What to expect after surgery to receive a prosthesis?

[Guest guest]

I had the c-toma removed 2 years ago. Last week I had surgery

(incision through the ear canal) and they found the middle hearing bone

fused to the others (I forgot to ask why, it was suspected that it was

scar tissue, but I forgot to ask if they confirmed that.) So the middle

bone was removed and I received a titanium prosthesis, surrounded by my

own cartilage to cut down on the rejection factor. The surgeon removed

the packing on Monday (10 days after surgery) and said he wouldn't be

giving a hearing test until 4 weeks from now.

I am wondering what to expect for my hearing. I've noticed some high

pitch sounds seem excessively loud, such as a grocery cart rolling over

a metal grate, or a young child's scream or cry and pots and pans

clanging together; these drive me crazy and seem almost intolerable.

However, my general ability to hear from that ear is still very low

volume compared to my other ear, and may be even less than before the

surgery. I think the ear drum is still healing, and expect everything

else is too. He did hold the tuning fork to the bone behind my hear

and also out away from my head and the one away from my head

(transmitting the sound through the air) was louder than when he held

it against my head (transmitting through the bone). He said that was a

good sign.

Does anyone have any information or experience on how the hearing

returns? I was hoping, as I had heard some people noticed, an

immediate difference. The doctor said there is an 80% success rate.

I'm hoping that I'm in that part of the statistics, not the other 20%!

Will it return gradually, high frequencies first or what?

Any information is appreciated!!

Jan