4th c'toma, no cwd and allergy question

[Guest guest]

My son finally had his 6th surgery last week in Nashville. There was

a " substantial " cholesteatoma in the middle and inner ear (his 4th).

However, the doctor decided not to perform the modified canal wall

down procedure. I suspected that he would do it, to guarantee no

more surgery, so I was surprised.

" Being an otherwise perfectly healthy young man, " the dr. opted for

removal of the cholesteatoma, another mastoidectomy and ear drum

repair. I'm concerned as there's no guarantee the C'toma won't grow

back (since this was #4)and we'll be doing this again! An ENT

performed the other surgeries and this dr., an otologist, felt the

recurrences were due to residual tissue and is confident he got it

all. I've heard that before though.

We return to the doctor in three weeks and will also see an allergist

who works closely with him. Our otologist is still convinced an

allergy is causing this, we just don't know what to test for. A

local allergist has tested him for about 20 different things and all

were negative. Does anyone have experience will allergies causing

C'toma?

Lastly, 2 ossicles were removed that didn't funtion and replaced with

titanium prosthesis. He has a moderate hearing loss, and Dr. thinks

it should improve.

I'd appreciate any words of wisdom on the decision not to perform the

CWD and allergies. I'd love to find out why the darn thing keeps

coming back. My son is only 10, and 3 of our last 4 summers have

revolved around major surgery.

For all of you that gave advice on Nashville, it was great. We love

visiting the city, just wish is wasn't for medical reasons.

Thanks!