2017 Ear Surgery

As someone who has had a good deal of physical sickness in my life the Lord blesses me each time. 

 

This past year I struggled with frequent headaches and vertigo that was almost unbearable some days.  I was also keenly aware that I was not hearing so well.  My hearing has never been great – but I had noticed a huge difference in not hearing normally.  My biggest struggle was in a “loud” place.  All other sensors would go into overload due to the excessive noise that I couldn’t decipher through.  In crowds the million conversations made me not able to hear what the person in front of me was saying.  In a setting where drums were played the literal hair on the back of my neck would cause a horrible headache due to my eardrum vibrating but not being able to hear the sound.

 

The ENT doctor, as awesome and wonderful as they are, are my least favorite doctor.  I’d rather get my teeth cleaned and visit my OBGYN before the ENT any day of the year!  They take long skinny metal rods and put them in the ear.  They use said rods to poke around inside of the ear and remove debris.  They also have vacuums.  They are loud and extremely scary – especially when they vacuum the physical eardrum.  They also have picks.  Yes, the kind that is required to scrape the inside of something – it just makes one cringe at the thought.  It’s also true that ENT doctors have amazingly steady hands. 

 

Dr. Gannon at Dothan ENT has great bedside manner.  At my first appointment he did a little “looking and poking around”.  He noted that my eardrum didn’t look great and was retracted.  He began to prepare me for the possibility of “Menier’s Disease”.  He gave me some drops to use and sent me home.  I would return 2 weeks later for a hearing test and to look better at the drum.  At this appointment it was noted that I had lost 10 decibels of hearing in both ears in a matter of 8 years…not a good report at all. 

 

I was extremely distraught over the news.  To not hear in the near future overwhelmed me.  There is something about hearing your children laugh and express their feelings verbally.  The thought of that literally shook me.  And so, I began praying that God would restore my hearing.  I was referred that day to Dr. Rogers in Birmingham.

 

The next week I met with Dr. Rogers.  He, like Dr. Gannon, took out all the above referenced tools and began, in  his words, “looking and poking around”.  During these “looking and poking around” sessions, I’m usually death gripped on the arm of the chair with my eyes clinched shut.  With each breath I am reminded by the doctor to “breathe” and that “I’m not pulling your eardrum out, it just feels like that”.  Poor Luke, I had the death grip on his hand also – and as big as  his hands are, I am always somehow able to squeeze them hard enough he compliments my grip. HA!

 

At that appointment an MRI was scheduled.  The MRI showed 2 huge issues.  Dr. Rogers walked back in and wouldn’t sit – with his tall thin frame he leaned against wall.  “Well, Rachel, we have an issue…a rather serious issue” and with that he told me the following.  #1 – there was a large infection in my skull, specifically in the mastoid bone.  #2 – there was a cytoma that appeared to be covering the prosthesis ear bone that was put in 8 years earlier.  You need surgery as soon as we can get you on the schedule.  He explained that part of the reason I struggled with energy and not feeling well was simply because I had a sick head.  HAHAHAHA!

 

Of course, we had this long talk about “not overdoing it” and “staying out of the gym” and “resting as much as possible”.  Some doctors crack me up – they start those conversations much like this… “So, tell me, are you as active as you look?  I see you have in shape shoulders and you look like you work out.”  I typically respond, “is there any other way to be?  Of course I’m very active.”  I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a blow to the spirit when you are told you have to stop doing that in order to heal.  But, like I tell my clients often – eating well will keep you looking great because what you look like is 70% what you eat and 30% what you do – so that self-pep-talk went on for 6 weeks!

 

Surgery was set for March 10^th and recovery would be up to 5 weeks.  With that Luke and I drove to Birmingham where we spent the night before my surgery.  I had to be at the surgery center by 5:00 am.  Hello my usual 4:15am wake up call.  It was a cool morning and my nerves were in check.

 

Upon check-in I was called back to get weighed and vitals registered.  I weighed in at 64.4 kilograms.  I’ve never understood why Americans want to use pounds in lieu of kilograms…64.4 sounds wayyyyy better than 142.0 pounds!  Anyway, my heart rate was excellent and my blood pressure was “amazing”.  Healthy as a horse and the nurses and doctors complimented it.

 

As they read the name of procedure, I asked if they would write it for me.  The name of my procedure is right here.  Yeah, exactly!

 

 

Luke was so loving and supportive of me.  He held my hand the entire way.  They told us that this type of surgery would cause a good bit of sickness after surgery but they would give me as much anti-nausea medicine as they could.  He loved on me and hugged me, prayed with me and for me and watched them wheel me away.

 

My next memory was laying there with my eyes closed hearing the nurse say, “Rachel, open your eyes and smile for me.”  I could not for the life of me understand why she wanted me to smile for her – everything inside of my body was spinning and so heavy.  Of course I was non-responsive because at that moment the request was not more important that sleeping some more.  At one point I can hear voices and noises…my eyes however would not open.  I heard Luke, “baby, just smile, we need to see you smile.”  Of course, I’d do anything for that man – so I smiled.  With that the words of the nurse, “great her face is symmetrical.”    Ummmm…yeah, duh!  I didn’t realize until after surgery but the ear bone replacement and the cytoma was removed from around my facial nerves – and these nerves don’t typically get repaired if they are damaged in surgery.  Told you the doctors have delicate hands.

 

 

 

 

Dr. Rogers explained that the surgery was more intense than he originally thought.  He was 2 mm from my brain scraping infection (pseudomonas) and removing cysts.  He put in a new prosthetic ear bone, scraped infection, removed the cyst, built a new ear drum and packed the ear.  He said once I recovered I should feel 100% better!!

 

That same night my son would attend his senior prom.  Part of me was incredibly sad I couldn't be there to take pictures and help him get ready.  The other part of me was excited that he decided (last minute) to even go.  I received pictures from him throughout the night that made me cry and smile all at once.  Time be still.

 

 On this same night, our daughter Haley hit her very first out of the park home run!  Her whole life she has worked hard on getting that accomplishment and this night was the night it happened.

 

 

Recovery was very hard – I spent the first 6 days in the bed.  Every single thing spun constantly.  Luke would help me walk and sit up.  The ear, specifically the inner ear, is connected to every limb on the body.  I would have to hold my head to even sit up.  Turning my head was a chore.  Picking up anything heavy that pulls on the delts would kill my ear.    Luke came down with the flu that Wednesday and he was just as miserable as I was.  By day 12 post surgery, things were finally on the up!  I was feeling better and ready to get back into my full schedule – of course with no gym time. 

By day 10, depression was setting in due to my inability to just have energy and get going.  My wonderful love woke me up early and took me to the beach.  There is just something healing there.  With toes in the sand, the sun in the sky, my hand in his and riding shotgun - my body was finally starting to feel better.

 

 

 

 I am currently hearing so much better and will have another recheck in a few weeks.