Mastoidsectomy & Tympanoplasty surgery : 4 months ago
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Hi
Like the title says I had a L side modified mastoidsectomy and tympanoplasty surgery to basically get a functioning ear back.
Background: I went to Kenya on safari. 16 flights, last 4 flights I had blood from nose and ear. At the hotel I went in the swimming pool for 10 seconds and got a very resistant pseudomonas A ear infection.
Flew back and my eardrum ruptured 2 times in the same ear.
6 months of treatment for chronic infection didn’t work... the infection was literally pouring out of my ear, even the surgeons were shocked.
Just after new year 2019 I became severely unwell throughout the night, by 11am I was unable to walk 5 yards without panting for breath. My ear was also bleeding.
Saw my Dr urgently and my temp was 39.7, HR 159 , severe back pain and I hadn’t urinated for 26 hours and he said it was Sepsis. Got to the hospital and waited for 20mins, nurses redone my observations and my temp had risen to 40.2 my HR was 170+ and my blood was a thick gungy black ... I was admitted as Sepsis given IV Tazocin, pain relief, fluids...
Dr said I was in circulatory failure, my kidneys were shutting down and basically if I had waited until the next day before coming into hospital (original plan) I probably would have died.
Saw the surgeons at another hospital and they expedited surgery as an outpatient. Had the surgery done in March 2019. 4hr surgery, was discharged with no pain relief so after 2 days I was in so much pain I had to present at urgent care centre where the medical team were shocked as I had blood dripping everywhere and I was in too much pain to care about it. They gave me an overdose really, morphine liquid form and 2x 60mg codeine with anti sickness too.
NOW:
My ear is still sore, still feels like it’s bulging.
The nerves are all shot around the L side of my entire head, face and neck. When I touch my skin I know it is smooth but I have an internal noise of really hard horrible sandpaper.
Also, I’ve been using decongestants since the surgery. I recently had 4 flights (surgeon was happy all was good to fly). My ear did not equalise the pressure... it did nothing apart from bulge a lot and feel sore.
I’m worried about the pressure not equalising because I have a lot of flights and it happens on trains and even on bridges too... I worry it will perforate the eardrum again.
Should I give this more time to heal or is 4-5 months enough time?
0 likes, 1 reply
ricoshay danny76668
Posted
The mastoid process is a difficult place for medications and your own immune system to reach and effectively work. Circulatory restrictions restrict the activity of your own system and of any drug administered orally (or by blood vascular delivery).
You can beef up vascular activity with physical activity. Working the upper arms and legs, perhaps a short run, or by using any upper body exercise routine while ensuring you are in 'aerobic' level of exercise.
Another route, less well studied, is to use light or laser therapy. I treated patients with class 3 and 4 low intensity lasers for years. They are very effective at improving your chances of fighting of infections. For example I have seen them used to good effect for tooth and root and gum infections and for sinuses. Mastoids are a sinus cavity and should respond very well to laser treatment.