No you didn’t accidentally ended on a medical website. I have a funny ear which suffers from Otosclerosis, which means I am not hearing very well with it.
Tomorrow they will operate it and that type of ear operation is called Stapedectomy. I had the same type of operation done five years ago, and that did improve my hearing dramatically – it was close to being normal again. However, somehow I lost a fair bit of my hearing again last summer, so they will operate in order to see what is going on. The tiny prosthesis (and it really is incredibly tiny – look at the photo of it next to a 10p coin!) they inserted at the time might have moved, causing my hearing to become worse again.
Because this is the second time they operate my ear this is treated as a revision surgery, which means they will do it under full anaesthetic. And in stead of doing it all through the ear drum (like last time) they will make a tiny cut behind my ear too, so it is a bit easier for them to work.
Normally these revision operations have a good chance of restoring the hearing too.
Needless to say that I am pretty nervous for it. I have to be in the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital at 11am tomorrow, the operation will take between 30 minutes and 2.5 hours, so cross your fingers for me.
After the operation I will be off from work for some time and I will have to avoid flying, sneezing, and heavy lifting. They will insert a thin ribbon like pack in the ear canal after the operation (in order for the ear and ear drum to heal properly) and that will be left in for two weeks. I remember that it felt like having a football in your ear, but hopefully after a couple of days I should be able to experience some slight hearing improvement, even with the football still there.
After that it should continue to improve steadily day by day. When the pack is removed I will have to do a hearing test again to see how my hearing has improved. I will twitter when I have woken up after the operation (if there is a signal in the hospital and it is allowed to use mobile phones!).
Me and my ear hope to be back soon, and I can’t wait to write something like – yahoo I am back and they didn’t cut my ear off.
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We hope you and your ear (or even both of them!) are back here soon, too.
All the best for the op. Hopefully you may receive something in the post (finally!) before you go.
Hope to (h)ear from you soon afterwards.
There’s nothing wrong with a ear cut off. It worked for Van Gogh!
Best wishes for tomorrow. I hope you will be able to listen to Bill (and everything else) loud and clear again soon.
“to hear” Bill, I meant. Why can’t one stop comments in the process of being submitted?
:-)
Ofcourse, I`l cross my fingers for you tomorrow!!
and the days after tomorrow, I hope everything is going well. and your ear is like brand new ;-)
Good luck
Good luck tomorrow! The success rate of stapectomies is extremely high, so try to keep that in mind. (Easy for me to say, I’m not the patient.) I hope all goes brilliantly. :)
stapedectomies, I mean
GOOD LUCK TO YOUR EAR AND ALL THE REST ATTACHED TO IT !
what a coincidence! we passed the hospital this morning on our way to the railroad station and i thought about you!
hope everything worked out well for you!
xoxo
inge
Sporadisch bezoek ik je altijd interessante blog en nu lees ik dat je in ‘t ziekenhuis bent. Hopelijk heeft de operatie minimaal hetzelfde resultaat als de vorige keer! Ik duim….
Ingrid, I was glad to read that you got through the operation okay. Whew … I had no idea that you were having a hearing problem. Get lots of rest ~ thinking of you Kate oxxo
Glad to hear surgery went well. Wishing you a speedy and comfortable recovery. Take care!
Glad to hear you are feeling a bit better. Bill Bailey was great, wasn’t he?
Glad to hear it went well. Hope you can hear a bit despite the football in your ear.
Thanks for all the nice wishes! I am still struggling with the dizzyness which is not very pleasant, I hope it improves soon!
Has today gone any better?
Hey, thanks for the info. I am scheduled for a stapedectomy next month and am not fully comfortable with the whole “playing” in my ear. But I do want to regain my hearing… Any thoughts?
The operation has a very high success rate and my hearing has improved so much after the operation. So I think it is worth it. Just take your time to recover, it might take a while. All the best of luck with it!
I have had stapectomies in both ears. I was wondering if anyone knows if they’re compatible with MRI”s?