Guest guest Posted July 23, 2002 Report Share Posted July 23, 2002 Hello All!! - My son Dominic had his right ear reconstructed with Dr. Brent 6/02. There is hair on the reconstructed ear because, in my son's case, when the rib graft was slipped into the skin pocket, the framework of the reconstructed ear extended further into his hairline than the microtic ear. Dr. Brent described it as slipping 10 pounds of plaster into a bag that is only supposed to hold 5 pounds. Crystal- Thank you so much for the beautiful poem. I cried the entire time I was reading it. You are so talented. The website is also great. Your son is lucky to have a great momma. : ) Jack- Sure wish I could be there in New York but Dominic has his stage II scheduled with Dr. Brent in October. We actually have family there and it would have been nice to have combined visiting with them and meeting with Dr. Brent and Dr. J. Deciding to have surgery done by Dr. Brent was something I knew I wanted to do the minute Dominic turned 6. However, we were referred to Dr. J by Dr. Brent. I have been in contact with Dr. J's office. To be quite honest, the information he sent me about the canalplasty terrifies me. (A side note to everyone contemplating CT scans, Dominic had his CT scan done when he was 4. However, Dr. J will probably request a more recent one and one that is high resolution. Looking back, I probably should have waited to have the CT scan done.) I don't know yet if Dominic is even a candidate for canalplasty. Dr. J needs info from me before he can determine this. I have not sent it because I am not sure I want Dominic to be put through this invasive surgery. Jack, your son has had canalplasty done. What are your comments on the skin graft taken from the arm and how about follow-up procedures, like debriding of the new canal?? Please shed some light on this and anyone else who has had canalplasty done, please feel free to comment as well. Jet- So glad you joined us. Welcome. To answer your question on what causes microtia/atresia, here's a little story: A gal who lives in my town just gave birth to a little boy with microtia/atresia. She read that Clomid, which is a fertility drug, may cause microtia. She was beating herself up thinking she had caused her son to be born with microtia. I told her that if she never took Clomid, she would never have been able to became pregnant and she would have missed out on God's greatest gift to her. You are a special gift, Jet, as is my son and all the other children that this afflicts. I would not wish it to be any other way. We as parents are the ones who are blessed. You are beautiful just the way you are because remember God doesn't make mistakes. You have come to the right place and continue to ask questions. We all will learn from each other. Take Care and God Bless and Dominic (6 with right microtia/atresia) >From: KDELLA1008@... >Reply-To: AtresiaMicrotia >To: AtresiaMicrotia >Subject: Hair >Date: Tue, 23 Jul 2002 20:34:30 EDT > > > >To all, > >I was wondering if anyone knows the specifics about hair growing on a >reconstructed ear? When and why does it happen? Does laser treatment >eliminate it? How many laser treatments would it take? Is laser treatment >painful? > >Thanks, (Lily) _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 24, 2002 Report Share Posted July 24, 2002 Jack- Sure wish I could be there in New York but Dominic has his stage II scheduled with Dr. Brent in October. We actually have family there and it would have been nice to have combined visiting with them and meeting with Dr. Brent and Dr. J. Deciding to have surgery done by Dr. Brent was something I knew I wanted to do the minute Dominic turned 6. However, we were referred to Dr. J by Dr. Brent. I have been in contact with Dr. J's office. To be quite honest, the information he sent me about the canalplasty terrifies me. (A side note to everyone contemplating CT scans, Dominic had his CT scan done when he was 4. However, Dr. J will probably request a more recent one and one that is high resolution. Looking back, I probably should have waited to have the CT scan done.) I don't know yet if Dominic is even a candidate for canalplasty. Dr. J needs info from me before he can determine this. I have not sent it because I am not sure I want Dominic to be put through this invasive surgery. Jack, your son has had canalplasty done. What are your comments on the skin graft taken from the arm and how about follow-up procedures, like debriding of the new canal?? Please shed some light on this and anyone else who has had canalplasty done, please feel free to comment as well. hi cynthia in re: canalplasties.... if the right surgeon (as dr j) says dominic is a candidate, you are home free. when i hear people worry about skin grafts from the arm or follow up treatments, i have to laugh- there's NOTHING to this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!! the skin graft was just a distant memory after a year. it has certainly all but faded by the next summer. compared with the gift of natural hearing''''''''''' what's to compare? what's to worry? follow up treatments: the ear should be cleaned out annually. dr j does this for judah...takes 15 minutes. (it can be done by a local ENT). gotta tell you, cynthia if dominic is a good candidate (and i pray that he is....) this is a no brainer. good luck! jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 24, 2002 Report Share Posted July 24, 2002 I don't know yet if Dominic is even a candidate for canalplasty. Dr. J needs info from me before he can determine this. I have not sent it because I am not sure I want Dominic to be put through this invasive surgery. Jack, your son has had canalplasty done. What are your comments on the skin graft taken from the arm and how about follow-up procedures, like debriding of the new canal?? Please shed some light on this and anyone else who has had canalplasty done, please feel free to comment as well.