Guest guest Posted August 9, 2006 Report Share Posted August 9, 2006 kyravapa6 " kyravapa6@... wrote: My son will be having surgery for cholesteatoma on September 6th. The only thing that sunk in the diagnosis day was the surgeon telling us that there would be an incision behind his ear and the surgery would last four hours. What type of surgery does that sound like? From reading here, it seems there are several kinds. -------------------------------------------------- He's having a mastoidectomy, but there can be a lot of variations once the surgery is underway. Some resections are canal wall up, meaning that the cholesteatoma is removed with a less radical mastoidectomy. Canal wall down is a little more involved, but there are proponents for that type of surgery. There is supposed to be less of a chance of the c-toma returning. He will probably have his ear drum grafted after the cholesteatoma is removed, if the drum is involved. Sometimes it's not, if his c-toma is congenital. A mastoidectomy is necessary as there is no way of telling exactly how involved the growth is until the time of surgery. It can't be completely removed and explored if the surgery is just through the ear canal. Some surgeons use stitches, some use staples, mine uses glue to close the incision behind the ear. I really appreciated that, as it was OK to get it wet during healing. I'm not happy unless I can wash my hair every day :-D Call the surgeon office back or prepare a list of questions to take to the pre-op appointment. -- Diane Chidgey McNelly Sassy Suds, Inc. http://www.sassysuds.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 21, 2011 Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 Anybody can correct me if I'm wrong but this would mean removal (hence "ectomy") of the ear drum ("tympano") and the mastoid ("mastoid"). Basically ectomy means removal and plasty means something is being repaired or added. The "plasty" stage will probably follow this "ectomy" stage that you have scheduled already. Here's a cheat sheet of some common cholesteatoma medical terms: Ossicles - hearing bones Typano - ear drum mastoid - mastoid ectomy - removal plasty - repair and/or add (I believe this could also be used to encompass the removal stage and repair stage if done at the same time) I'm not an expert any more than anybody else who's been through two c-toma surgeries (although sometimes I feel like I could write the book on it) so I'm not 100% on this but hopefully it's helpful! Bridget From: Bradford Burt <bradford_burt08@...>cholesteatoma Sent: Thu, April 21, 2011 11:06:32 AMSubject: Surgery Type I'm really not sure what this means, but this is the type of surgery I am going for in June: Tympanomastoidectomy Is this the type of surgery they do for all people with Cholesteatomas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 21, 2011 Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 Brad,Like Bridget, I'm no expert but her explanation matches what I was told and my surgery.In August '09, I had a exactly what you are having plus some.... removal of a cholesteatoma, removal of a cholesterol granuloma, and removal of sclerosis from hearing bones (calcium-like deposits). All mine was done in one surgery. From what I've read and been told there is a 70% or more chance of regrowth of an acquired cholesteatoma (especially if you have Eustachian Tube Dysfunction which can cause negative pressure and a retraction pocket), thus regular checks are required. I went from every 3 months now I'm down to every 6 months. I only need to go more often if I get an ear infection or have drainage. My hearing was down to 90 decibel loss (severe hearing loss) in my "bad" ear and is up to only 30 decibel loss. So my hearing has greatly improved!I've only had one surgery-but as Bridget says there are those who've had many. Like she says focus on a positive outcome for your surgery. I can say life after surgery is MUCH better than before! Good luck!Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®From: Bradford Burt <bradford_burt08@...>Sender: cholesteatoma Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2011 08:06:32 -0700 (PDT)<cholesteatoma >Reply cholesteatoma Subject: Surgery Type I'm really not sure what this means, but this is the type of surgery I am going for in June: Tympanomastoidectomy Is this the type of surgery they do for all people with Cholesteatomas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 21, 2011 Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 Chloe has had nine tympanoplasty/mastiodectomy surgeries. They do make an incision in the eardrum, but don't remove it, unless it is affected by cholesteatoma growth. Even then, they do not take all of it, and usually repair it in the same surgery. The mastoid will be drilled wherever there is cholesteatoma, but that may not happen at all, if you do not end up having disease in that area. Basically, you sign for everything he might need to do, so they don't have to wake you up to sign for more:) (they wouldn't do that BTW). She has done very well, even with so much surgery, and is usually back to herself in three or four days. I understand children heal more quickly than many adults, but everyone is different anyway. Unfortunately, hers is a nasty congenital ctoma that has been tough to remove completely, and even led to a subsequent acquired ctoma. She is having a " second look " (14th surgery) next month. Hoping for no cholesteatoma, and a good repair session, but whatever...she has an awesome attitude, and in spite of a long ordeal has avoided most permanent potential complication. The worst she deals with now is conductive hearing loss--hearing aid helps a ton! and a tendency toward random infections. Good luck! On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 2:50 PM, Bradford Burt <bradford_burt08@...> wrote: My surgery is in the middle of May. From: <moonshadow2447@...>Subject: Re: Surgery Type cholesteatoma Date: Thursday, April 21, 2011, 6:30 PM No this is not the surgery they do for all people. There are different names for different areas. This is the exact same surgery I had yesterday (put in another post on here) and my surgeon told me the ctoma had grown behind the eardrum. He said it was a simple surgery you gently lift the eardrum and remove the growth. The surgery took less than an hour. I haven't had much pain with this surgery. When is your surgery? Jenni> > > I'm really not sure what this means, but this is the type of surgery I am going for in June: Tympanomastoidectomy > > Is this the type of surgery they do for all people with Cholesteatomas? >------------------------------------ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 30, 2011 Report Share Posted April 30, 2011 how do i find the best surgen either in nj or ny > > > From: Bradford Burt <bradford_burt08@...> > Subject: Surgery Type > cholesteatoma > Date: Thursday, April 28, 2011, 1:26 AM > > > > > > > > > > > > > > I got into a conversation with a guy at work today. We got into an " Elective Surgey " conversation, as I was wondering if my work place would consider this elective surgey...like fixing up ones nose. > > So my question is, is having this nasty thing removed from my ear considered elective surgery? > > I can google the definition of elective surgery I guess, but was wondering if anyone on this list has had issues with the workplace regarding time off after the surgery? > > FYI my workplace is more than accomodating...I work for one of the big pharmacy chains and I have wonderful boss. So no isssues here, just curious on my part. > > Thanks, > Brad > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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