One Month Post Scar Tissue Removal

Merry Christmas all, and Happy New Year! Today I'm one month post op and things are still going relatively well. My ear still feels a bit congested, and still has the sound and feeling of fluid in the ear.
Whenever I sleep on the Esteem side it feels like my ear fills up with fluid and when I lift my head there is a feeling of suction or inward pressure and a pop that releases the pressure and then a second "normal" pop. I asked Dr. S about this and he thinks it sounds like the eardrum is healing, so alright! I'll take that!
I have noticed a slight shrill sound associated with myself, my internal noises, and louder high pitched noises again, which I'm guessing is scar tissue forming. I hope that it isn't going to get worse than this. I go about on C4 for my daily routine and turn it down to C2 at bedtime, and this seems to work well. I like C5, but the sounds that I notice are shrill are magnified so much at this level that it just isn't enjoyable to stay on.
I blew my nose gently for the first time this past week and had major feedback. That sounded awful! I'm also still showering with a cotton ball covered in vaseline in my ear until I see Dr. K again (Jan. 9th) to determine if the hole has healed in my eardrum.
One good thing to note is that my PCP requested that my insurance pay for me to have a covered visit with Dr. S and they agreed for ONE visit approved through mid March, and then from there they would need to be notified again if I needed to be seen by Dr. S to decide if they'll pay for more visits. I'm crossing my fingers that this will open the door to them paying for the Esteem on my left ear eventually.
I still have several more weeks of healing left to do and potentially my hearing could go one of 3 ways; worse, status quo, or better. I'll be very happy with status quo or better! God has blessed me with a very caring and talented surgeon who has stayed with me every step of the way and much better hearing than I could have dreamed.

Amazement

I put my device on level C2 for bedtime because I'm a really light sleeper and my hair makes too much noise against the pillow when I sleep on the Esteem side and our furnace kicks on every 6-7 minutes (it's COLD in Michigan). These noises keep waking me up, so taking my Esteem from C4 to C2 makes it more tolerable and I sleep better. I can still hear, just not so acutely :)
What I'm amazed by is that C2 used to be what I was on all the time, and at the time I thought I was hearing fairly well. Now that I've had the adhesions removed and can enjoy C4 and 5, C2 sounds so quiet! As in, I strain to hear, quiet. It is and was actually "work" to hear. With C4 I'm very relaxed and don't work to hear. It isn't as exhausting in social situations to stay in the conversation, and for that I am so thankful and blessed.
At work eating in the cafeteria was always confusing and frustrating due to the noise level. Now it is enjoyable again and I can follow and understand conversation much easier since the noise is not so distracting and roaring in my ear. And the volume is down to nearly the quietest level on my phone in my office, and all voices so far are easy to understand.

It's been an amazing 11 days since I turned the Esteem back on. Merry Christmas everyone :)

Finally, 5!

I have conquered level 5! I decided to bump up to the final level today and so glad I did. I can't believe how much the scar tissue impeded my hearing before. I finally understand the true miracle this device is! Although 5 is loud (!) I think I'll be using it and 4 the most. 4 is comfortable but 5 has umph ;)
For instance:
I heard my husband's feet hitting the treadmill in the basement while I was on the main level with the TV on! Tell me that isn't cool?! I started paying attention to TV conversation today, and I am catching probably 95% of what's being said. Wow! There is still room for improvement too, so I'm going to work at really training myself to recognize words.

My ear at this point feels pretty good. I still have a slight fullness in it, which I guess is probably due to healing. I'm also finding myself swallowing a lot to pop my ear, which helps relieve the pressure but only lasts a very short time. I don't think the hole is affecting the sound, but then how could I know, as I was not benefiting from the Esteem in full anyway? I have no way to know either about the 35 dB gain I got back but maybe it's hearing things like what I mentioned above about my hubby running?

Anyway, so pleased at the outcome for now. I am so happy I was allowed to turn it back on before going back to work which will be in 3 days.

4 For 4!

Bumped up to level 4 today after church and again, going well :) I am confident level 5 will be just fine too. I'm using my eveyday setting which is C. For church I had to go back down to level 2, but when I got home I went for my forth program bump and 4 is great. I heard my phone text sound, a quiet swooshing, from 4 rooms away! I kinda feel like I have a secret agent ear, haha :) I haven't been paying attention to how well I'm understanding speech though. I don't think I've been saying "what?" or "huh?" very much. Once I get settled into level 5 I'll start paying more attention to that detail.
I'm cautiously optimistic that this will last and be able to maintain the clearer less screechy sound. However, I say cautious because the growth of scar tissue happens over time and if I grow a lot again then I'm worried I'll notice a decrease in quality of sound. But, I'm determined to enjoy how amazing it sounds now! And as Dr. Seidman stresses, think positive thoughts to promote good healing. I can do that!

Good Progress

I'm enjoying and tolerating level C3! Yeah! This is going very, very well considering. I shot an email off to Dr. Seidman that I turned on the device earlier than instructed and although he "scolded" me, he was pretty excited things are looking up.
I plan to try level C4 either tomorrow night or Sunday. I will be elated if I can tolerate C4!
TBD...

