clinic.  I am aware that my right ear is still very symptomatic, so hopefully we can get a plan together for sorting that one out in the near future.