Yesterday was a very busy day, and today was, too. Yesterday, in the morning we drove to Hammond and then to Covington. Hammond is where the hospital is located where I’m having my surgery. Covington is where the Homewood Suites is that will be our next home-away-from-home. I wanted to make sure Beth knew how to get to both places. Then, in the afternoon, I had a variety of hearing tests at Dr. Gianoli’s office, which is the Ear and Balance Institute. Last night, several of us SSCD (aka SCDS) sufferers – past and present – met up for dinner and a long chat. Two of the people (and their spouses) are from Louisiana, while the third is from Houston. The Houstonian brought her husband and triplets, so we had 11 for dinner. It was great learning from people who have been through the same surgery I’m going to have, I really appreciate them taking the time to driver over and hour each way to spend the evening with us.
Then, this morning was dedicated to balance tests. I’d heard scary things about these tests, such as “It’ll make you throw up, but don’t feel bad about it.” They put me through the ringer with all kinds of tests designed to make me lose my balance, get vertigo, or fall over dizzy every possible way. But I didn’t puke, and I never fell over once. That doesn’t surprise me too much because my ear problems don’t cause major dizziness issues and I have a strong stomach when it comes to losing my lunch.
In the afternoon, I met with Dr. Gianoli and he told me that all the tests proved what I already thought. I’ve got superior semicircular canal dehiscence on both sides, but the right side is much worse than the left. And my balance is great, with relatively minor issues that he categorized as benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. We’ll deal with that after my surgery’s done and all healed up. He thinks my round and oval window are probably stretched but intact (not blown out), so repairing those isn’t necessary and my main symptoms should go away from a “standard” resurfacing of the mastoid bone and superior semicircular canal. He also explained (again) why he doesn’t think that occlusion (aka “plugging”) is the right approach for cases like mine.
Beth and I were really hoping to go back to the hotel and get a nap and relax a while. But Dr. G said we still have more to do. I had to go to the North Oaks hospital (where I’m getting the surgery done) and have a blood test, an EKG, and do my pre-admission paperwork. So that meant a half hour drive, and an hour at the hospital. On the plus side, we found that the hospital has public wifi that is faster and more reliable than that at our hotel, and we also drove into old town Hammond and discovered a nice seafood restaurant where I had my last real meal for a while (this restaurant, the Cate Street Seafood Station, is the only place I’ve ever been that serves crawfish maki zushi, which was pretty good).
Now we’re back in our hotel catching up on loose ends and getting ready for the big day tomorrow. We’ll get up around 4 AM, shower and get dressed, finish packing, and then drive to Hammond. I’m supposed to check in at the Same Day Surgery desk at 5:30 AM. Shortly thereafter I’ll surrender my clothes and put on what is sure to be a drafty gown that I’ll wear for the next 48 hours. And then the surgery starts at 7:00.