Author Topic: Ear Tube Question  (Read 14194 times)

CHD63

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3235
  • Life is good again!!
Re: Ear Tube Question
« Reply #30 on: May 03, 2011, 05:22:18 pm »
WOW!  Kinda freaky and scary all wrapped into one.

Clarice
Right MVD for trigeminal neuralgia, 1994, Pittsburgh, PA
Left retrosigmoid 2.6 cm AN removal, February, 2008, Duke U
Tumor regrew to 1.3 cm in February, 2011
Translab AN removal, May, 2011 at HEI, Friedman & Schwartz
Oticon Ponto Pro abutment implant at same time; processor added August, 2011

Mei Mei

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1278
Re: Ear Tube Question
« Reply #31 on: May 03, 2011, 07:13:16 pm »
I am just jumping in here and was shocked by the lack of documentation of what is called a myringotomy.   That should certainly should have been in the op report.  The leave scar tissue which makes your eardrum less pliable.  Why don't you write them a letter and ask them why a myringotomy was performed.   When you write to them you should expect a written reply.

Mei Mei
1 cm Tumor RetrosigmoidSurgery on Jan 12 at Johns Hopkins
Drs. Niparko and Tamargo
35dB loss pre surgery and now SSD
Post surgical Headaches and Tinnitus
Dr Ducic Georgetown Excision Surgery May 2011
Dr. Schwartz GW  Titanium Mesh  March 2012
Drs Kalhorn/Baker, Georgetown Removal of Titanium Mesh

kraynok2

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 114
Re: Ear Tube Question
« Reply #32 on: May 03, 2011, 07:40:01 pm »
What a strange thing to happen!   :o I'm glad you finally got it figured out.
Sandy

Soundy

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1329
  • prophetic picture done by my 5 year old, June'04
Re: Ear Tube Question
« Reply #33 on: May 04, 2011, 06:48:27 pm »
Jim ... I was less poised in real life than when typing

Prisilla ... I am scared to ask too

Mei Mei ... since it is my deaf side not worried about ear drum so much as the lack of documentation ...
but surgeons attitude since surgery has pretty much been that he got the tumor and all was right with the world

feel fine ... just kinda freaked out when I hacked up the hair ball ... showed it to kids and hubby ... hubby was
impressed and thought it cool ...kids were grossed out ... have an appointment for BP check next week and will let
my PCP peek in my ear and throat and see if he sees anything else that may fall out ...
3mm AN discovered Aug 2004
Translab July 2 ,2007
3.2cm x 2.75cm x 3.3cm @ time of surgery

Mei Mei

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1278
Re: Ear Tube Question
« Reply #34 on: May 04, 2011, 07:13:32 pm »
Soundy,

I agree with you.   I find it unconscienable that there is no documentation on this at all.  You needed to give permission for a myringotomy.
 :-\
Mei Mei
1 cm Tumor RetrosigmoidSurgery on Jan 12 at Johns Hopkins
Drs. Niparko and Tamargo
35dB loss pre surgery and now SSD
Post surgical Headaches and Tinnitus
Dr Ducic Georgetown Excision Surgery May 2011
Dr. Schwartz GW  Titanium Mesh  March 2012
Drs Kalhorn/Baker, Georgetown Removal of Titanium Mesh

Soundy

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1329
  • prophetic picture done by my 5 year old, June'04
Re: Ear Tube Question
« Reply #35 on: May 21, 2011, 07:10:52 pm »
odd thing has happened ... the right side of my head has lost alot of the stuffed up feeling it has had since shortly after surgery ... I have a theory that the stitches and gunk around them were blocking normal drainage ... I have been able do away with one of the 7 inch bed wedges I use and lower my head and upper body that little bit ... still not sleeping flat but flatter ...
3mm AN discovered Aug 2004
Translab July 2 ,2007
3.2cm x 2.75cm x 3.3cm @ time of surgery

saralynn143

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1822
  • Sarey Sarey Quite Contrary
    • MVD diary
Re: Ear Tube Question
« Reply #36 on: May 21, 2011, 07:48:13 pm »
Woo hoo!
MVD for hemifacial spasm 6/2/08
left side facial paresis
 12/100 facial function - 7/29/08
 46 - 11/25/08
 53 - 05/12/09
left side SSD approx. 4 weeks
 low-frequency hearing loss; 85% speech recognition 7/28/08
1.8 gram thin profile platinum eyelid weight 8/12/08
Fitted for scleral lens 5/9/13

Rivergirl

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 374
  • Rivergirl
Re: Ear Tube Question
« Reply #37 on: May 21, 2011, 09:37:50 pm »
Soundy, just jumped in and read your very strange happenings.....one of them is bad enough but the two together should make at least a paragraph in a medical book, with that I am glad you are feeling better.

