SCDS is superior canal dehiscence syndrome, a condition of the inner ear. Typical symptoms are autophony (hearing your own voice in your head) , dizziness, and balance problems.

I spent an hour with Todd in ICU, from 10 to 11, and he ate some grits and toast and eggs. I ate his graham crackers (too crunchy, he said, though they seemed soft to me) and jello and drank the coffee, which he doesn’t ever drink (wouldn’t want that hospital food to go to waste). I even allowed him some iPhone time, but I took it away with me because it’s an expensive thing to leave sitting around a hospital. More important, I don’t want him to spend much time looking at email. I want him to rest.

I think he’s awake enough that he’s starting to get bored.

He said his pulsatile tinnitus is almost gone, but he still feels dizzy when he moves his head. He’s happy that he can’t hear his heartbeat any more. I think it’s making him feel more positive about the surgery.

Dr. Gianoli came in about 9 am (before I arrived) and told him things were going fine. The nurse said he would be moved into the surgery unit across the hall when a bed became available.

I wanted to leave the hospital and find a restaurant and a grocery store, but my phone needed to be charged. Since that’s their only way of reaching me, I am now sitting in the lobby, waiting for two bars to go to three. I guess it ran down last night while I talked to Dor.

***

Todd’s in the surgery unit now, all cleaned up and smelling pretty (one of the few sponge baths I’ve given in my life). A physical therapist came by to give him some eye exercises to help him get rid of the dizziness, which happens mainly when he moves his head. They took away his catheter, but he’s still getting some medicine through an IV.

He told his mother the pain in his head (from the craniotomy) is less than from knee surgery, which he’s had twice.

Just as soon as he was nodding off, the family liaison for surgery came in and wanted to know if we needed anything. A volunteer in a blue vest showed up too. This hospital really does seem to be on top of things—except, perhaps, allowing patients to nap.

***

I had pizza from Rotolo’s for lunch and dinner, and Todd and I shared dessert from the cafeteria. (Their cakes are really good. The frosting tastes real, for one—not like the stuff from King Sooper’s.) He’s been getting up to go to the bathroom all day, and as long as he rests at each change of position, he’s fine. He makes me shut the door to the bathroom, which is nerve-wracking, but he hasn’t come close to falling yet.

I left at 7, desperately in need of sleep after sitting around for 5 days. I left the iPhone with him so he can have something to do in the middle of the night. The two songs he played while I was there were “Alice’s Restaurant” and “Back in Black.”

Keeps the nurses on their toes, I guess.