Had labyrinthectomy with BAHA on Thursday; home on Sunday

Letting you all know the laby went well. As with others, the first 2 days were nonstop spins, but it began to settle down. The kind docs and nurses at Mayo have been helping me along with a variety of nausea-inhibiting meds, some which make me quite sleeply. I am back at home now with my lovely daughter in charge. Can't wait to eat her cooking instead of the hospital's!

I a little too loopy to write much today. Will be in touch tomorrow.

:-\

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Other than being a little bobble-headed, things are going pretty well here. Surgery was Thursday afternoon and took about 2 1/2 hours for both the laby and BAHA implant. I'm glad I got them done at the same time and can spare a separate surgery and recovery. The week before surgery I was anxious -- not so much about the surgery, but about the recovery and the thought of knowingly giving myself perhaps the worst vertigo spell ever. I felt much better after the pre-op consultation with Dr. Neff, and went into it in upbeat hopefulness.

Dr. Neff did the surgery at Mayo Rochester MN, and I am grateful to have been in his competent and experienced hands. Some years ago he co-authored a paper advocating the use of facial nerve monitoring during labyrinthectomy surgery in order to avoid the risk of nicking the nerve, and I think that is now standard practice. There's just no substitute for experience when doing a surgery like this. The surgeon uses a microscope and has to hit a tiny target with his drill. S/he has to know the landmarks on the way while avoiding complications. They don't use imaging equipment during the procedure.

I asked Dr. Neff about the 95% laby success rate -- what is the cause of the 5% unsuccessful surgeries? Turns out it comes down to diagnosis rather than technique. If a person still has vertigo after this surgery, it is because there is something other than Meniere's going on in that ear.

Mayo took good care of me; however, the Rochester clinic only takes Meniere's patients from Minnesota and the adjacent states. I was glad to be in the hospital during the first few days, which kind of blurred into each other. A lot of slow spinning the first two days, but nausea and pain were well managed by IV. By Sunday I was able to take a seated shower by myself and walk (er, shuffle/lurch) down the hall with a walker. Dr. Neff left it up to me whether I wanted to go home that afternoon or stay another night. Since the dizziness was largely gone and nausea was well-managed with oral meds (zofran, compazine, lorazepam), I felt ready to cut the ties. I've only used Tylenol for pain, but they sent me with a 50mg tramadol prescription to take as needed. I'm also on a preventive course of antibiotics.

At first I used a walker in the house; today I'm moving unassisted from object to object and getting around pretty well. The Mayo team prescribed a bedside commode and a bath transfer bench, but we didn't get around to getting them right away, and haven't needed either. I still use a walker outside, though.

One thing that was a little bothersome is that I wear glasses, and they come close enough to the stitches to irritate after a while. Dr. Neff's suggestion was to temporarily remove the side piece. I'm feeling very upper-crusty now with my faux opera glasses!

Thanks for all your support and encouragement -- especially to those who have gone before me and written about it. I'm glad to have taken this step.