Did you say Dubai?

After the initial consult with our neurosurgeon, he asked us to see a Hearing Specialist.  Since hearing loss is a symptom of an acoustic neuroma, he wanted to see how much hearing Dan had already lost.

We sat down in two adjacent seats in the waiting room, picked up a People & Men's Health magazine and took a moment to take in our surroundings.  Having never had any real health issues before, we now found ourselves surrounded by a population of patients 40 years our senior.  We just had to look at each other and laugh.  We've learned that sometimes if you don't laugh, you just might cry.

The hearing specialist took us back to a sound proofed room.  She put some kind of device in Dan's ear to measure how he responded to stimuli.

Then it was exam time!  I exited the room and Dan put on a headset.  The woman put white noise in one ear and talked into the other ear at various frequencies.  Dan had to repeat the word that he heard.

Practicioner:  "Coffee"
Dan:  "Coffee"

Practicioner:  "School:
Dan:  "School"

Practioner:  "Car"
Dan:  "Car"

Practicioner:  "Cowboy"
Dan:  "Did you say Dubai?"

Hmmm....I don't think you can ask questions in this type of exam.  But, he did his best!  Results?  Dan already lost about 30% of his hearing on his left side thanks to this little monster.  Unfortunately the 30% is not recoverable.  One of the risks of surgery is complete hearing loss on the affected side.  Not a guarantee that's going to happen but we will have to see.  In any case, we are continuing to have positive thoughts and confidence in our doctor.  

Yep, that's it!  You don't need your PhD to spot that one!