I promise – the ear puns will end eventually.
My poor ears have already been through a lot.
MRI of 10/11/2009 shows:
- What appears to be chronic mastoiditis and an underdevelopment in the mastoid area.
- Ethmoid sinusitis
What this means:
I not only have a middle ear infection (chronic otitis media) the infection has spread to the mastoid, likely from my frequent ear infections and this particular one that has persisted for 2.5 months.
Surgery outlook
Tuesday, I am scheduled to have a myringotomy with a t-tube. Because of the weak condition of my ear drums, I need to be placed under general anesthesia. Now that we have the other results there are additional things to consider.
Considerations
Do I need a mastiodectomy also?
Will I need another tympanoplasty in order to build up the strength of my ear drums to handle another myringotomy and tube?
Is my ENT the right doctor to handle this situation?
Are there too many possible risks of the infection spreading that I don’t have time to look for a new specialist and postpone surgery?
Impact on my moderate deafness
No anticipated improvement, possible worsening of hearing ability.
Next steps
Monday, my PCP is to speak with my ENT to make some decisions based on the considerations above. I’m supposed to know something around 10am. Meanwhile, I wonder how long it will take me to recover. I am trying to figure out how to prepare at work in the event I am out for a few weeks. I am trying to figure out how I will prepare at home if I am recovering for a couple of weeks.
A mastoidectomy includes the process of drilling through the skull. My past tympanoplasty was quite rough in recovery and I believe they only sliced behind my ear and didn’t cut into the bone. I could be wrong.
How I’m doing
I do have pain in the right ear and in the mastoid area (behind the ear). I’m on mega antibiotics: Clindomyacin. I’m dying to discuss my feelings about all of this with my husband. He’s not really speaking to me right now over other things I don’t think are related to my current ear situation. That sucks but I’ll be okay. I always am.
Yes, indeed, your comments are welcomed.
-Q
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | chronic otitis media. chronic mastoiditis, doctor patient relationship, ethmoid sinusitis, patient blog
*hughughug*
And just because it’s humorous the amount of synchronicity between our lives/conditions, my brain MRI from last spring also showed what the radiologist said was bilateral mastoiditis. My usual ENT wouldn’t even see me about it (!) so I got my immunologist to send me to another one, who didn’t even look at my MRI but said that I was “too old” and would be “rolling on the floor in pain” if I had mastoiditis. Which pissed me off because he never asked me how much pain I was in, nor did he have any way of knowing how much pain I can tolerate. I *still* have ear pain and paid on my mastoids, but apparently it hasn’t turned into anything worse.
Tuesday like tomorrow for surgery? Ack! I’ll be thinking of you and hoping you heal quickly and things go well and as painlessly as possible.
Thankfully, you’ve got an awesome PCP, so I’m sure she’ll guide you well as best she can.
*hughughug*