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So, about 8 years ago now, I was diagnosed with a cholesteatoma. Basically, it's a bunch of dead skin cells behind the ear that wind up acting as food for bacteria. It results in some possibly nasty side effects if left untreated, so it got removed.
When you get the surgery, you're supposed to go back in about a year for a follow up surgery. This is to check and make sure that the condition hasn't recurred. Unfortunately, I was moving across the country at the time I would have been dealing with that, so didn't follow up like I should have.
About 5 years ago, some of the symptoms came back, so I went to another ear/nose/throat specialist to begin the proceedings for another surgery. However, his staff so annoyed me (including his physician's assistant, I didn't actually see the doctor himself), that I abandoned the proceedings, and promptly did nothing until last month.
About a month ago, NightAngel posted about her kid's ears, which made me actually think about mine when I replied. I promptly said "Oh crap", and found an ENT.
January 15, I go back for surgery. It's relatively minor, this surgeon does this surgery about once every two weeks. And it's still scary as hell. Possible outcomes of the surgery? The back of the auditory canal could be removed, requiring me to visit a specialist at least once a year so that can be cleaned by said specialist. A radical mastoidectomy, in which the mastoid bone (portion of the skull immediately behind the ear) and the ear drum itself are removed. A nerve that controls the facial expressions for one whole side of my face runs through that area, and if it gets nicked, that whole side of my face will be permanently affected. I'm likely to find my hearing get worse on that side.
The kicker? If I don't get the surgery, all of that nasty stuff will happen, it's only a matter of when.
And none of that touches on the other possible side effects that come from any general anesthesia surgery (stroke, death, etc).
I'm not looking forward to this, not in the least.
When you get the surgery, you're supposed to go back in about a year for a follow up surgery. This is to check and make sure that the condition hasn't recurred. Unfortunately, I was moving across the country at the time I would have been dealing with that, so didn't follow up like I should have.
About 5 years ago, some of the symptoms came back, so I went to another ear/nose/throat specialist to begin the proceedings for another surgery. However, his staff so annoyed me (including his physician's assistant, I didn't actually see the doctor himself), that I abandoned the proceedings, and promptly did nothing until last month.
About a month ago, NightAngel posted about her kid's ears, which made me actually think about mine when I replied. I promptly said "Oh crap", and found an ENT.
January 15, I go back for surgery. It's relatively minor, this surgeon does this surgery about once every two weeks. And it's still scary as hell. Possible outcomes of the surgery? The back of the auditory canal could be removed, requiring me to visit a specialist at least once a year so that can be cleaned by said specialist. A radical mastoidectomy, in which the mastoid bone (portion of the skull immediately behind the ear) and the ear drum itself are removed. A nerve that controls the facial expressions for one whole side of my face runs through that area, and if it gets nicked, that whole side of my face will be permanently affected. I'm likely to find my hearing get worse on that side.
The kicker? If I don't get the surgery, all of that nasty stuff will happen, it's only a matter of when.
And none of that touches on the other possible side effects that come from any general anesthesia surgery (stroke, death, etc).
I'm not looking forward to this, not in the least.
).
Surgery can be so scary, even when you know you're making the right decision. All those "what if"s. Boo.
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