CT results and processing

It has been one really rough week for me. I have been really focused about helping Slobber Rocket get his appointments squared away. Really, I have to try to get it mostly worked out next week but we have been approved by our insurance for the new ped. That is a fabulous step toward having him seen. I also have a good friend who helped me out a bit yesterday (she used to work as a pediatric dietitian and basically gave me some good perspective about it).

But yesterday was also my BIG ENT appointment where I went and saw/heard the results of my CT test. I had really tricked myself into believing I would go in and be told a tube would help but that is not at all the news I got. I am still trying to process it all but I think, as usual, laying it all out may help me.

So the short version is that I have "something" in my mastoid area of my ear. It is near the small bones (the anvil, hammer, and stirrup). Anyway, where there should be air, there isn't. Which means I need to have a pretty decent surgery to my ear to go in and clear whatever it is out. The basic procedure is called a mastoidectomy. Although since we have no clue if whatever is in my ear is infection, it may or may not be so simple and I may require 2 surgeries 4 months apart.

But the longer version is that the mastoid is this area near those 3 small  bones that is typically filled with air. Air shows up black on a CT. My left ear looks fine with air in all the right places but my right ear is covered in grey.

That is essentially what the inside of my head looks like. The left ear is normal (right side of the picture). All that black is air where air should be. The right ear is filled in with stuff. What stuff? Well I am not really sure. There are three main things it could be: fluid, infection of the mastoid, or a cyst that is growing. So far it seems to be located in my mastoid area and around those 3 small bones. The ct does not reveal the shape of my bones so essentially I have no clue what will happen to my hearing. Dr. Y said that we have to be okay with sacrificing some/possibly a decent amount of hearing in my right ear in order to make my ear what he would consider a "safe ear". Leaving any of these things in my head could result in me getting very ill.

*warning: probably not for squeamish people* So the basic idea is to go in through a cut behind my ear and my ear drum and get whatever he can out of my mastoid and reconstruct anything that is fixable. He said there is no way to know the extent of what is going on by the CT because it doesn't show "what" is wrong just that there isn't air where there should be air. If my ear is too damaged, he will fix what he can and go back in 4 mos later for another surgery (after everything has time to heal). After they get everything out of my ear, they will fashion a new ear drum for me out of a piece of skin behind my ear, suture me up and put a drain in. I will have a big bandaged for a few days and need to go back 1 day post op to have the drain removed and a week post op to check my stitches. I am very much hoping it will be outpatient and I will be able to go home the same day with lots of drugs to get sleep in my own bed. Everything I have read says that the surgery should last 2-3 hrs.

My surgery will be on Feb 23 (my nephews birthday). And also, I will have no clue what my hearing will or won't be like until well after my surgery most likely. And really I am not sure how long I will be down for all this. Hopefully not long. I can't imagine it being easy for me to let other people take care of my boys.

Please pray for me as I process all this information and go through the next 4 or so weeks before the surgery. All of the stress has seemed to struck my immune system down and I am quite sick today. Actually I might lie down and go to sleep.  Thanks for any prayers and positive thoughts.