So...whats for dinner?

Hi all - my thread attendance has been spotty - dealing with a weird situation. Right after I returned home from vacation I experienced sudden deafness in my left ear. After initial panic about brain mets - which have been ruled out at this point - the thought is viral induced SSHL (Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss) and am now on big steroids and anti-virals. Follow-up with the ENT is next week but my hearing has not returned yet. Playing the glad game - happy that this is not a more scary possibility, and trying to figure out how to deal with this if it is permanent. DH has hearing loss in his right ear from years of flying combat aircraft, so we have to sit with our good ears near each other. Or start using flash cards. I think I might be too old to learn sign language. Ugh. Laughing about the glasses too - because now I can't see or hear.

chisandy - I hope Bob is doing better - how scary for you both!

SpecialK, Bob's doing much better. He went back to work yesterday.

As to your viral-induced SSHL, I had exactly the same thing back in 2004 when I caught a cold upon returning from a plane trip. I was eager to play my newly-arrived guitar and was shocked to find it sounded thin, watery and out-of-tune. I tried my other guitars and was even more shocked to find they sounded the same. (Like an unplugged cheap solidbody electric). I turned on the TV and music sounded horrendous: sour, with vocals seemingly out of tune to instruments. This had happened briefly back in 1989 when I had a bacterial inner-ear and mastoid infection, which also affected my balance. Antibiotics cleared it right up. This time, my ENT looked at my eardrum, saw clear fluid against the drum and prescribed Sudafed, saying "Must be something going on in your cochlea" (well, DUH) without any further comment, much less advice.I had three gigs that weekend, including a folk festival. It was only by plugging my guitar into an amp that I was able to get through them--and after my onstage set at the festival, I had to go home because the sound of everyone jamming on unplugged stringed instruments was torture. I had to drive home listening to news-talk radio--I couldn't stand to listen to music, period. I didn't completely lose hearing in either ear, but I was hearing notes a quarter-tone lower (pitch-wise, not volume-wise) in my left ear! Push came to shove when I had to play dulcimer and sing harmony on a mass recording session of a remake of "Give Peace a Chance." Everyone's acoustic guitars sounded horrible, as did my dulcimer (only to me, of course--I used an electronic strobe tuner). I managed to muddle through, then went home to cry.

I went online to my guitar forum and women-musician listserv and got a barrage of "Me too!" replies. One woman gave me the name of her neurotologist in Seattle, who in turn referred me to a Chicago-area colleague who was himself a bluegrass musician. I called the latter's office, only to learn that the doctor had died a week earlier. I went to see his partner, who tested only my acuity (and only up to 8kHz) and declared I had great hearing for someone my age who had played bass in rock bands--in fact, perfectly normal for my age, period. I told him about the pitch disparity and he had the temerity to say "You're a musician--you're just too picky about pitch." Oy.

So I told him that at the same time, I had developed a hip problem for which my orthopedist was flabbergasted to see on my X-ray that a chunk of my iliac crest had broken off and was floating free. (I hadn't fallen, just suddenly felt my hip "catch" oftener & oftener). The orthopod said that I was too young for osteoporosis (I was still pre-menopausal) so he ordered a full-body bone (not bone density) scan. I asked if he was looking for bone cancer. He said "I can't lie to you--we have to rule that out." I then told him about the hearing problem, and he said I should press for a brain MRI.

I asked the neurotologist if this could be brain mets from bone cancer, or the hip problem might be bone mets from a brain tumor. He said, "Could definitely be one or the other, an acoustic neuroma, or patulous Eustachian tube. Better do an MRI." He sent me up the road to an open MRI clinic that was in my network. He also gave me a sheet with a diet for Meniere's Syndrome. I told him I didn't have dizziness or vertigo, but he replied "Yours is atypical--and Meniere's is a diagnosis of elimination anyway. Meanwhile, start using musicians' earplugs." He went off on his cruise vacation and said he'd read the MRI when he returned. I went home and Googled my keister off--found that the window for treating SSHL with steroids was only 4-28 days. I started taking various brain-benefiting supplements: vinpocetine, alpha-lipoic acid, and manganese. Got referred by a guitar-forum friend to a musician audiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, who told me I would need to retrain my brain and prescribed certain jazz instrumental songs to download and listen to on headphones while sitting & lying down in various positions several times a day. He also suggested I try in-ear monitors run through a stereo EQ to correct my pitch perception while onstage. I went to a musical audiologist (Sensaphonics), which tests hearing up to "mosquito-tone" pitches and custom-fits earmolds for ear-filter plugs and in-ear monitors. The audiologist there said my treble hearing perception (>12kHz) was that of a professional live-sound engineer at least ten years older; and confirmed that the hearing loss was not bone conduction or obstructive but definitely sensorineural. Meanwhile, I followed the Meniere's diet: no alcohol, caffeine, sugar, any "brown" drinks, and very low sodium. I was not easy to live with. And the diet didn't help my hearing.

