>
>         When he returned home to Anoka, Magnusson's doctor said the stick
>  apparently punctured his eardrum and dislodged the three small bones that
>  govern equilibrium, and called for immediate surgery. Magnusson said doctors
>  told him it will take some time to determine how fully he will recover the
>  hearing in his left ear and his full balance.
>  ....end material from Strib.....
 
Huh? If the three small bones this guy is talking about are the malleus, incus,
and stapes (hammer, anvil, stirrup), that should not affect equilibrium
unless, in the process of dislodging them, they did something to the utricle,
saccule or semicircular canals or caused a tear in the round or oval windows.
Those are the things that govern equilibrium.
 
If there was a tear in one of the windows, it could take quite a while for him
to accommodate and adapt to his new sense of equilibrium, but with therapy, he
should be fine either way.
 
So says Doc Smith :-).
 
(Give 'em a white coat, and they think they know everything. :-)
 
--MD2B