Diagnosed 6/2008
Right AN 2cmx8x9
Sub-Occipital at Mass General with Martusa and McKenna on 5/31/11
Right SSD, very little taste
I think I will make it!

Soundy

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1329
  • prophetic picture done by my 5 year old, June'04
Re: Ear Tube Question
« Reply #38 on: June 04, 2011, 03:46:31 pm »
I have been having a few break through headaches on AN side only ...had an ear ache last week that I just attributed to allergies ...fever yesterday ... today clear fluid draining from AN side ear with little white floaters ...there is a thick knot about the size of my thumb running from behind ear down side of neck ... it is tender to touch ... called doctor since ER is $600 to walk through the door and just don't feel like racking up another bill ... we have a bottle of horse size augmentin here that Bo got when he almost cut his finger off ... He took two of them and broke out in hives ... they expire in November so are good  ... I flushed the ear with peroxide which made it feel better ... doctor said to go on and take the augmentin and to put a hot compress on neck ... and to come see him Monday morning if it is not alot better...

I didn't get ear infections before surgery and can't help but to think the sutures left behind or surgery itself have something to do with the now 4 ear infections I have had since surgery ... kinda irritated about the whole thing ... the stitches in my scalp were dissolving ones ... if they did have to suture something inside shouldn't they have used dissolving suture material ? 
3mm AN discovered Aug 2004
Translab July 2 ,2007
3.2cm x 2.75cm x 3.3cm @ time of surgery

Suu

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 407
  • Better out than in.
Re: Ear Tube Question
« Reply #39 on: June 04, 2011, 07:16:38 pm »
G'day from another bewildered ANer  :o
Your stitches should be the dissolvable kind but mine didn't all disolve so yours may not have either.  6 weeks after my last op for CSF leak, the nurse had to manually take the last couple out.  I had residue in my leg from 10 years ago after an achilles op!

Ever thought of suing them? Just a thought.

I like the way you've told us with a bit of humour and a subtle bit of grace but that hubby of yours needs an MRI post haste!

All the best!
♥ ´)
.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•♥ ¨)
(,.•´ (.♥ •´ *Suu


4cm Left side AN Translab August 18th 2010
Facial nerve not working
Nerve conduction Jan '11 Repeated 23rd May '11
SSD left side
5 ops in 6 weeks to fix CSF leaks
Tarsorrhaphy 9 Mar '11 Extended 26 Aug '13
Sling Thur 16 June '11
12/7 nerve graft 9 Feb '12

Soundy

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1329
  • prophetic picture done by my 5 year old, June'04
Re: Ear Tube Question
« Reply #40 on: June 05, 2011, 02:20:24 pm »
He needs an MRI machine so he can do my MRIs ...

Today sitting in church I had a gauze pad taped to ear so I wouldn't have any fluid running down my neck ... feel better and the lump /knot /whatever is almost gone from behind ear ... hot compress made it drain out ear and in throat ... that is what doctor wanted it to do ... may go see him tomorrow and let him peak in ...

a friend and I were discussing the method of getting an MRI paid for by my going in claiming my face was numb or I was having a violent headache or I was seeing spots before my eyes ...something to constitute an emergency ... have doctor order MRI ... my friend agreed that it was about time to commit my insurance fraud ... I can't bring myself to do it  ...

then the Sunday school teacher starts talking about honesty ... and the game warden that did our hunters safety course was in the class ... and I am hearing him tell the kids that ethics is doing the right thing even when the wrong thing is not illegal... he was applying this to hunting but it follows through life ... I need the MRI... getting it through correct channels means that insurance won't cover it if it is deemed a maintenance MRI...but they said they would cover one in case of emergency ... I question their ethics ... they say they are obligated to meet our medical needs in a timely fashion ... and it isn't happening .. things going on are not emergency so much as just aggravating ... but can't break my thinking that it is wrong to falsely get an MRI done just so we can do what doctor calls my AN maintenance check ...

gonna half to take a chunk of next calf check and get an MRI locally ... it isn't as good of machine here than the neuro in Nashville puts me through ... but it is newer than the one that originally found the AN ... just getting tired and frustrated with setbacks ... I do great 90% of the time ... the 10% or so that I hurt or have gunk running out my ear or suture material falling out of my ear of hacking it up like a hair ball , gets to me …

