RE: Daughter just diagnosed

[Guest guest]

<PRE>Hi everyone, my daughter, aged 25 was just diagnosed with Hepititus C. She

is

devestated as we all are. She does love to party, and drinks too much. When

told she could not, she said, " I am only 25, I am too young not to be able

to drink anymore " . Like that was the most important thing in the world! She

had severe complexity when she had her count done. She has yet to see a

specialist and keeps putting it off. She has lost a lot of wieght, is very

tired all the time, and very depressed. She suffered from anxiety-attacks

most of her adult life and has heard that the treatment with Inteferon will

make her even more depressed. We are trying to learn about this disease so we

can help her. Any advice?

[Guest guest]

Hello,

I am new here but I would advise you to try and find a doctor who only does ear

surgery.

We started out with an ENT but had to be transferred to a ear specialty doctor

because my daughter has a very rare case of bilateral cholesteatoma. They are

also very aggressive growing ones.

I don't know how bad a case your daughter has but to me if I had done a little

research I would have gone to an ear specialist in the first place and just

skipped the ENT all together. I just don't think they have dealt with as many

cases as an ear specialist. It might have saved some of my daughters hearing if

we had found the House Clinic in LA sooner than we did.

Some may think this is just a simple surgery but with all the damage my

daughter has had to her hearing, I wouldn't chance it. If you can get her to an

ear specialist, I would. I know if I had it to do over again that's what I would

do.

I hope this helps. And I am so sorry you have to go through this too. I hope

you have a much better outcome than we have.

>

> Hello. I've been reading the group for a few weeks now. My daughter had been

complaining of an ear ache and muffled hearing in her left ear. I took her to

her pediatrician who put her on oral antibiotics for what appeared to be a bad

ear infection. 10-days later there was no improvement, so we saw a local ENT.

The ENT doctor did a suction procedure in the office, prescribed ear drops and

ordered a CT Scan and hearing test.

>

> We had the follow-up appointment today where he confirmed that it was a c-toma

and that surgery is needed. He is recommending two surgeries - one to remove the

c-toma and a second look in 6-9 months.

>

> The doctor we saw is an ordinary ENT. He says he has done about 100 of these

surgeries, but that doesn't sound like very many to me for someone who has been

in practice for more than 20 years. Anyone have any suggestions for doctors for

a second opinion in the Boston area? I am leaning toward going to Mass Eye &

Ear. I think their doctors probably do 100 of these surgeries every year.

>

[Guest guest]

Thank you all for your input. We do have an appointment at Mass Eye & Ear

Infirmary in Boston with one of their surgeons who has completed a fellowship in

otology and only works on ears. I would have skipped the local ENT altogether if

I had known that we were facing something requiring surgical intervention rather

than just medicine. I will give the local ENT a lot of credit for ordering the

appropriate tests. Now I can go to this appointment with the CT scan and hearing

test results in hand, as well as the ENT's own notes.

I just feel like I wasted a lot of time. We started at her own pediatrician on

9/11 with what we assumed was an ear infection. Our appointment with the new

specialist is on 11/9. And after the consult with this new doctor, we will

finally be able to schedule the surgery. As much as I hate to do it to her, I

would love to be able to schedule it over Christmas break so she doesn't miss

time in school. She's in high school now and it is hard to catch up when she

misses classes.

> >>

> >> Hello. I've been reading the group for a few weeks now. My daughter had

> >> been complaining of an ear ache and muffled hearing in her left ear. I

> >> took her to her pediatrician who put her on oral antibiotics for what

> >> appeared to be a bad ear infection. 10-days later there was no

> >> improvement, so we saw a local ENT. The ENT doctor did a suction procedure

> >> in the office, prescribed ear drops and ordered a CT Scan and hearing

> >> test.

> >>

> >> We had the follow-up appointment today where he confirmed that it was a

> >> c-toma and that surgery is needed. He is recommending two surgeries - one

> >> to remove the c-toma and a second look in 6-9 months.

> >>

> >> The doctor we saw is an ordinary ENT. He says he has done about 100 of

> >> these surgeries, but that doesn't sound like very many to me for someone

> >> who has been in practice for more than 20 years. Anyone have any

> >> suggestions for doctors for a second opinion in the Boston area? I am

> >> leaning toward going to Mass Eye & Ear. I think their doctors probably do

> >> 100 of these surgeries every year.

> >>

> >

> >

> >

> >

>