<<<<< , I really must tell you that compared to ear reconstruction, canalplasty with Dr. J. is quite simple. It is a one stage surgery with an overnight hospital stay. The day Evan was released from the hospital, while still in Virgina (we stayed for a week afterwards) we went to the movies and out to lunch! There really is no recovery period, these kid's just bounce right back after this. As for calling it invasive, that's not the term I would use. Yes, they are operating in the inner ear but didn't Dr. Brent just open Dominic's chest to harvest rib cartilage? That's more of what I call invasive, necessary, but invasive none the less. Dr. J. is a pro at this surgery and without a doubt, the best man for the job. Concerning the skin graft...it's on the inside of the upper arm and it's a square shape, about 2 x 2 inches (more or less). It's covered by some kind of red gauze dressing that cannot get wet and falls off within a week or so. By the time it fell off of Evan, all that was left was something that more resembled a simple scrape. It's actually funny that I am talking about this today as last night, we realized that we hadn't even looked to see if he had a scar for the longest time. So we looked and looked and couldn't even figure out which arm he had it on, it's THAT invisible less than a year later!!!! Evan already had a canalplasty done (which failed) when he was 4 and that doctor took the skin from his hip and THAT scar is still there, bumpy, lumpy and ugly. Thank goodness it's not visible to anyone! We went back to see Dr. J. in November (his surgery was in September) for our last post op check up and all he did was look inside, remove a tiny bit of scabbing/skin, see how great the inside of Evan's ear looked (for the first time in 4 years!) and sent us on our way!. We now follow up with an ENT in NYC every 6 months. We saw him in February and again, he simply looked inside, saw that everything was pink, healthy and dry and told us to come back in 6 months (OH, and charged us $200!! LOL). There was no debriding or scraping or anything done to his ear canal. When I asked Dr. J. what to expect over time, he said that some people would need the ear canal cleaned out every six months, some would need it once a year and some would NEVER need it!. Just depends on the person. You should sent the info back to Dr. J., just to see if Dominic is indeed a candidate for the canalplasty. If he is and you really DO want to have this done, I'm telling you that it is something that I doubt you will regret. Regards, Lynne (sigh) anna lynne always says things MUCH better than i do! jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 24, 2002 Report Share Posted July 24, 2002 , I have to agree with Jack regarding the canalplasty. The thing you should be most afraid of is an incompetent surgeon. Nerve monitors prevent surgeons from cutting the facial nerve, so make sure the surgeon uses one. Don't let the wealth of information given to you about possible things that could go wrong scare you. They have to make sure you fully understand any and all possible complications no matter how small the probability of occurrence. From my personal experience and what I have gathered from those of others, the most common complication is the canal growing shut again, requiring a revision (another surgery) to correct it. If you are that worried about the skin graft being taken from the arm, ask you doctor about it. He should at least be able to tell you his reasoning as to why he wants it from there. Different doctors have different preferences of where they like to take the skin graft from. My surgeon told me he needs a certain thickness of skin, and he tries to take it from an area that provides the correct thickness and will be the least noticeable. My right ear canal was made from a skin graft from directly behind the ear (before hair growth, of course), and my left ear canal is made of skin graft from my stomach. This way there is no visible scarring (unless I wear a bikini, but onepieces are fine with me!). Bethany Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 24, 2002 Report Share Posted July 24, 2002 >>>>>Sure wish I could be there in New York but Dominic has his stage II scheduled with Dr. Brent in October. We actually have family there and it would have been nice to have combined visiting with them and meeting with Dr. Brent and Dr. J. Deciding to have surgery done by Dr. Brent was something I knew I wanted to do the minute Dominic turned 6. However, we were referred to Dr. J by Dr. Brent. I have been in contact with Dr. J's office. To be quite honest, the information he sent me about the canalplasty terrifies me. (A side note to everyone contemplating CT scans, Dominic had his CT scan done when he was 4. However, Dr. J will probably request a more recent one and one that is high resolution. Looking back, I probably should have waited to have the CT scan done.) I don't know yet if Dominic is even a candidate for canalplasty. Dr. J needs info from me before he can determine this. I have not sent it because I am not sure I want Dominic to be put through this invasive surgery. Jack, your son has had canalplasty done. What are your comments on the skin graft taken from the arm and how about follow-up procedures, like debriding of the new canal?? Please shed some light on this and anyone else who has had canalplasty done, please feel free to comment as well.