Well, as I predicted, I made it worse than it needed to be. I AM NOT HUMAN, AM I??? I went in armed with all my questions and Dr. Kelsall answered most of them before I even got to ask! That's ok, it helped with keeping myself in check. He stated that I do have auto-immune hearing disease, which can/could have caused/continue my hearing loss. I may have had it since I was born (probably not) but it will always test postive when I have that bloodtest (some technical name ??), just like you would test postive for the antibodies of chicken pox (if you had it as a child) even though you don't have the chicken pox now. Ok, what happens without trying steriods, could lose more of my hearing but not likely. The "classic" auto-immune hearing disease happens when a person has normal hearing, then boom its gone. Not my case, hearing loss since I was born. So he felt in, in so many words, that doing the treatment of steriods would not benefit me, in fact it was about a 5% chance I would improve my hearing. I decided that 5% was not enough for me to go through Prednisone, so hence continuing with surgery. I will go back on the 5th for Pre-op and update eveyone on that information when I get it. I am sure of my decision of going forward with surgery is the right one, deep within my heart. Now, if my hearing gets worse after surgery in my left ear (not getting the implant) I would probably go through the steriods treatment to see if helps to preserve what I have and he said that would be fine to do it that way. So that makes me feel better that it is not a one and only chance deal.
Thank you to those people that helped me through this week and listening to me "vent" and question everything. You really helped me see all perspectives with an open mind, which is not easy sometimes.
I really have to say the Dr. Kelsall is a very good doctor (conservative) in a lot of ways. He is respectful to listening to what you have to say, reposnsive to your questions, and respects your decisions. I would recommend him to anyone that has any hearing issues of any kind. He has wonderful "bedside" manners, but also knowledgeable. So if you need information on him, let me know, I will be glad to give it to you.
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It's amazing what they can find in your blood, isn't it? Glad things went better than you were expecting. You are completely human, I panic about things and they end up being no big deal. :) Still praying for you, can't wait to hear how you're hearing...LOL does that make sense?
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