2 Weeks Post Op

Two weeks, and I've hit the mark where I can turn on my device. I actually turned it on Monday evening, just out of curiosity since the packing was out...at first everything sounded really bad, kinda like a wind rushing noise. But I forgot to query, so I did, and that made it better. But I was on C2, and it was too loud, so I switched it down to C0 and that was really tolerable! I've been "on" since! And now at 2 weeks post today, I'm comfortably at C2. I tried C3 but it is too loud and actually seemed to make my eardrum ache, so back to C2. Everything sounds normal so far, a little fluid and ear congestion but nothing too bad as yet. And my tinnitus isn't so distracting now, whew! Hoping in the next couple days to get used to C3 as I've never had success getting past it or staying on it. I know that I have to keep in mind that the ear is still healing from surgery AND I have a hole, so those will affect my hearing quality but so far, it's not too bad. Anything is better than lopsided hearing :)

Hole-y Eardrum!

Today the packing came out of my ear. Not an uncomfortable procedure at all! I saw my hometown ENT so I didn't have to drive to Detroit to see Dr. Seidman for a short time only to turn around and drive another 3.5 hrs home. I'm 11 days post op now.
Dr. K removed my packing and cleaned my ear for me. He also noted a 2-3 mm hole in my eardrum. To be sure he knew what needed to be done, he called and spoke with Dr. Seidman and between the two of them, decided that a paper patch would be best. He performed the procedure right then, also not uncomfortable. I'm to follow up with him in 4 weeks to make sure the patch healed the hole. If the hole is still there, Dr. K felt I'd need to go back to Dr. Seidman unless they feel he can do whatever needs to be done. I really don't know at this point what will happen if the hole doesn't heal.
I have been in communication with Dr. Seidman since and I'm to follow restrictions for 2 more weeks (no lifting anything over 10 lbs, sneeze with mouth open, etc) and need to shower with cotton ball covered in vaseline for 4 more weeks until Dr. K can confirm the eardrum has healed. Dr. Seidman did say this likely will affect how the Esteem sounds once I turn it back on. I guess I'll see on Friday.

**Just spoke with Dr. Seidman shortly after writing this. If the eardrum does not heal in four weeks, the next step would be surgery to repair the hole. POSITIVE thoughts only!! Keeping my fingers and toes crossed that the hole heals!

1 Week Post Transcanal

Sore throat. Check. Ear congestion. Check. However, I one upped the congestion and got some Mucinex-D and that has really helped! Much better than Zyrtec-D ever did. I guess by thinning the secretions it helps to get it out of the sinus cavaties easier vs just drying it up.
The intensity of my throat pain is going down finally and I haven't gotten any fevers. Highest temp over the course of the week was 99.3.
Hearing only out of my left ear is tiring. I feel even more so now since I have had the advantage of the level of the Esteem for a year. I don't feel like being social and I panic when the phone rings! Thankfully I should be able to use my Esteem ear again soon, within the next 2 weeks.
The most annoying thing now is the cotton ball in my ear and slathering it in vaseline everytime I want to shower. Yuck. And itchy! But I have to be careful not to scratch at my ear...ugh! Ear pain is nothing so that's great! Most concerning thought now is, will it feel uncomfortable when the doctor pulls the packing out of my ear??? Details to follow on Monday!

Post op Day 4 (Monday)

I lied. Today I feel the worst. My throat feels like I've got one giant sharp serrated knife grating up and down in it everytime I swallow or drink and eat. My voice is getting better once it starts getting use. It's pretty scratchy. But really, shouldn't I be feeling better about my throat by now, not consistently worse? And I'm terrified to do anything they warned me not to: sneezing (can sneeze with my mouth open), blowing my nose, lifting more than 10 lbs, being careful how I bend over, and no straining with bowel movements. How easy it is to forget and do any of these things! I haven't sneezed yet, just keeping kleenex on hand for drips, I'm sure I've lifted more than 10 lbs already (oops) and I have been taking mirilax since I got home to help not strain during a BM.
On to better things; Dr. Seidman phoned me the other night to check on me and answer any questions I might have had. He told me the adhesions were rock hard, something he's never really seen before. Leave it to me :) I wanted to know if there was anyway to prevent the adhesions from coming back and of course there is no known way, just hope and pray! I asked about the cotton ball with vaseline during showers and if I could stop with doing that once the packing is out. He wants me to keep that up at least 3-4 weeks just to be sure everything heals and no infections will begin. We went over the pictures and also how exciting it is that my dB gain went from 5 to 35 dB according to the Envoy tech's testing. Turning on the device will be at my comfort and I won't need to see anyone to do it. If I feel I need an adjustment then I can call and set an appt up. Dr. S thinks 3-4 weeks before I'll feel like I can turn it on without interference of fluid, but the Envoy tech wrote 2 weeks, so I'm going to start there! I promised not to get too upset if it didn't sound great right away though.
Looking forward to the 13th :)

Post op Transcanal Day 2 (Saturday)

Ughhh, I almost think I feel worse today than I did yesterday. My throat is so sore I can hardly swallow and I have no voice. My ear just feels full and once in awhile there is a sharp pain in it, but it's managable. I've noticed my tinnitus to be waaaaay worse now that the sound is off in my ear. My taste is once again really metallic and bitter. The post op instructions say this could last days to months!! My guess is that since it was damaged before, it's going to be months. Blech....just when I was getting used to the way things were tasting. I'm not liking this! But at least I have taste at all.
I've changed my cotton ball 3 times now, but the drainage actually isn't much. I hope it won't be uncomfortable to get the packing taken out of my ear! Sleep is still pretty fractured so I'm really fatigued during the day. I think I'm more worn down from the anesthesia this time than the actual Esteem placement surgery.
I am praying my scarring doesn't go crazy this time and actually allows my device to work as it should. Countdown is on til December 13 when I can turn this on!!!