Comments for Ricky Mondello

Comment on My Tympanoplasty, A Retrospective by Jeannie

Jeannie — Wed, 08 May 2013 02:24:57 +0000

My surgery was done at OHSU in portland, or. Surgery I had last week was the third on my right ear. First time, I was 8, second i was 16, and the third surgery (now in my mid-30s) was to remove cholesteatoma that developed due to multiple ear infections, the cholesteatoma was so severe that it damaged my ear drum and bone, there will be a 4th surgery 6 months from now to repair the bone and hopefully improve my hearing. If my right ear is successful, they will work on my left, still got a loong road ahead of me.

Comment on My Tympanoplasty, A Retrospective by Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 07 May 2013 23:31:09 +0000

Oh yeah, my question, who and where are your alls doctors. Our 1st ENT did 3 surgeries then referred her to a specialist in vanderbult in TN and he has done 2 unsuccessful.

Comment on My Tympanoplasty, A Retrospective by Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 07 May 2013 23:21:17 +0000

I don’t know anyone replied or if it is too late, but my daughter has a lot of scar tissue and we never know when she has an ear infection. She never has pain. She actual never did. Every time she gets a cold we have to get her checked out.

Comment on My Tympanoplasty, A Retrospective by Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 07 May 2013 22:56:01 +0000

My daughter is 7 she has had 5 surgeries. 4 tympanoplasties. Just found out today the last one this last February didn’t work either. She also has had cholesteatoma and has had an ear bone replaced. She wore a hearing aid before and we are not sure at this point if she will need to wear it again. It’s still to early. I wish this would all be over. I am glad your surgery work. Oh, we also found out through all this that she has MH which means she is allergic to gas anesthetic. It’s been a long road.

Comment on Tympanoplasty Question by Jill

Jill — Tue, 07 May 2013 22:17:58 +0000

Hi Jai,

Sorry to see you had so much trouble. Sounds like I got off pretty easy in hindsight! I have the same problem with the narrow ear canal. I was shocked when the specialist said he used a drill to break down scar tissue in there! Don’t worry about the dizziness. I had that for a good week or so and it’s quite normal to that point. I hope your specialist will have good news for you when you see him/her.

It seems to be quite a drawn out healing process. I still have the ringing in my ear and the ear is still not hearing as well as the other one, but I’d say it’s 75% hearing now rather than 50%. I’d like to hope it will regain all the hearing, but as I’ve said before, what really matters is that the graft has taken and I believe it has.

All I can say is keep your chin up as well as your optimism. Also, eat healthy and avoid unhealthy habits. Personally I strongly believe looking after your body goes a long way in helping it heal it’s self. You should start to feel progressively better soon.

Jt, hope your checkup brought good news for you?

Bye for now,
Jill

Comment on Tympanoplasty Question by DaveB

DaveB — Tue, 07 May 2013 17:56:55 +0000

Hi Jai!

Welcome to the board! I’m so sorry to hear about your many issues, we have all gone through most of them ourselves and feel for you. I’ll come back to the board when you post another message regarding your follow-up visit with the surgeon. Best of luck and hang in there!

Comment on My Tympanoplasty, A Retrospective by Jeannie

Jeannie — Tue, 07 May 2013 17:28:26 +0000

Chloe,
i had my surgery last thursday and yes my cheek bone and jaw hurt when I move my mouth or chew on something, they still do but not as bad as the first few days. I took vicodin a few times after surgery than i quit it was making me nauseous, i’d rather deal with the pain than dizziness and nauseousness. i do get occasional sharp pain and mild dizziness but it’s bearable. im going back to work tomorrow and i’m a bit nervous about being able to sit up for 8 hours straight. already looking forward to the weekend. Good luck with your recovery!

~jeannie

Comment on My Tympanoplasty, A Retrospective by Jeannie

Jeannie — Tue, 07 May 2013 17:21:58 +0000

Paul and Andrew,
You both mentioned in your above posts that your ears were sticking out, I just had my right ear surgery (tympanomastoidectomy) almost a week ago and my ear is sticking out noticeably as well. So i was wondering if yours ever went back to normal. I am very worried about mine not going back!
thanks in advance for your feed backs.

-Jeannie

Comment on My Tympanoplasty, A Retrospective by Jeannie

Jeannie — Tue, 07 May 2013 17:14:00 +0000

Michelle,
I had my right ear surgery (tympanomastoidectomy) 6 days ago, everything is going as expected but the one thing that bugs me the most is that my right ear sticks out a lot more than my left. I’ve read in other posts that it’s supposed to go down as it heals, did your son’s ear go back? I see it’s been 5 years since his surgery.

thanks,
Jeannie

Comment on Tympanoplasty Question by Jai

Jai — Tue, 07 May 2013 00:52:02 +0000

Hello All,

I had a tympanoplasty on my left ear on April 30, 2013. Like most, I have had many ear problems dating back to childhood. I had tubes placed in both my ears on four different occasions and experienced recurrent ear infections in both ears for the past 30+ years. I have experienced perforated ear drums in the past (most due as a result of a cold and bad sneeze), and each time they were treated with a paper-patch. For years I was a competitive swimmer and also scuba dive, so besides the issue of hearing loss, having properly working eardrums is very important.

Anyhow, I am 6 days out from surgery and have experienced many of the issues the people on this blog have. Despite my perforation being 20% in the rear of the eardrum, my surgeon had to take the postauricular approach, as I have a smaller than normal ear canal. The first two days after my surgery I was in extreme pain and could not sleep; even Oxycodone would not relieve the pain or help me sleep. The third day after surgery I experienced debilitating nausea. By day four I began to get used to the pain as it started to diminish; this was also when I began to notice annoying side affects that on day 6 post surgery are making recovery annoying. 1) Everything I eat tastes like metal. 2) The ringing, pulse, itching and other random sensations in my ear have forced me to sleep with a sound machine in order to drown out the crazy sounds. 3) My operated ear appeared normal from the front view up until day 5, now at day 6 my operated ear is noticeably protruding from my head. 4) The dizziness has not diminished. 5) Loud noises like TV or a lot of people talking at once is very bothersome, trying to speak with someone with a lot of background noise around is almost impossible.

Anyhow, tomorrow, 7 days post surgery is my first follow-up appointment. I am happy to go see my surgeon just for reassurance that everything is healing as it should. My head where the graft was harvested is very tender and behind the ear where the stitches are located is beginning to swell, so seeing the doctor will ease some of my worries.

I will start to post my updates and process as I heal. So far so good, I know better days have to be ahead.

BTW – Prior to surgery I had significant hearing loss (in need of hearing aids), so I am happily looking forward to the day I can turn on the radio in my car and hear the bass of a song.

Happy healing to all!