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Surgery Blows. - Pics added without bandages

4K views 66 replies 41 participants last post by  jimhri 
#1 · (Edited)
I went deaf in my left ear a few months back. They tried to do a minor surgery to repair my ear a few months ago, but the ear drum was too far gone.

Yesterday they went back in to repair the ear. This involved cutting my ear 3/4 off, pulling it forward, cutting behind the ear and making a graft to place where my ear drum used to be. They though I had 25-50% of my ear drum left to work with.

They also had to drill into my skull and clean out the air passages as something was in there but they couldn't tell what.

So yesterday they get in there to find only the attachment sites of the ear drum left. It was completely gone. They also found remnants of infection debris that took over 3 hours to clean out, this involved more drilling then expected. They also found my otic bones to be eroded away to the point they almost put 'aftermarket' (prosthetic) ones in. The surgery lasted much longer and had way more complications then expected. I was supposed to be home last night around 9ish-10ish at the latest. I was in so much pain that they could not get it under control. I had a few doses of mophine, some demerol, 2 extra strength Vicodin and some other stuff injected into me. At that point I went into the fetal position crying and they sedated me till this morning

I hate surgery, I never ever want to have that kind of pain in my head again. They finally got it controlled and I just got home from the hospital with my little thingy on my head to keep everything in place.

No real moral to this story, other then if you ever get a earache... please go to the doctor. They think minor infections turned into major ones despite the fact I have never had issues with my ears. They had been treating the major infections, but had no idea what kind of damage had actually been being done.

All said and done they think I will regain 95% of my hearing, but only time will tell and all I am allowed to do is sit in bed for the next week to one month depending on how I heal.

Sorry I had to vent, I have been cooped up in a hospital bed for 2 days.

Wow. I didn't realize how swollen I am.

It's going to be awhile though before all is better.

Best drugged up comment was at about 10pm last night when they walked me to the bathroom, the nurse was holding me up, my wife was on the other side because I insisted on trying to stand. They had removed the catheter and this left an 'air pocket' that I 'peed out' I must have said it pretty loud because some people up the hall started laughing, but I yelled "Holy Shit my Penis just farted!!" :sonicjay:

 
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#4 ·
You needed to hear better like you needed another hole drilled into you head:sonicjay: At least you have an excuse for not hearing your wife, Good luck with the recovery.
 
#14 ·
At that point I went into the fetal position crying and they sedated me till this morning...


I have been cooped up in a hospital bed for 2 days....

Wow. I didn't realize how swollen I am.....

It's going to be awhile though before all is better....

the nurse was holding me up, my wife was on the other side...
I yelled "Holy Shit my Penis just farted!!" :sonicjay:
Duuuuuuuuude this isn't penthouse :poke:
 
#21 ·
I liked the demerol... I think. That was the last thing they gave me and all the other stuff was kicking in at the same time :( The demerol made me sleepy immediately, I finally started calming down and they woke me up to give me something else, I was like WTF!?

I was then sedated until I woke up about 4 am.
 
#22 ·
I was expecting more cuts when I first read it. It's impressive what they can do now. i bet you get away without any real visible scarring.

Anyway, I hope your recovery is speedy and you do regain most of the hearing back!
 
#23 ·
my wife had a skindraft on her ear and a tube put in the other one as she was born half def ... her ears are always givin her issues. good luck on a speedy recovery
 
#29 ·
Dude that's harsh! I had that surgery when I was 13, 26 years ago, after I woke up cross-eyed because an ear infection wouldn't respond to anti-biotics and spread to my optic nerve. They called it a Mastoid-ectomy and they removed something like 8% of my mastoid bone because it was just eaten away. The scar is a cool one but it isn't one that many people will see;especially since you're married and likely won't have a lot of women playing with your ears. I still remember the uique way the stitches felt when they pulled them out. No pain, but more tugging than most stitches and more of them.

My ear drum wasn't that far gone and I'm down to around 60% of the normal hearing in that ear but I had chronic ear infections for almost two years back then and I still get them every couple of years where my ear drum will burst.

Moral of the story is "take care of those silly pains in your ears early!"
 
#30 ·
U are a complete wimp!

I had 4 of those surgeries between the ages of 8 and 13! i cant believe u would ever complain about one little tiny surgery and the fact that they "almost" put a prosthetic bone in ur ear. Boo Hoo, I have a prosthetic ear drum, b/c mine was gone. I have 1/2 of a bone left in my left ear. I have significant hearing damage b/c of this. For one of the surgeries, i was under anestisia for 6 hours, and they kept me at the hospital overnight but i was not allowed to sleep. I had endless throwing up just b/c i moved slightly! i was not even a teenager yet. I now am 15. I loved my hair, absolutely loved it. I could not do hardly anything with my hair for a while after the surgery b/c i had to have it shaved around my ears. I was misreable, and my bandages were way worse than urs. I wish i had pics, but i dont. If i did, then all of u guys would be amazed. I was just a little girl, i never asked for it to happen to me. You better be DAMN happy that u have had one, and it wasnt even that flippin bad! I never want to meet u ever in ur entire life, cuz i will prolly freak out on u. So yeah, im done now. But i am going to do this : :fish:
 
#34 · (Edited)
I had 4 of those surgeries between the ages of 8 and 13! i cant believe u would ever complain about one little tiny surgery and the fact that they "almost" put a prosthetic bone in ur ear. Boo Hoo, I have a prosthetic ear drum, b/c mine was gone. I have 1/2 of a bone left in my left ear. I have significant hearing damage b/c of this. For one of the surgeries, i was under anestisia for 6 hours, and they kept me at the hospital overnight but i was not allowed to sleep. I had endless throwing up just b/c i moved slightly! i was not even a teenager yet. I now am 15. I loved my hair, absolutely loved it. I could not do hardly anything with my hair for a while after the surgery b/c i had to have it shaved around my ears. I was misreable, and my bandages were way worse than urs. I wish i had pics, but i dont. If i did, then all of u guys would be amazed. I was just a little girl, i never asked for it to happen to me. You better be DAMN happy that u have had one, and it wasnt even that flippin bad! I never want to meet u ever in ur entire life, cuz i will prolly freak out on u. So yeah, im done now. But i am going to do this : :fish:

Wha wha wha. You do know everyone reacts to ansthesia differently right? You do know that every surgery is different right? My blood pressure crashed dangerously low 3 times when they couldn't get the pain under control. My ear drum was 100% gone as well :fish:

Damn emotional teenagers STFU. I didn't ask for sympathy, I only wanted to tell people to stay on top of their ears.
 
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