<<<<< , I really must tell you that compared to ear reconstruction, canalplasty with Dr. J. is quite simple. It is a one stage surgery with an overnight hospital stay. The day Evan was released from the hospital, while still in Virgina (we stayed for a week afterwards) we went to the movies and out to lunch! There really is no recovery period, these kid's just bounce right back after this. As for calling it invasive, that's not the term I would use. Yes, they are operating in the inner ear but didn't Dr. Brent just open Dominic's chest to harvest rib cartilage? That's more of what I call invasive, necessary, but invasive none the less. Dr. J. is a pro at this surgery and without a doubt, the best man for the job. Concerning the skin graft...it's on the inside of the upper arm and it's a square shape, about 2 x 2 inches (more or less). It's covered by some kind of red gauze dressing that cannot get wet and falls off within a week or so. By the time it fell off of Evan, all that was left was something that more resembled a simple scrape. It's actually funny that I am talking about this today as last night, we realized that we hadn't even looked to see if he had a scar for the longest time. So we looked and looked and couldn't even figure out which arm he had it on, it's THAT invisible less than a year later!!!! Evan already had a canalplasty done (which failed) when he was 4 and that doctor took the skin from his hip and THAT scar is still there, bumpy, lumpy and ugly. Thank goodness it's not visible to anyone! We went back to see Dr. J. in November (his surgery was in September) for our last post op check up and all he did was look inside, remove a tiny bit of scabbing/skin, see how great the inside of Evan's ear looked (for the first time in 4 years!) and sent us on our way!. We now follow up with an ENT in NYC every 6 months. We saw him in February and again, he simply looked inside, saw that everything was pink, healthy and dry and told us to come back in 6 months (OH, and charged us $200!! LOL). There was no debriding or scraping or anything done to his ear canal. When I asked Dr. J. what to expect over time, he said that some people would need the ear canal cleaned out every six months, some would need it once a year and some would NEVER need it!. Just depends on the person. You should sent the info back to Dr. J., just to see if Dominic is indeed a candidate for the canalplasty. If he is and you really DO want to have this done, I'm telling you that it is something that I doubt you will regret. Regards, Lynne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 2002 Report Share Posted July 25, 2002 >>>(sigh) anna lynne always says things MUCH better than i do! jack<<< LOL..Gee, thanks Jack! However, being SO passionate about something sure helps!! You know it, I know it and we're trying to let EVERYONE know it! :) Hugs, Lynne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 26, 2002 Report Share Posted July 26, 2002 >>>(sigh) anna lynne always says things MUCH better than i do! jack<<< LOL..Gee, thanks Jack! However, being SO passionate about something sure helps!! You know it, I know it and we're trying to let EVERYONE know it! :) Hugs, Lynne amen!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 8, 2003 Report Share Posted July 8, 2003 S, I had my hyst on June 24th and went back to work on 25th. With my laparoscopy I had surgery on a Thur and went back to work on Mon. When I was pregnant with my angel son I saw my RE until I was 9 1/2 weeks then started with the peri. GOOD LUCK!! <<HUGS>> D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 8, 2003 Report Share Posted July 8, 2003 Dear , I had a hyst/lap under general anesthesia on June 23. It was with Dr. Gallinat in Germany. I've had one hysteroscopy and one laparoscopy before and felt more or less the same each time. The surgery was over at 11 am and I left the clinic at 3 pm, but I couldn't have made it back to my hotel without my husband and a taxi. I flew back home to Finland two days later and it was no problem, but without my husband I would probably have waited one more day just to be on the safe side. I got nine days sick leave from work, which I think was quite appropriate. I think I could have made it back a few days earlier, but it's good to have enough time to recover mentally and rest. The stitches were removed 10 days after surgery, which was a bit late. After they were taken away I now feel completely normal, but was told no excercise until four days after the stitches were removed - so that means no excercise for two weeks, all in all. The only day I felt really sick was the actual surgery day. You get excellent pain killers if you just ask, though, so it wasn't a matter of physical pain as much as nausea and feeling very dizzy. You will need someone to take care of you, see that you get back to your bed and that you have something to drink and eat (something like ice tea and bisquits is fine, no heavy stuff). Try not to be too nervous about it. The only bad thing I've heard happening to people is nausea, which might sometimes be quite overwhelming, while for others it is no problem at all, so that is very individual. Try not to drink or eat anything until you feel safe, and even then start with VERY minimal amounts. Even if you become sick, you'll know it will be over in just a few hours and it's nothing dangerous. I'm sorry I can't say anything about the RE/ObGyn question, since we have a very different system where I live. Please ask if you want to know something in more detail, I have it all in fresh memory. Love, F Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 8, 2003 Report Share Posted July 8, 2003 Hi , The recovery time after my hyst was pretty quick. I was crampy for about a day. I did not have the lap though, & I here that will take a little more time to recover from. I plan on staying w/the A list Dr (Dr. C) until I become preg. I hear you stay w/him for the first 8 - 10 weeks & then he'll release you to an OB, or peri based on your circumstance. Good luck. D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 9, 2003 Report Share Posted July 9, 2003 , D. and D., Thank you so much, ladies, for your advice and info. I think I'll try to schedule my surgery on a Thursday to make my life a bit easier. Just take a long weekend and relax. Has anyone heard of the possibility of a " balloon " being placed inside the uterus after a hysteroscopy to keep it from closing up again while the lining heals? Does that really decrease the risk of further scarring? How long does it stay in there? And I think I heard that you take estrogen at the same time to build up the endometrium. I hate being worried because its so hard to concentrate on anything else. But I am so THANKFUL to have all of you to talk to. S. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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