Crying with two eyes

Great news! I think I have my tears back in my left eye. Something funny happened at work today that made me laugh so hard I cried. I grabbed a tissue to wipe my eyes and realized an hour or so later that I had been dabbing at both eyes! I think it's back!! I'll have to confirm with another crying session, but for now, I am going to say that it has returned for good. Yay!!

Accepting loss

It's only recently started to sink in that this hearing loss will be with me forever. When I was first diagnosed, I didn't really cry or get upset, I just dealt with what needed to be done. It wasn't until five months into it or so that it really hit me. Likewise, since surgery, I've just been dealing with SSD, and it's been fine for the most part. But now, about five months later, I'm realizing that this issue isn't going to go away; in fact, it will be with me forever. Now, I know I could get a BAHA hearing device or something similar, but that's not going to change the fact that I will never hear "normally" again. I guess you could say that I'm going through a kind of grieving process right now. But optimism will prevail!

Hair loss

For the past month or so, I've been losing a lot of my hair. Not balding, per se, but my hairbrush gets filled up pretty quickly. I thought it might be because I stopped taking those prenatal vitamins, but I figured it would slow down after a couple of weeks if it was that. I'd say this has been going on since the beginning of May. I did some Googling and found that hair loss is common 3–4 months after a major surgery. That fits my timeframe. But it didn't say how long it will last :(

Still here

Just wanted to pop in and say hi - not much new stuff to report on the acoustic neuroma front right now. Things are feeling pretty good.

Thanks for the support

I went to my third ANA D.C.-area support group meeting this past Saturday. The date was exactly three months post-surgery, and the people at the meeting were quite amazed with my progress. It was nice to have come full circle, from being newly diagnosed at the first meeting to being a week away from surgery at the second meeting to being pretty much fully recovered at the third meeting. I am planning to continue to go to most meetings in the future, at least for awhile, because I think it's helpful for newly diagnosed people to hear from others who've been through treatment and have only relatively minor issues.

Another thing about SSD

You know when you're on the phone in a loud place and you plug your other ear with your finger so you can hear better? Now I don't have to do that since I'm not exactly getting extra sound in that ear anymore.

Pros to SSD

I realized last night that there's something good about being able to hear out of only one ear. When going to sleep, I like it to be quiet and dark. The quiet part has gotten easier - I lay on my good ear, which helps block out any low sounds across the apartment and lets me go to sleep quicker. So far, that's the only positive thing I have experienced by being SSD. Oh well.