Did you hear that? ... I did.

I lost most of the hearing in my left ear about a year ago. I had numerous appointments with an ENT, antibiotic treatments, an ear tube put in, but no improvement; and no explanation for the hearing loss. We went in for second opinion with another ENT last week. I was getting tired of pretending that I could hear what people were saying. (huh, what did you say?) After the new ENT did an examination and a complete cleaning of the eardrum. (I make this sound trivial, but it actually hurts quite a bit) I could hear better. Underneath the crusted over eardrum he found a hole in my eardrum. Not sure how it got there, but due to this hole the sound is not properly transferred through the eardrum to the nerves. So even though I can hear better with all the crud cleaned off, the eardrum is still damaged and my hearing is still far from perfect. Options include surgery to patch the hole, a hearing aide, or do nothing. There are pros and cons to each option. We're mulling these over and will be visiting the ENT again in about a month to decide which way to go. In the meantime I am enjoying my improved hearing. As I drove to work the other day I stuck finger in my good ear and sang loudly all the way to work, it sounded sweet. The guy in the car next to me probably thought I was nuts. Take care. -Eric