The Good News Is...

The Bad News Is...

April 15, 2013

Today was a mixed bag of "stuff".  Most of you know that I hear music in my head since my hearing loss (more about that another day), but I also have assorted other noises that vary in volume and type.  This morning at the office I was working alone at my desk in a quiet setting.  Ron was out on jobs and I was working on a time line of the medical stuff in our lives in 2013.  All of a sudden a very loud noise started.  I could not figure out what it was or where it was coming from.  I explored the shop, and the noise was the same in every room, in the warehouse, and outside.  So I took off the ear buds to the amplifier that I use for hearing and it was still the same.  That meant it was in my head, not outside my head.  It was so loud that I really struggled to deal with customers over the sound of the noise going on.  When the noise gets that way, I also talk too loud because I am trying to talk over the noise.  I tried just sitting and relaxing, although I felt relaxed when it started, and that didn't help.  Once Ron came back to the office, I took a walk outside and that helped a little.  So I tried another walk and about 10 minutes after my second walk, the loud noise went away.

This is the hearing device I am using at this time since I turned in the trial high-powered hearing aid about 3 weeks ago.  I bought this around 6 years ago from Harris Communications.  They are on line and this device can work well for many hearing problems.  The white box is like a microphone and when I wear the ear bud, it picks up amplified sounds from the mic.  

Ron had called our G.P.'s office this morning and they said all the tests were back for the surgery release and I could come at 2:00 this afternoon for him to check them over with me before he signed the release.  Since the noise in my ears had been so bad this morning and for so long (an hour or more) I told Ron I hated to do it to him, but I wanted him to go with me to the doctor's office.  I also was struggling more today to hear than some other days and needed to hear what the doctor said.  So we closed the business and spent another afternoon in a doctor's office!  Thank you Ron, for my well stocked Kindle that lives in my purse for days like today.

As for the visit to the doctor, let me start by saying, I want to be physically fit for surgery.  But... (one of my sons says there is always a but..) I really am eager to be able to hear and it seems the only way that will happen is through this surgery, so "Let's get the show on the road!"

Last Friday I had been in the same office for blood work, EKG, and general questions.  An X-ray was ordered that was done Saturday.  This afternoon we were taken to a room after the mandatory weigh in, and blood pressure and temperature checks.  That was around 2:45 (for the 2:00 appointment).  About 3:15 the doctor came in and said that he was going to sign the release, but had a couple of little concerns.  He wants to be sure I make it through surgery.  I agree.  He again asked some heart questions that he had asked last Friday and questioned me about shortness of breath.  I do not suffer from that.  Workouts at the gym are painful, but not from lack of air.  From lack of exercise!  So after some discussion he decided to have the technician do a lung capacity test.  About 3:45 the tech did that. 

About 4:30 the doctor came back and said that he thinks I have asthma.  I don't have a "rattle", but he says that the chest x-ray showed some inflammation.  Well, I was an asthmatic as a child, having my last attack at 19 years old while in college.  I suffer from a lot of allergies and he and I have discussed that problem a couple of times and I have agreed to allergy testing AFTER the surgery.  In the end, he said he was signing the surgery release with the notation that he was treating me for the lung inflammation. 

We discussed medications and after my recent experience with steroids, I told him I would rather go another route.  After much discussion, we agreed on one antihistamine in the mornings and a different one at night, plus an inhaler, and another allergy medication.  It was 5:15 when we left his office from our 2:00 appointment.  There is NO DOUBT that I needed Ron with me during the visit.  There were many things I couldn't hear or I misunderstood.  He takes good notes.

We returned to the office, shut off computers, etc. and decided to, as one of my friends says, "Go to Aunt Luby's for supper (Luby's Cafeteria)".  We had a good, relaxing supper and headed home.  I remembered all the prescriptions I had to have filled so I headed to Walgreen's and he went looking for a new blade for my lawn mower (another story).  After killing 20 minutes waiting for my prescriptions, I went to get them and instead of the inhaler he told me he would prescribe, they had meds for a nebulizer (which he and I discussed I don't have).  So the pharmacist and I decided that she would keep the medication and call the doctor in the morning to either get a prescription for the inhaler or for the nebulizer machine. 

It was about 7:30 when I arrived home, tired, but with surgery release in the new folder I bought killing time at Walgreen's.  It is all a plot to make you wait for your prescriptions so you will go spend money in the rest of the store while waiting.  It worked.  They got $1.50 out of me. 

So the end result is:  The good news is that I have the surgery release forms.  The bad news is my childhood asthma is back (at least my doctor thinks so).