What?

So I went to an Ears/Nose/Throat (ENT) doctor today. When I was younger I had a huge problem with ear infections. I had tubes put in surgically to help. As a result of the repeated abuse my ears took, I have hearing loss. In March I went to see a different ENT who essentially told me I was going deaf and in 15-20 years would likely be clinically deaf. Needless to say, this was a little bit distressing and I spent a day or two in not particularly good shape. Not only was I upset about the news, but the last doctor was a jerk. He essentially broke the bad news and told me to come back when I got out of school as he'd like to do one more test. He then left the room without explaining a darn thing. As someone with some healthcare training, I insist in being in charge of my care and I also insist that I be treated like the consumer that I am. If you're a doctor and happen to be a pompous jerk, I will both tell you that and switch to another doctor. For this reason, among others, I was at a different doctor's office today.

In any case, I got a mixed bag of news. The new doctor, without exactly saying it, implied that the last guy must have been a little full of himself as there's no way he should have made that prediction. There's simply no way to know. Looking at a hearing test I had done in 1999 and comparing it with one today, the good news is that hearing in my left ear has remained about the same. The bad news, is that my right ear has gotten measurably worse. I can actually tell the difference between the ears myself. The doctor insisted there's no way to predict how things will progress and wants to check my hearing in six months and then probably once a year after that. He believes (as do I) that the best way to deal with this is to see what's going on year to year. If my left ear remains in the mild to moderate hearing loss area and my right area doesn't get too much worse than the borderline moderate to severe it is now, the hearing loss will continue to be a little bit problematic but not a huge life issue. (As an aside, in a moment of pure professionalism, the audiologist who did my hearing test said the following to me after the test. "Your right ear really sucks!") If it gets worse, well, I guess I'll have to cross that bridge when I get to it. The news could have been much worse. Given that it's been eight years since the last test and my left ear seems stable and the right is somewhat but not too much worse, I'm not likely to have any huge problems in the near future.

In other better news, I officially lost my first 5 lbs. on my new workout schedule. Realizing that almost none of you who read this have ever met me, I promise I'm not some "huge freakin' guy" (name that movie) who is in serious need of a diet and crazy exercise, but losing a few pounds would be cool and is more of a side benefit of the exercise than the goal.