Re: I need some info on the risks of sugery!

[Guest guest]

Hi :

It's understandable to be worried, but since most surgeons use a

facial nerve monitor they are extremely careful as to not damage it.

Not to add to your worries, but you probably have a better chance of

getting into a car accident on the way to the hospital than having

your facial nerve damaged! The doctors are required to let you know

of all the potential risks whenever performing an operation. If you

had to know all the risks for driving a car before you got behind the

wheel, you would probably never even ride in a car again. Just about

everything we do every day has some kind of risk, but we can't let

that stop us!

The best way to reassure your fears is to make sure you have complete

confidence in your surgeon. Who is the otologist that will perform

the surgery? I'm in Aurora, Illinois, and my doc is Dr. Battista of

the Chicago Otology Group (they have offices in Hinsdale and

ton). I've had two surgeries with him, and I trust him

completely with my ears. In the first surgery he did a CWU and

removed my C-toma, replaced my hearing bones, rebuilt my eardrum, and

even patched a hole in my dura where the c-toma was eating it's way

through to the brain. After a couple of months, my hearing was back

to normal! The second surgery was just to make sure there was no

reocurrence (none!) and he put a tube in my eardrum because my ear

was having problems draining. Now we are monitoring my other ear

because the eardrum is retracted, and in his words the ear looks

" dangerous " . But I'm not worried because he is on top of things and

will know exactly what to do and when to do it.

When I was originally diagnosed with c-toma by an ENT, I ended up

switching from him doing the surgery to Dr. Battista. I did not feel

comfortable with the ENT, and had to fight with my insurance to get a

surgeon I was comfortable with. If I had stayed with the ENT, I

probably would have worried myself to death before the surgery!!

Dave

>

> Hello,

>

> My name is , and I am 28 from Chicago, IL. I wanted to see if

you could help me,

> since you just had a surgery that is similar to the one I am

scheduled to get on the 26th.

> Let me explain my story, then ask a question or two:

>

> Ten years ago I had a cholesteatoma in my right ear, had it

removed, but also had two of

> my middle hearing bones taken out and my ear drum replaced. The

doctors told me I'd

> have to wait to have a 2nd operation to have the bones put

back...flash ahead five years

> later, in 2001, and an ENT advised against me having that

particualr sugery, after giving

> me a hearing test, saying to me that my right ear was okay, ans

that the surgery was risky,

> and that I should live with what I have.

>

> Flash ahead five years later to this year, ten years since my

cholesteatoma, and I have not

> had another one, but went to a Otologist recently due to ear aches

and worrying about my

> ear, had another hearing test done (I hear at 40dB in my right

ear), and we talked about

> how I am losing my hearing, and he sugested he could fix my ear,

support my ear drum

> better with a skin graft, give me a titanium implant for th

emissing bones to possilby

> restore my hearing, and explore the ear and fix it up. So I signed

up for the surgery,

> officially listed as a mastoidectomy, tympanoplasty, and ossicular

chain reconstruction, for

> Dec.26th.

>

> I am scared, though. I am scared of all the " risks " -specifically

facial nerve damage and/or

> paralysis. He would only say " I have been doing this for 15 years,

and I have never had

> that happen to me yet, and I hope to retire without that

happening. " He also told me they

> would use facial never montoring equipment to be extra cautious.

But, he is not giving me

> the reassurance I need! Since this is all elective on my part,

since I could techically live

> with my hearing loss like I have been, althoug he said I will

indeed go deaf one dayif my

> ear never gets fixed, I just don't want to wake up and have the

right side of my face

> paralyzed, even if it's just a 1% chance!

>

> My question to you: has your doc told you anything about this risk,

and what kind of

> reassurance did he/she give you? I have found no internet research

related to instances of

> patients getting this work done and having the nerve dfamaged,

except for one boy, in

> 1993, who had it cut and he was paralyzed on one side of his face.

Should I even be

> worried?

>

> I am seeking info, and any info you have would be greatly

appreciated! I want to make my

> final decision by next Tuesday...thanks!

>

> -Jim Syrek

> syrek@...

>