By then it was day 25 since the problem started. The orthopod phoned to tell me all he saw on the scan was inflammation right over the chipped hip--and said "Didn't one of my colleagues harvest bone from your iliac crest to repair a tib-fib fracture 7 years ago? He probably just dug too deep and it took this long for the tip to break off. I could pull it out laparoscopically, or we can see if your body resorbs it." (The latter happened). I called the neurotologist's office daily to pester him to read the MRI ("Perfectly normal," he said) and prescribe a steroid. Finally, on day 27 he agreed to phone in a script for a Medrol Dosepak, which I began taking immediately. By the third day's dose my hearing began to normalize--and on the last day I was able to play the "Give Peace a Chance" live video session in front of the Daley Center (which audio did get broadcast on NPR).

I still hold my breath listening to music on the radio or iPhone, always afraid that the bass line will sound out of tune to the vocals. 13 years of waiting for the other shoe to drop. I hope the prednisone works for you. Ask if it's okay for you to take vinpocetine (you can't if you're on gikgo biloba &/or aspirin therapy), ALA or other antioxidants, and manganese (only10mcg is necessary). The latter will also help with tinnitus.

Geez SK, that is terrible! Hope the meds help soon and your doc can fix this. (((Hugs)))

auntie - thanks! I was so relieved that it wasn't brain mets that deafness seemed acceptable..... I am alternating between fear of losing hearing altogether, and trying to find the humor.

chisandy - I feel like it is audible to passersby, lol! It is weird that it is changeable without anything I can attribute it to - it has varied inconsistently over the entire time of the hearing loss. I will admit it is making me a little crazy!

I made French bread pizza and saladfor Sunday dinner and tv with friends, been cleaning for two days, so I took and easy route.

Last night, cast-iron pan-seared a grass-fed ribeye (we shared one that was about 12 oz.) topped with truffle butter, with mushrooms sauteéd in butter and sherry, Brussels sprouts with olive oil & balsamic vinegar, and leftover sweet potato tater tots crisped in the air fryer. Tonight after rehearsal at a friend's annual brunch/dinner, coq au vin, various cheeses, salami, cream cheese & lox pinwheels, and a little bit (about 2 Tbs.) of chocolate mousse cheesecake.

Tonight is grilled chicken, squash and zucchini with roasted red potatoes and steamed broccoli. I planned to make some garlic bread too but forgot and now there's no room on my plate

carole - thanks - tomorrow is the ENT. I will let you all know what he says. Had a moment of panic as I have a lot of the anti-viral medicine left - when the ENT office called I asked If I had not been taking enough - turns out the pharmacy overfilled, or the audiologist sent the wrong info - I have 3 times as much as I needed, lol!

Made an awesome dinner tonight - had a smidge of Caesar dressing, so put it in a sauté pan with some finely chopped onion, let it go for a minute, then dropped in wet kale, covered it and steamed it. Combined some gorgonzola and cream in another sauté pan and heated until the gorgonzola was almost totally melted, dropped in cooked chicken pieces, some mushroom ravs, and topped with chopped walnuts. So yummy and quick!

My son comes home tomorrow - haven't seen him in almost a year!

minus - we don't see them enough! Have a wonderful T-Giv! Drive safely!

Oh, Special, I do hope your hearing returns. It seems that I keep learning about friends suddenly losing hearing of late. Several of my friends ask me to stay on one side of them, when we walk so I can speak into their hearing ear. It sounds like your doc is on top of this, so keeping fingers crossed for you.

