Some interesting facts that you may not know about inner ear anatomy...
During stapedectomy surgery there are two nerves in the inner ear that the surgeon has to be concerned about. One supplies the impulses to the facial muscles that allow a person to show expressions (VERY important not to damage during surgery). The other supplies part of the info to the brain about taste from your tongue.
The facial muscle nerve is so important that before the surgery is started sensors are applies to the patent's face that tell the surgeon if the nerve is being affected by what he/she is doing in the ear. No issues in my case.
In my ear the taste nerve was draped across the inside of the ear drum and my surgeon had to move it out of the way, stretching it a bit but not damaging it. This has effected my sense of taste, but should go back to normal once the nerve settles back down. What's strange about this is that plain water tastes salty to me now. My doctor told me that this might happen but he said that I might have a metallic taste. I had no idea that the salty taste would be so strong. When I got home and had some water I thought that there was something wrong with my water softener because the water tasted so salty. I had my wife taste it and she said that it was normal.
