Surgery Report

I had surgery this morning. And it went much better than expected. Surgery was scheduled to begin at 9:30. I was about a half hour late going back to the OR. Surgery was about an hour. The doctor discovered that there was actually no cholesteatoma tumor - just a ton of infection and residue from the infection in the form of fungus. Yeah - fungus - EW! The doctor cleared out the infection in the middle ear and in the mastoid bone. He also reconstructed my ear drum from a some facia from my ear.

I am relieved to have not had a cholesteatoma as they tend to grow back and I would have probably had more surgeries to come to remove more of them. I am also glad that he didn't have to do a "canal wall down" procedure where they make an incision behind the ear and basically remove the ear and go in behind the ear canal. He was able to go in through the ear with a powerful microscope.

I am having quite a bit of dizziness and vertigo since the surgery. Doc had anticipated that and sent me home with some good drugs and a patch that I can wear for 3 days. Hoping that as I recover and the swelling, etc... from the surgery goes down that will get better. Unfortunately, that will just take some time.

I am also having quite a bit of pain. Trying to do all that work through my ear canal means there was a lot of pushing and pulling. My ear is very sore. Also - rebuilding the ear drum from part of the facia in my ear - not fun. Again - doc sent me home with some good drugs for that as well.

I was also sent home with this lovely contraption:

Yes, I agree, it looks like I have a jock strap on my head. :) It's meant to give my ear some protection from bumps, etc... With 3 kids and 2 dogs, let me tell 'ya, it is helpful. I get to take it off Tuesday morning. Then we will start with some ear drops and applying ice off an on throughout the day to help with pain management and swelling.

All in all the surgery went better than expected. Here's hoping that the recovery does, too.