I know how you were feeling about the brain mets worry. I just had a brain MRI due to some constant very painful headaches (never before got headaches in my life), and some rather sudden memory retrieval problems, when that was always a cognitive strength. The 12 yo neurologist ordered the imaging to rule out any bc mets in my brain. Turns out the brain is "normal" for my age, but there is some sinus involvement in my head that was marked, and I now need to see what to do about that. As Rosanna Rosanna Danna used to say, "It's always something...." I was very relieved to learn that my brain was mets free.....as was DH, who popped out with, "Oh, now I can book the trip to Italy." Guess he was waiting to see if there was something else in store for us over the next 6 months...but hadn't expressed it until the MRI results.

Minus, please extend a warm hello and best holiday wishes to Pat. It was fun meeting her with you.

ChiSandy, what an epic tale...glad it worked out that you can still do your concerts. But I can imagine how awful an experience that "noise" must have been.

For T-giv we will head into Boston to be with DS2 and DDIL2, a short drive which will take forever given turkey day traffic here....but still a great tradeoff since I am only preparing two things, roasted brussells sprouts and butternut squash, and a salad with romaine lettuce. DDIL2 (some of you might recall her limited food repetoire) will eat romaine lettuce at this point, so that's what it will be. I'm not a huge caesar fan so have to decide what else to put in the salad that all of us can enjoy. Tomatoes will be separate since she can't tolerate them, carrots should be fine, onions will be separate...and I have to figure this out. It seems ironic that I, the great nightly salad maker, (who also brings salads to any pot luck, by request) is struggling about what to put in a salad for our newest and most food particular family member! Life can be strange.... Ya know, after writing all of that, it occurs to me that I will just make a caesar salad with my own modified caesar dressing! There!

Nance, I will be thinking of you and your spatchcocked turkey, and its efficient cooking time. But even more, I will be thinking of the DH requested cherry pie! I had wanted to bring one to T-giv dinner, but seems they have dessert covered. I might just buy a small cherry pie from this woman who makes wonderful ones and have it here for DH and me over the weekend. 😉

Illimae, as usual....yum!

Nothing too interesting for dinners here. Some grilled chicken marinated in my mother's barbecue sauce, lots of salads, some lamejin (meat, and also yogurt based ones) from a local mid-eastern store. Leftovers of both of those mains along with salads, veggies and some farro. Tonight I may rely on Trader Joes since DH is stopping there on his way home from visiting an elderly friend. We liked that frozen eggplant parm we tried recently.

Carole, I too would have preferred to start the holidays at a lighter weight, but I guess the good thing about dining at DDIL2's house is that there will not be tons of food...and it definitely will not be at my house for days after! DS2 has described the event as a "low key" Thanksgiving. Ha! Something we never had here.

Special, enjoy your time with your son!

Have safe travels anda wonderful holiday everyone! I am so sketchy with my posts, I figure I'll wish it now....😊

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I am working in an US company, I have some work issues that are to be closed, everybody overseas is just pushing for it talking about the upcoming holidays. I have not been posting but I have been reading your posts.

SpecialK, as I have already mentioned on "our" TP-thread, I hope your hearing problem will resolve quickly.

Lacey, this is how the our lives will look like, the constant fear as soon as we feel any pain, I am not complaining, there is no use, I am trying to cope.

ChiSandy, you are a walking, guitar-playing Wikipedia, I learned a lot about cataract from your post and my mom had this surgery a couple of years ago.

illimae, wonderful pictures as usual.

Eric, you are a keeper, I cannot even imagine my DH doing all this without me nagging and even though he would I have to go and show him the all the spots that he would otherwise miss. I do not think he ever cleaned the fridge, at least not in this way. Back in 2005 we once left for vacation and left one of his friends to stay in our place to look after our previous cat. He was an exchange student, leaving alone, huge appetite, often staying for dinner. He had literally cleaned my fridge and even the freezer in a week time, and I do not mean that there was nothing edible left, there was nothing left at all, no ketchup, no bottled sauces. i have been afraid of flying since 2002 and back in 2005 until probably 2013 i used meds during flying that left me dizzy and drowsy for hours. I remember coming home and going to bed at once and my eldest being at the time ten years old came to me and said mom I am hungry and there is nothing to eat and I told her to wait until I was able to go out with her and fell asleep again. She woke me up and said mom I found these six dumplings left in the freezer. I felt so bad for her that I went to the kitchen opened the fridge and it was completely empty, I open the freezer and nothing was there either, I think he missed the dumplings because he thought it was ice cubes. A really funny story.

