I went to see my Ear, Nose and Throat specialist a while back because of feeling light headed and sometimes a bit dizzy. Usually, these sort of balance problems are associated with the inner ear and although I have had them before, they usually clear up within a couple of weeks. This time though, they weren’t going away hence the visit to the Doc’s.

He ran me through the usual series of tests including having me on a balance chair where he was able to turn me upside down and twist me around in the hope of reproducing the symptoms. No such luck.

The next step was to schedule an MRI just to make sure there were no other bad things lurking in my body creating the problem. This was a simple enough procedure except that it was bloody noisy even with the earplugs they provided.The tests came back with no visible signs of growths or things that didn’t belong inside me. So, back to the Doctors for more discussions.

I first met this particular Doctor around 37 years ago when I was playing football, soccer to you Americans and managed to break my nose heading a ball and colliding with another player’s head. I just had time to see the ball fly into the goal before crashing to the ground after the impact so at least, it was sort of worth it, sort of. While he was treating me for the nose, he noticed that I had perforated eardrums and problems with the stirrup bones in my ears and told me in no uncertain terms, “I can fix that”, resulting in three more surgeries to partially correct the problem. He was able to improve my hearing quite considerably for which, I have been forever grateful. With the addition of hearing aids, my hearing is around 85%. With my playing days long behind me, and the ear surgeries out of the way, at least my visits to him were more of an annual checkup or the occasional ear cleaning for wax build up until the recent ones for the dizzy spells.

He then scheduled me for a Ct Scan to see what might show up. Again, another simple procedure and much quieter this time. I already had an appointment to go over these scans where he showed me the results pointing out what they all meant. The end result was the sinuses were almost completely blocked, he called them diseased, and he recommended that I schedule surgery which he would perform to open the sinuses back up. Luckily for me, I have a great health plan from my previous employer of 23 years which actually was one of the reasons for switching jobs at a lower wage in the first place. I also get a good pension. Planning ahead so to speak.

I put it off for a few weeks mainly because I was working with my neighbors schedule as she was going to drive me to the surgery and then bring me home.  They were out of town for a couple of weeks so we  finally arrived at a date and had a 6:30 am drive to the hospital where there was a long wait until my turn came.  Clara stayed at the hospital all the time that it took and then brought me home. She also took it upon herself to stay with me following the surgery, fixing me a meal and fussing over me until I was asleep. And she checked up on me first thing  the following morning. She lives directly across the street moving into her house the same time as we did ours and I am forever in her debt.

The surgery went smoothly enough as the last thing I can remember is the burn as the Anesthesia went into my arm and then I was out waking up a couple of hours later with a sore head. Today is Day 1 of the recovery. I feel pretty good considering and there is no residual bleeding and no real pain. Breathing is little awkward as it is mostly through my mouth as the sinuses gradually settle back down. I am able to check on the ponds and fix any filters and other problems.

Where would we be without friends and neighbors. I would certainly be up the proverbial creek if it wasn’t for my neighbors. Living alone by choice does have its drawbacks as a wife would be useful at times like this. She could also clean the house and do the cooking, maybe but is the end result worth it. Nah, I don’t think so.

Thank goodness for neighbors and friends.

Written 11/10/2017