Have you ever wondered what is the least expected thing you expect a Dr. to say? Well, me neither, but, if I had, I wouldn't need to wonder any longer. (It's all good)
Dr. McCracken walks in the room, shakes mine and Barry's hands, introduces himself, then starts in with the usual..."how are you doing, etc", then stops, puts one arm across his chest, rests his other elbow on that arm, with that hand stroking his chin and goes,
"Do you mind if I bring the resident in, too? You have a really interesting case and I'd like for him to hear it." then he wheels around and is out the door before my jaw hits the bottonmost level it can go.
I look at Barry and go "Well that's not a promising start! Glad they already took my blood pressure first!"
"Yeah, right!" Barry says, "ZOOOOM" he goes with his hand describing a very high arch - illustrating what my blood pressure just did. We're both laughing, but kinda serious at the same time.
Barry puts on his best good ol' boy accent (he's from NW Iowa, so it's a stretch). "C'mere Earl, ya jes gotta hear this!"
"C'mon Ear, ya ain't nevah gonna b'lieve this!" and so forth.
By the time, the resident comes in, we're both laughing so hard. I hope he doesn't mistake those tears in my eyes for sadness, but pretty sure he didn't.
And, that was how my long-awaited, and much worried over (I think I slept 2.5 hours last night) visit with the surgeon, who I'm going to let cut open my brain, went.
But, it's all good. One thing is I've lost 17 lbs - not from trying, but from all the headaches and accompanying nausea, when all I eat is dry toast for a couple of days. And, because this stuff is also draining down my throat, food all tastes different and not in a good way.
Here's what I've learned. They can go in a little hole they drill in the back of your ear to fix this, but won't be able to do that with mine, due to positioning (
). So, they will cut a little "window" into the brain just above the ear, lift the brain up, cut off the (already dead) portion of whatever brain is hanging down through the gap, then slap a graft on the gap, and stitch me back up. I won't even see the little cut out, as they cut the scalp along the back of the ear, lay the scalp back, cut the skull, then place the scalp back. With my current hairstyle, he said it won't even be hardly noticeable.
The surgery takes about 4-5 hours, then I spend a day in ICU, then get moved upstairs. If no problems, I can go home the next day - so a total of three days in the hospital.
Risks are minimal - other than the standard risks any time you go under anesthesia. One of the risks, loss of speech, is non-existent for me, since I'm right handed and my speech center is on my left side. (whew). They don't even do the anti-seizure medicine following this surgery any longer.
I might experience some dizziness after the surgery for a bit, but overall recovery is probably 3-5 weeks.
Dr. McCraken made me feel much more assured about this whole deal and I left in a much better state of mind than I arrived.
I should hear the exact date within the next week, but Dr. McCracken said it will probably be Sept 13th, but definitely the second week of Sept. I have to go back Sept 1st for another hearing test and to have the anesthesiologist clear me for surgery.
I can probably forget about any October poultry shows (crying), but I should be ready to roll again in November! Maybe I'll even be able to hear again!