Could of been worse

Today is Friday January 3rd

Yesterday, I had an appointment with my surgeon.  I stayed off of any pain medicine except for Advil so that I could drive myself to the Mayo Clinic.

black all gone--with my hair down it covers the bald spot
you cannot even tell except that my hair is a bit thinner
I feel more comfortable having the ear covered so
I usually wear a beanie.

I checked in on time 2:50 pm for a 3:00 pm appointment, I did not wait long at all I was in the doctors office by 3:00, and seeing the resident by 3:05.  This was a resident I had never seen before, in fact none of the residents in this department have made a 2nd appearance.  She did her usual questions, how are you feeling, how is your pain, anything new we need to know about?  Before I answered her questions I asked her if I would be able to see Dr. Barr's, she said he would be in shortly.  She then proceeded to poke around in my ear, she then said "I'll be right back, I need to get Dr. Barr's"  soon he came in, took a quick look and asked the resident to leave and start on the next patient, before she left the room he wanted to show her somethings in my ear, he told her the black area in my ear was dead skin, and in his 31 years of practicing he has never seen skin die like that before surgery, he excused her and I didn't see her again.

He took a scalpel cut off all the black dead skin,  except for a small area he could not get to without hurting me, so I think he will deaden the area around it next time and take it out.  Cutting out that dead skin did not hurt at all, it was weird.  Then he layed me back, told me to hold tight and that things were going to get dizzy.  Immediately when he began to vacuum my inner ear, I couldn't keep my eyes open, I was so dizzy.  He asked me to keep my eyes closed and it would help.  It did help, but when he was done and I opened my eyes it was really hard to keep them open and took several minutes to regain some type of normal visual. The vacuuming is extremely painful, especially since all I had was Advil. Dr. Barr's gave me a new regimen  for cleaning my ear to see if it will help the healing move along faster--swish out the big hole with vinegar and water--OUCH--was my 1st thought, he then looked at me and said "this will sting a little, make sure the water is at room temperature" also that I need to keep germs at a minimum, stay out of public places as much as possible or wear a mask--I seriously cannot stand wearing that mask.

Once he was done, I asked him to look in my left ear, because I have been having a hard time hearing.  He seemed surprised but did the usual exam of the ear and showed me on the movie screen there is fluid behind the eardrum. I asked him how to fix it, because I am so worried about losing my hearing.  He said he will see me on a more regular basis now, if the liquid does not go away on its own he will 1st put tubes in that ear to try to drain it, if that does not work then, well then I guess it's time for me to start learning sign language.

1st he took the cap off of the implant, so it can heal. We will not be able to connect the BAHA until March or April depending on the healing.  Now I have a screw that is visual going through the bone in the back of my head behind my right ear. This BAHA is healing very well and as expected--good news.

Then he helped me out of the chair and assisted me to a place to sit down so we could talk.  What he told me is this--he cannot get the ear cleaned out for a long enough period of time without it filling up with blood, so he cannot tell me if the healing is happening or not--he said it is unusual--I asked him if the grafting took--he said, "again I cannot get a clear view of the grafting or the area I need to in order to see if it is healing correctly, normally I would not be seeing you again until March or April to finish up with your implant, but I feel it necessary for me to see you every week until I can see an improvement"  I asked him if he  can give me a little more, some HOPE that this is  just taking longer to heal than usual.  He then looked at me and said "I have to be honest with you I have never seen anything like this before, so I don't feel comfortable giving a prognosis quite yet" I waited for about an hour until the dizziness went away and left his office.