...and here's how...

So I ended my last post with the mom's story of her brain tumor, and I haven't been able to get back here to finish up.

So, here goes.

Mom's been dealing with recovering from gamma knife surgery and living life with a (benign) tumor. It has not been easy. Less than three days after her surgery, the left side of her body started seizing. She ended up back in the hospital for three days with very little answers. Apparently the effects of gamma knife surgery are not supposed to happen that quickly; it is a procedure that takes several months to even start to work. So lots of doctors were puzzled, to say the least.

She left the hospital on anti-seizure medication (we joked that she could share drugs with my miniature schnauzer, who is also on them...), very depressed. She was not supposed to drive and the medication made her very drousy. She went on a mini vacation and ended up having another seizure 1/2 way through. It has been a frustrating journey.

The journey started, however, with an ear problem that was still unresolved, and completely unrelated to the brain tumor. Mom was slowly losing hearing in one ear, followed by the other. With the tumor (sort of) taken care of, now it was time to see what was happening in her ears.

The news was not good. She visited a renowned ENT in Philadelphia, who ran a battery of tests and fitted her for hearing aids. I knew I was in trouble when mom said she wanted to see us on a Thursday night right after I got home from work. She never does this, and I joked with her on email, "you're welcome to stop by. Unless you have bad news. If it is bad news, you can stay away!"

It was bad news. Mom was diagnosed with Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease (AIED), which had flared up a year ago. The doctor told her that if it had been caught in the first few months, it could have been reversible. Even better, it is an inherited disease. Therefore, my sister and I now have to be tested, and if we have it, so do our children. If we are carriers, every ear infection, stuffed-up head, etc. must be taken very seriously, or else we, too could lose our hearing.

I'm trying not to be too pessimistic, but that's not in my nature. My ears are pretty much already shot from umpteen ear infections as a child. If I even looked at a body of water, I got swimmers ear. I already have constant ringing, and my ears click and crackle all the time, even when I am not swallowing.

But it is three weeks until my testing, so I have to try and put it out of my mind. For now.