As for suing … yes have thought about it … not suing doctors but the insurance company …they have told me they won’t cover anything related to the AN and call it preexisting … about the time that status was to change they put into effect the Obama crap and have me listed as preexisting until July 2 , 2014 … that will be my 7 year anniversary of surgery … when we were changed to BCBS we were told it would be a seamless transition and I would have coverage for AN treatment as I did under CIGNA  … it hasn’t happened and lawyers and mediators have been fighting things for several of us that have dropped through the cracks …

So I get up each morning and put one foot in front of the other and plod through life … keep busy so I can’t sit brooding and thinking about what’s wrong … and I popped in here and read often … get a lot of encouragement … laugh at little things …laugh at big ones too … have to laugh so I don’t go stark raving mad …
3mm AN discovered Aug 2004
Translab July 2 ,2007
3.2cm x 2.75cm x 3.3cm @ time of surgery

Jim Scott

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 7241
  • 1943-2020 Please keep Jim's family in your hearts
Re: Ear Tube Question
« Reply #41 on: June 05, 2011, 02:56:53 pm »
Soundy ~

From what I read in your posts, you're a very active wife and mother doing a lot of physical work on a daily basis   I think you get the kind of exercise that would tire most of us out pretty quickly.  I also sense that you're like my wife in that you possess a determination to do whatever you want or need to do to live your life the way you want to (often, to do things for or with your kids) even if it leaves you in some discomfort or worn out.  Your refusal to brood is healthy but difficult to maintain, I know.  I admire your realization that cheating the insurance company, crappy as they are, sometimes, out of the cost of an MRI 'maintenance' scan, is still stealing.  It's easy to justify bad behavior (I've done it)  but you obviously know right from wrong and that you chose to do what's honest and ethical - even though it costs you - is commendable.   Unfortunately, present AN forum company excepted, many people would cheat the mean old insurance company and have little problem doing so, justifying their dishonesty by telling themselves that the insurance company cheats it's policyholders and 'deserves' to be cheated.  A comforting justification.  However, theft of services is still stealing, as you know, so again, I admire your decision to do what's honest, even at a cost to you.  Well done. 

Jim
4.5 cm AN diagnosed 5/06.  Retrosigmoid surgery 6/06.  Follow-up FSR completed 10/06.  Tumor shrinkage & necrosis noted on last MRI.  Life is good. 

Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is.  The way we cope with it is what makes the difference.

Soundy

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1329
  • prophetic picture done by my 5 year old, June'04
Re: Ear Tube Question
« Reply #42 on: June 06, 2011, 08:57:43 am »
 I have to work at not brooding ... and I am thankful that I have the girls to keep me from that ... they are active kids and I have to keep up ... that keeps me from having much time to brood ... I try not to do things I wouldn't approve of my kids doing ... they wouldn't know if I scammed the insurance company , but I would ... and as of right now the little guy in white on my shoulder is winning over the one in red ...
and I forgot part of the game wardens quote ... ethics is doing the right thing even when the wrong thing is not illegal and no one knows what you have done 

your description of your wife sounds familiar ... I get most of what I need to do and what I want to do done by pushing through ... and I think I work doubly so at doing things now because I have a few people around me that think I should have stopped alot of things when I had surgery ... a few that think sitting quietly in the corner knitting would be more appropriate ... but I can not give up who I am over a little intrusion into my life like a nasty little brain booger ... I can honestly say this who AN experience ahs made me stronger in many ways and has not been an all bad experience ... I have learned alot about myself and others through it all

I think I will know when I absolutely need an MRI , like I knew when Bennie took of growing  that in April 2007 that I couldn't wait until October for the MRI that was scheduled ... Hoping I know when it is a must … for now going to try to put back some money to get one done

not sure what is up with the ear infections but am positive that they have to do with surgery and left behind suture material ... my doctor has the sutures in a bottle of alcohol for safe keeping ... the stitches were just kind of odd at first ... I think that them coming out may have left a raw spot or open place that is root of infections ... 3 of 4 infections have come since the first stitches came loose

As for current problem … no more drainage and only Tylenol necessitating pain …going to just watch things and finish antibiotics …

I am so glad for all of you …having this place as a sounding board keeps me sane … I feel that no one around me understands what is going on with me … this is a comfortable place to sit during what I have been calling my grand adventure ..Thanks for being here
3mm AN discovered Aug 2004
Translab July 2 ,2007
3.2cm x 2.75cm x 3.3cm @ time of surgery