Between balance that betrayed him, and ears that defied him, Mike Harrison's life was spinning out of control.
Navigating stairs — or even crossing a room — was like walking a tightrope.
He heard sounds nobody else did — like the pumping of his pulse, the thumping of his heart, the bumping of his bones.
In addition to the strange, intrusive sounds, loud noises also sent him into a tailspin. He avoided crowds, even family gatherings.
For 23 years, Harrison battled debilitating dizziness and hypersensitive hearing. As a result, he lost a printing job he'd held for more than three decades and was forced to go on disability.
And time didn't heal.
His symptoms just got worse.
"My compass needle was always a few degrees off, and when I had an attack, (the compass) would swing," says Harrison, of Gap, a 57-year-old self-professed Harley-loving "biker" with a long, Amish-like beard.
He struggled in vain to explain his symptoms to dozens of doubting and stumped doctors, and they had few answers. Initially, they said he had an ear infection, and later, Meniere's disease, a hard-to-treat inner ear disorder. But nothing seemed to fit.
"It's like he was walking on a balance beam for every step, and it took all his energy," says 45-year-old Roxanne Harrison, his wife of 20 years.
It was maddening, heartbreaking and the Harrisons wavered between going on and giving up, ultimately finding some solace in antidepressants.
But last year, Mrs. Harrison made a discovery online that offered a kernel of hope: a treatment for Meniere's developed by doctors at John's Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore ... if Harrison even had the disease.
"Either this would work, or that was it," he says. "I was done.
***
The news wasn't what the desperate couple expected — or even initially hoped for — but it was far from bad.
Their last straw did not break.
Harrison was told he didn't have Meniere's, but superior canal dehiscence, a rare but treatable condition recognized only a decade ago.
"I told them that not only did he not have Meniere's but that he had a hole in his head and needed surgery to repair it," says Dr. John Carey, associate professor in the Johns Hopkins Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. "I think they almost fell out of their chairs."
With SCD, the top ear canal — there are three semi-circular canals in both sides of the middle ear — has a dehiscence or hole. That opening allows sound and pressure to enter the canal, and the disturbance to the sensor membrane inside throws off balance and hearing.
Forerunners in the treatment of inner ear disorders, Carey and Dr. Lloyd B. Minor, otolaryngology department director and professor, mapped out Harrison's treatment— brain surgery to "plug" the canal with soft tissue and bone.
"It's sort of like fixing a pothole," Minor says.
He was the first to clinically describe SCD in 1998, and he and Carey worked in tandem to develop treatment.
Incidence of SCD is extremely low, Minor says. No statistics are available, and no cause has been identified.
Not only are many doctors unfamiliar with the condition, but because symptoms can't be easily seen, people in general often don't believe sufferers are truly sick, Carey says.
The illness is often not diagnosed until after age 40, but symptoms, from mild to severe, can occur earlier. Only about one-third of patients get surgery, which can eliminate or minimize extreme symptoms, Minor says.
The Harrisons said "yes" to the four-to-six-hour delicate surgery before they were even told the risks, which include damage to balance and hearing.
Harrison became the 56th patient to have the surgery.
"I was ready for something, anything," he says.
***
Post surgery, Harrison has found a sense of equilibrium.
"I would say I'm 90 percent," he says. "I'm getting rid of my sea legs and getting my land legs back."
Harrison's surgery in September totaled more than $60,000. With insurance paying a fraction, the couple is responsible for about half of the cost.
"I'd rather be alive than rich," he says.
Although his balance isn't perfect, and he has some hearing loss, he is happy with imperfection. He is job hunting and willing to do most anything.
Mrs. Harrison believes there are many people with untreated balance problems, and getting the word out about help available is paramount.
"It's really hard to understand why none of the doctors we saw had any idea about this condition. If even one of them had known, Mike would not have lost things that are irreplaceable ..."
"When you can get your life back, when you've lost it for so long, it's amazing," Harrison says.
"It's like a miracle."
FOR MORE INFORMATION
WHAT: Superior canal dehiscence, a rare syndrome which affects hearing and balance
ONLINE: www.dizziness-and-balance.com,
www.vestibular.org,
www.hopkinsmedicine.org or
www.scdssupport.orgCALL OR WRITE: The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, 601 N. Caroline St., 6th floor, Baltimore, Md. 21287-0910; 1 (410) 955-7381
ON TV: ABC's "Primetime" has a segment on this condition in the works, but no air date has been confirmed.
CONTACT US: sjurgelski@LNPnews.com or 291-8756 
