My Surgery Update
I had another major ear surgery last Tuesday (June 3). I’ve had a whole range of problems and complications stemming from some ear surgery back in October. I seem to have a “dehiscence” or hole along the horizontal semicircular canal (#2 in the picture below) which cause a range of problems from noise sensitivity to balance issues. And while it seems it would be easy to just plug the hole and that area, it turns out I am allergic to the material they normally use for fixing problems such as this.
The surgery itself went just fine, though it’s too soon to know if it was successful. What the doctor did tell us was that the previous (4th) surgery which was supposed to block off and plug up the horizontal semicircular canal was not successful — even though the MRI showed that it was plugged, it actually wasn’t. Once he went in there, he could see that fluid could still move through the canal and that was why I was still suffering from noise sensitivity and balance issues. It looks like it may have worked a bit at first after the 4th surgery, but as time went on, the canal re-opened.
So this time, my doctor has tried a different material and is hoping that I don’t have an allergic reaction to that. It’s too soon to know anything. I’m suffering from incredibly loud noises (tinnitus) that varies from motor noises to cicadas to rocket sounds. Sometimes these sounds are unbearably loud; sometimes they’re tolerable; they’re always there. With this surgery the canal *should* be plugged off… so these noises are (hopefully) quite normal and (perhaps??) expected. Talking (ie the sound of my own voice) and noise is still very bothersome. That makes me nervous that this surgery didn’t do the trick either, but it’s too early to tell.
Sometimes I have a bit of an earache, sometimes just dull annoying fullness. Aside from the firm instructions “not to strain in any way” — we’re not quite sure what I’m allowed to do or not… so I/we’ve decided to err completely on the side of caution. I’m moving around very little… no bending over, no lifting, no sneezing or coughing. I’m very busy… well, not doing much of anything! I’m spending lots of time reading. I don’t want to risk the plug not sticking in place (if there’s any role that *I* have in keeping it in place.)
We’ve had some friends stop by the past few days to bring food or to spend time with the kids… and the kids are great about rushing over to pick things up and helping out. Plus, they’ve been cracking the books on their own to get their school stuff done… (Though we’re mostly done with the school year, they’re doing a bit of work.) And of course, I have the world’s best Hubby who is picking up the slack.
So that’s about it from here. With the down time, I’ve been spending time starting to prepare and look for resources for our units once we start back up with school in August. I’ve got lists of books to look through and have started trying to figure out just what we’ll cover for history and science. If you know me well, you know that I just *love* doing that prep-work. I find that super-satisfying and am using this time to my advantage! 🙂
My other ear posts:
