Just wanted to drop in and give an update! Last April I had my 1-year MRI which showed “nothing extraordinary”. It was explained to me by both my Dr.s that after only one year there is still a lot of post-operative junk (i.e. scar tissue, fat) and it can take 5 years or more for it all to settle down. I wish they’d come into the examining room with pom poms and a cheering section to emphasize the good news but I guess they don’t operate that way, ha ha. I have to go back every April for 5 years and then they’ll put more time between appointments.
My non-hearing ear is the same, what do I say about that? I have been considering a hearing device for my deaf ear. Neither of the devices will give me directional sound. I will be able to hear on my deaf side but I still won’t know where the sound is originating from. That is probably the most annoying thing. Imagine standing in Costco in line for checkout. Someone says your name but you don’t recognize the voice. You turn around to a good crowd of people and search for familiar faces, for someone who might have called you. It’s interesting for sure… 
There is one called a TransEar which consists of a behind the ear processor which collects the sound and with the help of an oscillator converts the sound to vibration then sends it to an in-ear piece that goes way down in the ear canal, pushing the vibration to the Mastoid bone which then sends it on to the brain.
Another is an implant/prosthesis called a BAHA (Bone Anchored Hearing Aid). It is basically a screw that is “installed” in the Mastoid bone, which is a large bone located low behind your ear. Go ahead and feel for it on your own head now. When the (outpatient) surgery is done the patient is left with an abutment, or a screw, sticking out a little bit. After several months when the screw has grown into the bone, a processor is attached to the abutment and worn behind the ear. Here is how it works:
BAHA
A Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA) is a new type of hearing aid that enters it’s sound output into the cochlea by vibrating the mastoid bone (the large bony mass just behind the ear) instead of by directing amplified sound at the ear drum.
A BAHA aid has a titanium anchor that is implanted in the bony area behind your ear. That anchor is the transducer which the aid uses to vibrate the mastoid bone with a signal that represents the sound as amplified by the hearing aid. The vibrations of the mastoid bone cause the cochlea to vibrate, so it can “hear” the sound.
People with a conductive hearing loss may find a BAHA an effective way to hear, since it bypasses their middle ear, where the conductive problem exists.
