Blah is the word of the day

An update on the deaf ear... it is still deaf and it will be until I can get surgery down in Salt Lake...

Yep you read right. Salt Lake! Why? I'll tell you, but first we must start with the beginning! On Monday I got my CT scan. From my untrained eye, it looked okay. Thursday I went to my doctor to see what he had to say.

My mom and I crowded around the computer as my doctor showed us the scan. Turns out I have an abnormal cyst. It has been growing for a while, and it has been growing inside of my ear bones. The cyst has started bending my bones and thinning them done. At one point of the bone it has been worn so thin that the bone may have 'disappeared'. The part of the bone that is gone is the bone right next to the brain. The scan didn't show much, but what it did show, said surgery is on the way. Because the scan only showed the bones and not the actual Cyst we aren't sure the extent of it anymore. The cyst could be growing in my brain. How is that for dramatic?

So needless to say in two weeks I'll be going to a doctor down in Salt Lake. I will be getting an MRI down there. Then a few weeks later I'll be getting surgery. One reason they want it down there is because if anything were to go wrong in the surgery with my brain, they want a neurosurgeon to be on call.

Ears

For the past four of five months I have had this ongoing problem with my ear. I couldn't hear out of it. At first I thought it was just a little earwax built up around the eardrum. I went into the Wellness Center up on campus around May 18th and the doctor informed me that I had an ear infection. Well shoot, but I guess it was an easy fix. I got some ear drops and a follow-up doctors appointment. I was faithful in putting the ear drops in my ear three times a day! (I usually slack off a lot, but I wanted to get better!) So I went back for my follow-up only to find out I didn't have an infection at all! Turns out the upper wall of my ear canal is caving in and that I should see my specialist... what in the world does that mean???

Today I was finally able to go see my specialist to find out what is wrong with me! He looked in the ear and was a little surprised. I was trying so hard not to cry or get anxious. He leaned me back in my chair and started proding my ear with some tools. It hurt so dang bad! When he finally sat me up he informed me that I probably had a cyst in my ear!


Cysts usually form at the very beginning of the ear canal, right next to the outer ear. But whatever is happening to my ear it is the entire length of the ear canal. The doctor said that before he can help cure me he has to know exactly what he is dealing with, and the extent of it. So needless to say I now have a CT scan scheduled for Monday, and a doctors appointment for next Thursday... Either way it turns out I'm going under the knife, but depending on the severity I may have to have out-patient surgery.

What is up with that?