“Your case is reportable.”
Last Wednesday, I have seen my othorhinolaryngologist (ORL or ENT to you) for the nth time due to my tinnitus, which I have written about, 7 months ago. Since then, we have tried everything: from herbal (ginkgo biloba) to medical (antibiotic, steroid) to non medical (Valsalva maneuver), nothing worked. In fact, the tinnitus was getting worse.
This forced my doctor to order high imaging techniques like CTscan (which was read as normal). However, she saw something when she reviewed the plates. To be sure, she ordered MRI and MR venography. It sounds scary and expensive and it both is. As it turns out, she is right. I have a rare condition which I can’t even type or say! I am still in denial stage, I guess.
The bad news: only option is surgery(neuro-otology). The good news: at this point it is still elective (meaning, I can choose not to go through with for now). But when the tinnitus or my hearing loss gets worse, which hopefully doesn't, I have to go under the knife!
Sometimes, I feel like God is trying to make things 'lighter' by at least giving me a condition worthy of a few pages in a journal. But there are times when I can't even think of smiling. I am just glad that my doctor is one of the best, if not THE best, neuro-otologist in the country and she is referring me to the best neurosurgeon I know. It’s comforting to know that I am in the best possible hands, next to God.
But still, knowing what I know, it’s a scary road ahead.
~~~~
P.S. Thank God for Ipods (I can at least mask my tinnitus with R&B sounds) and blogs (for outlet).
9 comments:
Would congratulations be an appropriate comment doc?
Hehe, seriously, we certainly hope it'll turn out ok.
I've always loved the zebras in our profession and I'd be amiss not to ask what is it actually?
I'll be praying for the best course of recovery for you
Che, masyado akong na yanig sa iyong post. After all these months what we've been blogging and reading each others blogs, feeling ko mag-kamag-anak na tayo.
I am speechless yet at the same time I want to say something. Ah, something funny/light/nakakatawa like o, pagkatapos nito, puede ng gawing pelikula ang adventures ng buhay mo or something to that effect.
But mostly, I just want to hug you and be quiet.
i've been lurking and this, this compels me to comment. this is crazy, che. thought you'd say at the end, joke. like what i did. i have tinnitus, too. makes me think. there is so much candor in your blog. God bless and full recovery ahead!
doc che, i hope you'll get through this condition without going "under the knife". i hope by reading your blog, i can be a part of the little comfort this may offer.
God bless. :-D
Brian, salamat sa prayers. Soon, I will say it out loud. :)
Doc Ness, naluha ako sa comment mo. Salamat. I need all the hug I can get, kahit virtual.
Meloink, hehe, sorry walang joke sa dulo. I wish un din sasabihin ng doctor ko. Salamat. :)
Linapuhan, sensiya na at ni wikiepedia mo pa tinnnitus. Natawa tuloy ako sa comment mo. Salamat.
Oh my... There's been so much going on in the blog-world pala...
One time I thought I felt a breast mass so I got my classmate's mom to request a mammogram for me. Hurt like hell and turned out to be nothing serious, but the point is that before I got the all-clear, I was thinking: what if it was cancer? I actually made plans na. I would stop med school, find a job, arrange things so that my loved ones would be fine without me. Morbid thoughts, but we all face them one time or another.
I don't know if it will help, but remember the verse that says God won't give us what we can't handle? And whenever I go through something difficult, I always try to think about a passage in Narnia (I keep referring to it, sorry) that says something about the "adventure that Aslan sends us" or something. It might seem to you or others irreverent to refer to an ailment as an adventure, but when we think that this life is only the prologue to a far better life ahead of us, then we really can consider ailments -- from the smallest fever to the most awful cancers -- as adventures that just lead us closer to home.
(I'm not saying you're gonna die ha!!! I don't know what exactly you have so I can't prognosticate, but my point is, for you and for all of us, dying isn't such a bad thing actually... It's the journey that leads us to our true home.)
I hope I didn't depress you even more!!
awwww...what can I say?!? just know that I'm here for anything. Kahit ba to hold your hand lang :-) that's if no one else is holding it already hahahaha.
take good care che, i know you'll be ok.
Gaya, I get you girl. Thanks for making me feel like this is an adventure. Well, it actually is. I just don't want to reach the end yet. Love Narnia but not as much as you. Hehe ;)
Thanks Ri. See you soon.
Has had some "syndrome" in the past worthy of the journal of weird diseases and unknown ailments. An aberrant growing toe nail went outwards instead of my toe's nail bed, thereby hurting my shoes and anyone in my kick's way. A podiatrist told me to consult an orthopod which referred me to psychiatry for lack of some foreseeable treatment. Somehow a jack ass cut the nail annoyingly and viola, i don't have the ailment.
The bottom line is, "never find an illness that fit your worries. Chances are you will get one if you wish for it!"
Have a full recovery soon doc che!
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