I was not in the mood for posting because I waited for the results of my bone scan, I have been having upper back pain since my diagnosis that wouldn't go away and my doctor ordered the scan. I did it last Friday being in nearly catatonic state, the tech just told me right away that I could relax because it looked good, that the doctors would look at it of course but it looked clean. I went on hugging him, he was from Iraq, I had to ask him, because if he were from Iran I could thank him in Persian. I do not know if he was fine with me hugging him but he took it with grace. Today I finely got it confirmed by the nurse.

I did some cooking though, here come some pictures. My cassoulet, I was really going for the crust there, and minestrone with cavolo nero. I was saving the latter for ribollita, it is my favorite Italian soup, but I did not buy any wine and had no stale bread so I cooked minestrone instead. On the picture the pasta is really large not the pot being small. I also cooked chicken achiote with baked sweet potatoes. I bought this achiote paste when I ordered my gumbo filé and I did not realized that it completely lacked salt so we had to salt our chicken afterwards. Today I sauteed some chicken hearts with eggplants, onions, garlic, bell pepper, parsley and chopped tomatoes. It has been a long time since we ate any intestines dishes but when I sent my DH for chicken liver he came home even with a package of chicken hearts and a package of gizzards and I said what do I suppose to do with those and he said I like those, you can do a stew. I have been living with him for 17 years, never heard of it from him, I do not recall cooking this stew either. So, now I have to find a recipe for this stew.

Ilona, go to the NYTimes website and look up Melissa Clark's recipe for make-ahead gravy, which doesn't require drippings. I think it does require a roux and either turkey or chicken stock. Four years ago, I made a quart of it and on T-Day stirred the drippings into it. My friends, OTOH, make turkey gravy "on the fly:" they simply remove the turkey to the carving board to "rest" and place the roasting pan across two burners on the stove. They deglaze the pan with a little water (scraping down the "fond," or baked-on stuff), then add flour (no butter necessary because they don't remove the fat from the drippings) and whisk like crazy.

Cherry, your cassoulet and minestrone look awesome!

My singing partner is deaf in his left year, so I always have to stand stage right so he can hear me when we don't have monitors. Thank goodness he's a fellow rightie, otherwise there'd be dueling guitar necks.

I usually make stock ahead of time using the backbone, neck and wing tips that I've trimmed off the bird when spatchcocking it. I can make the gravy ahead of time and add the drippings if I want. I usually find the gravy made in the roasting pan a little too greasy tasting. You really don't get that many drippings when cooking the spatchcocked bird.

Here's the cheesecake: It was good.

illimae, I do exactly as ChiSandy and SpecialK described, but I can add some sherry or red wine so the drippings would loosen from the roasting pan. We do not call it gravy in Sweden, there are two very popular warm sauces, brown sauce and cream sauce, the brown sauce is basically gravy as you describe, the cream sauce is the drippings plus cream that is later left to simmer to reduce it. The famous meatballs are can be served with either. Otherwise, Serious eats have good recipes, I was reading about Thanksgiving's dinner there and saw it.

Thank you ChiSandy, it is my second cassoulet and I took the recipe from Seriouse eats, just chicken not duck confit, this time I had brined ecological pig hoak. I cut off the rind and fried it in the pan, then just added different meats and in the end threw the rind, left it in the oven for 5,5 hours, the beans melted in the mouth, so delicious, who needs meat when you can have the beans that taste that good. And the recipe is so simple, I will be cooking it again.

The dinner today was orange chicken I have made of an organic chicken I have started to buy in our grocery store. Still cannot understand how a chicken can cost over 20 Euro, the usual one is four times cheaper but I have decided to switch to ecological household. I do not notice so much difference when it comes to taste but the chicken itself is larger and even older because the bones are much harder to break or cut. Organic prime rib definitely tastes better though. Here comes the picture, the skin got a bit burned when I just turned away for the moment but no one is eating it except for me and mom so it was not a big deal. Today we had the eldest's boyfriend here with us for dinner, I ate chicken liver though, my hemoglobin is still low.