1st Surgery... my experience

[Guest guest]

I'm new to this group. I'm a 56 yr old male. My ear was sometimes plugged. I'd visit the doctor get prescription for allergies, be ok for a few months, then return again ... over and over. We moved to Portland, Oregon. Eventually the ear didn't unplug and finally a Nurse Practitioner diagnosed my problem and sent me to a specialist.

Had surgery on my right ear last Monday (5/19/08).

The surgery was 3 hours, there were 3 cholesteatomas; one on the eardrum, one on the facial nerve, and one on something at affects the equilibrium. If not treated soon, I could've been paralyzed on the right side of my face and/or had vertigo for the rest of my life.

So, I thank God that it's over with and that I caught it before any more damage was done. The surgeon said she believes she got it all, she said she had to carefully peel it off the nerves. The 3 little hearing bones (anvil, stirrup and the hammer) were completely mush. They apparently were attached to the bone surrounding the ear area and that whole area is supposed to be dry porous bone, but it was totally flooded with infection, had to be cleaned away. I think those bones connect to the eardrum or perhaps just vibrate under it. The doctor cleared out the tumor on the eardrum and reconstructed it. She said we'll have to wait for 5 to 6 months do another ct-scan to see of there's any new tumors etc. before she can go back in to reconstruct those 3 hearing bones.

Im not allowed to not blow my nose for 6 weeks. If I cough or sneeze I need to keep my mouth open.

No heavy lifting or anything strenuous for 2 weeks, no bending over. I have keep my head of the bed elevated by 30 degrees. Instead, I sleep on the sofa, propped up by cushions. I get about 1 to 4 hours of sleep at a time; quite uncomfortable.

I've taken tylenol for pain, it's not too bad. Since surgery, a week ago, the pain has gotten worse but tylenol still takes care of it. I have loud ringing noises somewhere and I have difficulty locating the sources of noises. It seems my left ear has taken charge and seems to be more sensitive to sound...that's good and bad, unpleasant noises like loud mufflers and loud music are driving me nuts. The completely numb ear is something that's hard to get used to also.

I really wish my ENT in Boise would have had the common sense to have ordered a ct-scan 5 years ago, but he didn't. And why haven't any of the doctors ever since then noticed something strange on my eardrum? Were they just going through the motions of what I expected a doctor to do when they were looking in my ear? They surely could have seen the drum was nearly totally engulfed!

Comment if you like...thanks for any prayers.

Steve