Unusual Question

[Guest guest]

Hello all,

I have an unusual question for those of you who have had the C-toma

surgery with a canal-wall down mastoidectomy. My son is 16

years old. He has special needs and moderate mental retardation and

is totally non-verbal. We have never heard him speak.

With that in mind, we would like to hear from those of you who have

had this surgery, so we can get an idea of what he will be feeling

and thinking. We will not have a clue what our son will be going

through on June 12th. This is his first and only C-toma and it's

fairly big and advanced. If he were able to talk to us post-surgery,

what would he say in your opinions as to his pain level (0-10) and

what it feels like?

How did you feel upon waking up in post-op? How did you feel coming

home? What was sleeping like the night after the surgery and the

first week and so forth.

Because our son doesn't talk at all, we're seeking your personal

thoughts in the immediate post-surgical period. We know that there

are probably a wide variety of experiences after this surgery and

answers will vary.

Trying to ascertain what our son is thinking and feeling has been a

challenge for us for the last sixteen years. We're just trying to

get some ideas on what he might tell us after the surgery if he could

actually speak to us.

Managing his pain appropriately is important for us. How was your

post-surgical pain on a scale of 1 to 10 and so forth? These are

some of the answers we seek, that a doctor could not really

accurately provide and cholesteatoma research could not really

provide.

Thanks a bunch!

Marc and