I've decided to have as much of my skeleton as possible augmented with titanium.

[Cipher]

So let me be sure I have it right...................Look into the light...........DO NOT walk into the light! Kind chuckles from skilled medicos and boom darkness.

I had (insert long fancy surgery name here) ear surgery done tuesday.
Had the world's prettiest anesthesiologist. had two but the guy from RSA weren't near as pretty as the gal. nice accent though.

I had a glomus tympanicum tumour removed successfully in a 200 minute op.
I guess I've never been under that long cos they actively made efforts to bring me around in the recovery area.
I woke up to melty Daliesque images of the ward and its occupants as well as a smallish group of fully armed ransacking vikings.
I was warning Alfred of Wessex of the danger when a nurse offered me a popsicle. They had no root beer which clearly demonstrates the ineffectiveness of universal health care coverage.

Mango had to suffice. Which is just as well cos saying mango in an ethereal state repeatedly is soothing to the the self as well as assuring to the medical staff that you're fit as a fiddle.
During the 200 minutes the 5 person team removed the nasty little drumming blob of vascular tissue and were able to save my auricular chain. The bones are often eroded to the point of total destruction by the tumours so a bit of a miracle.
I got a little yellow "passport" from Kurz a german prosthetic maker to present at future MRI exams.
9 years of fear and rage inducing pulsatile tinnitus gone I hope forever. The beating was so intense as to produce fight or flight response. I assure you being terrified and or enraged almost instantly by a very small angry lump of tissue is hell.

Worst case was the tumour would bleed profusely requiring a rapid and destructive op ending with my ear sutured over and functional deafness for life.
But by god er um rather skillfully applied science they fixed me.

The titanium reinforcement is 3mm x .2 mm. The deft and steady hands it takes to work in the space a sugar cube occupies boggles the mind. To attach so small a device to a 59 r old linkage of miniscule bones is beyond amazing.

No nausea no dizziness just inexplicable Vikings. They're still here three days later but I think it wise to keep that to myself. At least I can't smell them.
Then there is the ear ache and the gash in back of my ear that presently looks like a moccasin seam.
Packing comes out in three weeks but already I can hear low frequency sounds transmitting through my skull and cartilage. The packing is doubtless cutting and mid or high tones but time will tell. I suspect I have improved the excursion of my eardrum was fully blocked.

[argonsagas]

I have no experience with your operation, but I have had major traumatic head injury, so I will offer this:

After significant changes to the auditory system there comes a period of adjustment to the new reality.

One of the possible near-future outcomes is super-sensitivity: a trickle of water can seem like a downpour on a metal roof.
Your comment about packing seems to indicate medical expectations in that direction.

The type of ear muff-style ear protectors used in construction can make a huge difference as they are meant to reduce the incoming sound volume by anywhere from 20 to 40 decibels.
They need not be expensive, just look for the higher dB rating.

Note: there are several types of sound-reducing devices.

Use only the over-the-head devices.

DO NOT put anything inside your ear.

Also....keep the ears and the device clean.


Here is a page from Amazon that offers a number of options:

https://www.amazon.ca/ear-protection/s?k=ear+protection

[Nessism]

Good luck with your recovery. I hope the healing process goes well. From what you say, this is looking toward a life-changing experience!

[trent]

Good luck with everything,
hope this isn't off topic.....
But I work in loud environments a lot....I had a few weeks of ringing in the ear (tinitus?)from ear tube problem....

But ever since I started wearing ear protection even when others didn't think it was necessary.

The about a year ago I woke up in the middle of the night and had lost ALLof the hearing in one ear....I could put my phone on speaker turn it all the way up and could barely hear some sound...not enough to make out any words....my other ear was fine.

So went immediately to ear doctor and they told me all about it, put me on a high dose of steroids, then a few days later the ringing came on like crazy and I felt like I was in another world it was horrible..worst experience ever.

Suicidal
hearing sensitive big time, it was insane.

But after the round of steroids was over things slowly started getting back to normal.

kinda weird, doctor told me she had a nurse that woke up in the middle of night to no hearing in either ear and never regained it......sad ordeal

Wear two types of ear muffs, one with Bluetooth capabilities and one I bought advertised for running chainsaw...

[Cipher]

Thanks for the kind words and advice.
Trent a sudden onset of the ringing sort of tinnitus would have been horrible. I remember the first time that type arrived and stayed. utter despair................

Indeed many people do kill themselves when thus afflicted. Its a scary fact.
Add to this fact that a lot f GPs know bugger all about hearing and you usually get the old "its all in your head" attitude.

My MD told me to sleep with a radio on playing static. A bit brutal but that type of noise does soothe some frequency ranges or ringing. rain water and fountains or even taking a shower provides respite.

I can recall kids at university having ringing for days after rocks concerts.
I can also recall tough guys at work wearing no hearing protection whilst operating almost unmuffled diesel engined machinery.
I think a chainsaw did mine in spite of ear protection its just too damned long an exposure at to great a db rating.

At work there were locked insulated doors that informed of permanent hearing loss. No entry allowed unless a shut down protocol occurred. IIRC attempted entry doing an end run round protocols was grounds for immediate dismissal as well.

[bobgroger]

Sudden hearing loss can be caused by a stroke in the smallest blood vessels in the body, most likely in conjunction with Afib. Happened to my left ear, lost all low frequencies but highs were painfully pronounced. Slowly getting back to the new normal