Results from Cultures

Today is Friday January 17th--

As I said before, during surgery they were able to take the tumor out in tact--no problems YAY--that is good news.  However, yesterday as I met with Dr. Barr's I was more concerned about the lack of hearing in my good ear than the right ear--he did examine the right ear and  Eric and I were able to see it on the screen as he vacuumed it out.  He said the healing looks as expected and to cut back on some of the cleaning regimen and antibiotics--doing the antibiotic too often can cause fungus which is not an easy thing to rid your body from. I was surprised how infected it still looked.

They found several strands of bacteria and were sent to the infectious disease department at Mayo.

PEPTOSTREPTOCOCCUS :  infections can occur in all body sites, including the CNS, head, neck, chest, abdomen, pelvis, skin, bone, joint, and soft tissues. Inadequate therapy against these anaerobic bacteria may lead to clinical failures. Because of their fastidiousness, peptostreptococci are difficult to isolate and are often overlooked. Isolating them requires appropriate methods of specimen collection, transportation, and cultivation. Their slow growth and increasing resistance to antimicrobials, in addition to the polymicrobial nature of the infection, complicate treatment.

ASACCHAROLYTICUS:

family of bacteria living usually in the alimentary canal or on mucous surfaces of warm-blooded animals; sometimes associated with acute infective processes

VEILLONELLA: it has been isolated in pure culture from various sites and implicated as a pathogen in the sinuses, lungs, liver, central nervous system, heart, and bone. Bactere- mia in the absence of an underlying source, however, is ex- tremely rare; to our knowledge.

I will be closely monitored by Mayo, but for now it looks like everything else is healing as expected.  I told him I was more worried about the loss of hearing in the left ear, I even got a little teary eyed trying to explain how it feels.  I am able to speak one on one with someone by reading lips and hearing slightly what is being said, but in groups of people I do not do not do well, it's hard for me to understand where the sounds are coming from.  His RN Kathleen, explained to me that this is totally normal for people going through these symptoms.

I then turned and asked Dr. Barr's why or where the fluid is coming from in my left ear his response with a smile on his face was " You as a person, we love and you are great, but you have terrible ears, this is just something that is part of your anatomy and we will deal with it as we go"  I have to ask people to speak directly at my face and raise their voice.  We are also praying this is a  temporary loss of hearing, if not he will poke a hole in my left ear to release the fluid, but he prefers to wait a couple of weeks to see if it clears out before doing this, because it is my only ear that I have hearing from it is a risk to make a hole in the eardrum.

I asked him about the tubes he had mentioned before and he said no to the tubes--no explanation.  So basically for now, I will be monitored closely go to my appointments and be rechecked and rechecked. If I would like the hole put in the eardrum to release the fluid now I can, he said it is my option, but I decided to go with his suggestion and wait it out.
As far as the right ear recovery Dr. Barr's said it really will take 3-4 months to fully recover.   So to me this sounds like good news. The only problem is, I would like to go back to work on schedule February 4th but since my job relys completely on the ability to hear, Dr. Barr's will either extend my medical leave or drain the left ear with a hole being placed in the eardrum.

The BAHA looks good, and I should be able to get the BAHA in March or April.