I’m having a (second) latté in the Kaiser cafeteria … somehow food just doesn’t look at all appealing right now, not even at the outdoor farmer’s market.
So here’s what the doctor told me:
This is probably not labyrinthitis, but that’s what the internal medicine doctors tend to diagnose. I think it came and went too quickly for her to think it was, and she said labyrinthitis nearly always starts with an ear infection. It could be one of several other viruses though. She gave me names but they went in one ear and out the other. Or maybe I just didn’t really listen. (Ouch! Bad jokes, eh?) It could also be a benign tumor, although she is very doubtful that that is what this is. Still, she has me coming in for an MRI in a week, just to verify. She said if it is a tumor that close to 100% of the time they are easy to deal with. She really assured me (and I believe her) that the tumor was the least likely thing. But … the hearing loss will not return. She is also almost certain of that. She did say I will learn to adjust, and my brain will start to cancel out the ringing. (She said the less I pay attention to the ringing the better, and it sounds like I’m doing the right thing by putting some sort of softer sound on to keep me distracted from it.) I asked if I should continue playing, including this weekend’s concerts, and she said absolutely. (Rats! No escape from the difficult Prokofiev part.)
Meanwhile maybe I’ll get really really buff and you’ll all ooh and ahhh. More likely I’ll just gain weight. Because I’m going on steroids for about a month. This is supposed to help the ear. Doubt it’ll help with my weight. Oh well!
I really liked this doctor. How could I not? She loves the oboe!
Now I wait around for about an hour so I can go have a “smashing good time” in yet another department of Kaiser. And if you don’t know what I’m talking about don’t even ask! 😉
