Stories From People Who've Had an Experience With a Cholesteatoma
|
Stories From People Who've Had an Experience With a Cholesteatoma
|
|
| Submit
Your Story Here | Find
a Doctor | Discussion
Boards |
|
|
[ Story 1 - Jeff Pittman, 18 ] |
Kim D.
Back in 1989 I had a severe ear infection in my left ear. I went to ENT and was told the infection ruptured my eardrum and destroyed everything in it's path "like a tornado". I had the surgery, which was done through the ear canal and lasted 5 1/2 hours. The PA, who was supposed to remove packing and stitches 10 days later, left some of the packing in. Needless to say, when I went back 2 months later, the doctor discovered the packing was never removed. I finished my follow up with that doctor, but never went back again. I never did get the hearing back. In 1994 it happened again. This time, I went to an ENT which was recommended by my regular doctor. He did same surgery but went behind the ear which cut surgery time to 2 1/2 hours and no hospital stay. After all was said and done with second surgery, I had about 10% hearing, not much. A few months ago, I started getting extremely dizzy and literally falling over, but didn't realize it was because of my ear until a few weeks after that when I couldn't even touch the outside of my ear without getting sick or falling. I called another ENT who came highly recommended and he took me in the next day. I was never told that I would need to have the ear cleaned several times a year by the last ENT and he discovered almost 9 years of, well, it's too disgusting to say, but after several visits, when the cleaning was done, my hearing loss was down to 60% (much better). But I was informed that I had hearing loss in my right ear, which was news to me, because I only had a tube put in that ear when I had second surgery back in 1994. He also did that pressure test on my right ear to find that I had no pressure at all. He looked at my right ear under the microscope to find that my eardrum had been sunken in. He immediately sent me for a CT scan that revealed I had a large cholesteatoma which was wrapped around my facial nerves and deteriorating them, as well as the brain nerves. I became quite scared because he wanted to do surgery right away, but I was able to convince him to wait until after Christmas. I asked what my chances were that my face would become paralyzed and he said he wouldn't know until he got in there. I had my surgery on January 10, 2003 which lasted 4 1/2 hours. I was in quite a lot of pain, which I never really had with the other surgeries. More so in my jaw. It was hard to get my mouth over a fork or spoon. I am now 2 weeks post and it is still a little hard to open my jaw and food still tastes bad. I have a constant metallic taste in my mouth. But, I have no paralysis so that's a good thing, but also can't hear. It will be some time before I know if I have hearing back. I thank God that I found such a thorough doctor, because I went to him for my left ear, not the right one. I think I have now found the perfect ENT and will have a lifetime with him, as he will have to clean the ears several times a year.
|