Cholesteatoma Surgery, Round 2
December 2nd, 2009 | Posted in » My Life / Family
If you know me or have been following my blog for a while, you know I’ve been battling a cholesteatoma tumor (basically a benign growth in the middle ear that results in hearing loss) for a while (see here and here).
On Monday, I had my second round of surgery to correct the problem. It’s got a long technical name, of course (something along the lines of “revision tympanoplasty mastoidectomy” something or other), but the basic procedure was almost identical to before… general anesthetic (a real trip if you’ve never had it), a nice long incision (one that apparently comes pretty darned close to lopping off my ear completely), doctors’ inspection / removal of any regrowth of the tumor, reconstruction of the bones of the middle ear (yep, bionic man, that’s me), and then a patch job to put me back together (I’m sure they use superglue / duct tape in the process somehow).
All in all, it’s an amazing procedure, and according to doctors, it was a complete success… there was no tumor regrowth, and the reconstruction went smoothly. With no damage to nerves evident (from hearing tests prior to surgery), I’m expected to regain nearly all of my hearing.
So now there’s the healing process. I can’t hear completely YET, so for now, be sure to talk into my RIGHT ear if you really need me to hear you.
But remember, that won’t last forever. One of these days I’m gonna surprise all of you who think you can get away with saying things you really don’t want me to hear simply by talking on my left side! 
2 Responses to “Cholesteatoma Surgery, Round 2”
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By Adrienne on Sep 26, 2010
Dear sir,
I know exactly what you’re going through. I know this is a semi-old blog and you’re likely fully recovered by now from your second surgery. I had my second surgery in my (R) ear in may. The first surgery was performed less than 4 years previous… I hope all is going well.
You can read all about my cholesteatoma… and mastiodectomies in my blog: http://livingincompatable.blogspot.com/
again, Wishing you well.
-adrienne
By John on Sep 26, 2010
Everything is well, Adrienne. I now have about 85% hearing in the affected ear, with lower levels at higher frequencies (imagine listening to music with the treble turned way down). It’s good though… certainly better than no hearing at all.
It’s interesting how circumstances orchestrated themselves to detect my condition. I had experienced a ruptured eardrum while flying, resulting in about three weeks of near constant pain. At the time, it was easy to question God as to why He would possibly put me through this. However, subsequent visits to an ENT specialist to treat the rupture and infection allowed my tumor to be detected, thus providing for opportunity for treatment and eradication of infection which could have resulted in much worse problems. It’s clear to me now that the rupture was all part of God’s plan, even though it certainly didn’t make much sense at the time.
In glancing through your site, it sounds as if you’ve had a rough go of things with your condition. Is there any specific way that I can be praying for you? Feel free to contact me through the site if you don’t want to share details through comments on this post.