Visited my surgeon today; he delivered powerful news.
Your ear drum is intact.
My surgeon believes I’m coming along well. He took the last of the packing out from my ear canal with a pick and vacuum. The sensations were both painful and gratifying, knowing that I’m hopefully moving forward.
Sounds are louder now. Unfortunately, they’re loud as they are unclear and unintelligible. I feel like there’s a reverb filter installed in my head.
This is okay, I’ve been told. The ear drum is still healing and there’s some left over packing behind the ear drum that my surgeon cannot remove himself. The ear drops I’ve been using several times a day should dissolve that packing over time.
Progress.
Richard, although it has been awhile since your surgery, my son, 18, had his 9 days ago. He has just graduated and expects to attend Cornell in august. He is also a sax player. Long and short of it is, he had horrible ear infections as a child, had 4 sets of tubes. Last set at age 5. These were “permanent”. One fell out along the way, and the right one stayed in. My mistake. This tube was left in for 12 years, never fell out, the ent left town and i just thought it required surgery to be removed, wanted it to fall out by itself. I am horrified at my failure to have it removed. The peds saw it annually during check ups and said nothing. Anyway, last summer son noticed hearing loss. Visited new ped ent, who removed tube in 1 minute. Did test, found hearing loss. Found hole. So, we waited until this summer after high school graduatin to fix it. Well, day 9, and son has no hearing at all in ear. Went for post op,had stitches removed behind ear. He pretended not to be worried, but I could tell this total loss was not expected. He said son still has 90 percent of packing in, and we begin drops in 2 days. Also, had to have unexpected reallignment of tiny ear drum bones , which is not uncommon, but was unexpected. So now both of these factors, the skin graph and reallignment of eardrum bones will factor into the healing process and loss or gain of hearing. So, my question is for anyone, was anyone totally deaf 1 week out? He had so so hearing before. Now I am praying. I have shifted my expectations to hoping it just goes back to the original hearing loss, forgetting about any hope for improved hearing. The other ear is normal . My son is upset, but dealing with it. I suppose time will tell, and maybe we will wait a year or 2 and have a redo in nyc with a major surgeon if need be. Thanks for allowing me to vent. Any responses about total hearing loss appreciated.
Sherri, I was *completely deaf* at this point, and just as scared as you are. Your son’s story sounds very similar to mine, and although I know it’s hard, you need to have patience. If you go back and read my story, you’ll see that I was very afraid at this point. Luckily, my hearing returned.
I hope this calms you a bit. You care very much about your son, and I think he’ll be okay. Please take care and feel free to come back and talk to us.
Hi!
I don’t know if you still check this blog, but just in case, here it goes… I had a tympanoplasty 3 weeks ago, and starting the second week I started noticing some imporvement in my hearing. Three days ago, however, I felt like I lost what I had gained. I am afraid the membrane might have popped. Id gaining and losing hearing a normal part of the recovery process? thanks!
Hi Lola,
I do still check this blog!
Although my opinion isn’t definitive, I don’t think you’ve lost what you’ve gained. Some of the packing in your ear may have shifted, or this might be a natural part of healing. That said, I know what it’s like to be in your shoes and worrying about changes like this. Call your doctor or surgeon and ask if this is expected. If it is, he or she will tell you, and if it isn’t, they’ll schedule an appointment for you.
You might find it helpful to read the comments at this post: http://rmondello.com/2008/08/23/my-tympanoplasty-a-retrospective/
A lot of people have had questions similar to yours, and you might want to read them.
Good luck, and keep us posted!
wow, you’re amazing. Proof that you *can* find anything on the interenet. A blog on tympanoplasty, who knew! Anyway, doctor said it may be normal but we’ll know for sure in a week. This is my third tympanoplasty, I had a very rare form of TB in my ear which destroyed my right ear (TB free now) and have, ever since I am a little kid, Eustachian Tube Disfunction. Things are complicated in my ears, but still going! thanks.
Hi, some of the packing has been coming out, a red kind of thick blob that I pick up with a Q-tip when it’s almost out. However, two days ago I started draining a liquid gray-yellowish substance and I am afraid it may be some sort of infection. Today is Sat. and I called the on-call doc who ordered some eardrops for me… I will call my doctor on Monday. So far my doc. didn’t want me to use eardrops.
Did the drainage form your ear always look the same? or did it change colors at some point?
Hi Lola,
My drainage went from scary colors (red, yellow), to more clear over time. So yes, it changed.
Please do call your doctor on Monday, and in the meantime, get the Q-tips away from your ears! If you get too curious, you can do some real damage with them. I know it’s tempting, but try not to use them.