Flipping the fork
I sit on sanity break from the reading and watch the rain pour from the sky. It is thick with fat drops that splat inelegantly on the sidewalk. Thunder grumbles misgivings and the occasional laser spark of lightning adds a touch of brilliance to the dull, unpolished gray of the skies. It is the sort of rain that lends itself well to contemplation, conversations with strangers and folksy sparse guitar music.
As previously stated, I have gone on 'Mom-leave' to read. After so much continuous contact, the solitude is strange and loud. The book continues endlessly, a thousand pages to go. As I have determined my reading speed of such dense material to be in the neighborhood of 10 pages an hour, it is apparent that trouble lies ahead. Or, as many an author has stated before, 'Get used to disappointment.'
Monday offered a little break as Mom and I made our way over for her recheck with Dr. Labadie. Mom has developed a habit the last week of snapping her fingers outside the left ear, wrinkling her forehead, and saying, 'I am sure I am hearing this better than I was before.' Sometimes she plugs her right ear with her other hand and repeats the exercise.
As there remains a large amount of self-dissolving gelatin packing in the ear canal, it is not expected that her hearing will be normal. It will continue to change, to improve, as the packing dissolves. Still, being Mom and being a musician, she worries.
Our visit Monday was a shocking exception to previous experiences at Vandy. We checked in at 8:30 for Mom's appointment and were immediately sent back to Dr. Labadie's waiting area. Before we were able to sit down, we were ushered to an exam room where the nurse updated Mom's medication history in the computer. Jeanene found us here just as the nurse finished up. We had less than a minute to catch up with Jeanene before we were joined by Dr. Labadie. He was very pleased with the resolution in swelling at the surgical site. In exciting news, Mom has already accomplished a shift in hearing acuity known as 'flipping the fork.'
As you may recall, previous diagnostics confirmed that Mom had normal bone conduction with moderate loss of hearing through the ear itself. One manifestation of this is that sound is better heard when conducted through the bone behind the ear. This can be easily demonstrated with a tuning fork.
'Flipping the fork' therefore refers to an increase in hearing conduction through the drum, using the apparatus, that causes the sound of the fork to be better heard when it is held next to the ear than when the base of the fork is placed against the bone behind the ear. This is normally appreciated, when surgery is successful, about 4 weeks afterward, while Mom has 'flipped the fork' two weeks post-operatively.
[At this juncture, the rain has become violent, stripping limbs from trees outside the window and knocking out the power. Happily I had already been served my latte...]
Well, enough play, Ettinger beckons. With love-
j
As previously stated, I have gone on 'Mom-leave' to read. After so much continuous contact, the solitude is strange and loud. The book continues endlessly, a thousand pages to go. As I have determined my reading speed of such dense material to be in the neighborhood of 10 pages an hour, it is apparent that trouble lies ahead. Or, as many an author has stated before, 'Get used to disappointment.'
Monday offered a little break as Mom and I made our way over for her recheck with Dr. Labadie. Mom has developed a habit the last week of snapping her fingers outside the left ear, wrinkling her forehead, and saying, 'I am sure I am hearing this better than I was before.' Sometimes she plugs her right ear with her other hand and repeats the exercise.
As there remains a large amount of self-dissolving gelatin packing in the ear canal, it is not expected that her hearing will be normal. It will continue to change, to improve, as the packing dissolves. Still, being Mom and being a musician, she worries.
Our visit Monday was a shocking exception to previous experiences at Vandy. We checked in at 8:30 for Mom's appointment and were immediately sent back to Dr. Labadie's waiting area. Before we were able to sit down, we were ushered to an exam room where the nurse updated Mom's medication history in the computer. Jeanene found us here just as the nurse finished up. We had less than a minute to catch up with Jeanene before we were joined by Dr. Labadie. He was very pleased with the resolution in swelling at the surgical site. In exciting news, Mom has already accomplished a shift in hearing acuity known as 'flipping the fork.'
As you may recall, previous diagnostics confirmed that Mom had normal bone conduction with moderate loss of hearing through the ear itself. One manifestation of this is that sound is better heard when conducted through the bone behind the ear. This can be easily demonstrated with a tuning fork.
'Flipping the fork' therefore refers to an increase in hearing conduction through the drum, using the apparatus, that causes the sound of the fork to be better heard when it is held next to the ear than when the base of the fork is placed against the bone behind the ear. This is normally appreciated, when surgery is successful, about 4 weeks afterward, while Mom has 'flipped the fork' two weeks post-operatively.
[At this juncture, the rain has become violent, stripping limbs from trees outside the window and knocking out the power. Happily I had already been served my latte...]
Well, enough play, Ettinger beckons. With love-
j
posted by Jacqui at 1:13 PM
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