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 ] |
Tiffany
My daughter, Tiffany, is six years old and recently had a complete mastoidectomy and tympnoplasty surgery on her left ear. Tiffany was diagnosed with her first ear infection when she was only a month and a half old. She had persistent infections and fluid until they put tubes in at five months of age. The tubes only stayed in about six months but they seemed to do the job. Her infections were apparently under control. Several times she was sick and they would say she had fluid behind the ear but no infection. Then when she was five years old, she became sick a lot and same thing, no infections but always fluid. Towards the end of her kindergarten year, I noticed a change in her speech as well as the teachers at school. The pediatricians found no problem with her hearing. Tiffany seemed to clear up for a few months but I was still concerned about her speech. When school started back, Tiffany was sick with a cold and I noticed her left ear draining a lot. I made an appointment and took her in to see the pediatrician. She was diagnosed with an ear infection and possible hole in left eardrum. They put her on an antibiotic to clear up the infection and give the hole a chance to heal on it's own. After three visits the infections would not clear up. The ear was draining so bad and it smelled awful. The school sent a letter to the doctor because they were cleaning her ear several times a day and she had repeatedly failed hearing tests. Finally I am referred to the ENT doctor. He immediately schedules her for removal of the adenoids, tube in the right ear, cleaning and microscopic view of the left ear. After surgery I am informed that the left ear definitely has a hole in the ear drum and a very large cholesteatoma. Tiffany had surgery December 16, 2002. The surgeon said that Tiffany's ear was the worse case he had faced in his life. He said that the cholesteatoma had spread up to the lining of the brain which is common but hers had also started growing behind the inner ear which was uncommon. The surgery took longer than expected because this made the surgery even more difficult. He removed all of the cholesteatoma that he possibly could without causing any more damage to the inner ear. He was not able to replace the bones in the ear at this time so he knows that her hearing is worse now than before the surgery. She will definitely have another surgery and possibly one or two more after that.
|