Hear Ye... Hear Ye

Well... Monday was Rodger's ear surgery. We were supposed to be at LDS Hospital by 10:15am. The traffic ended up being lighter then we though so we got up there at about 9:45am. His surgery was to start at 11:45am so we did a lot of waiting. At about 11:15 they informed us the current surgery was taking longer and we wouldn't get in for an hour or more. By the time he actually went in for the surgery it was 1:00pm. I had a big headache by then (I get headaches almost every day... maybe because of the pregnancy? or maybe the stress?). I was so tired too. Luckily I was able to sleep for about an hour. I found a bench in the waiting room that didn't have arms on them (most of the chairs had arms). I would have slept longer but a lot of family and relatives of another patient came in and were quite loud. I was grateful for the hour of sleep.... yea, I drooled some, hahaha.

The surgeon, Dr. Clough Chelton, came in a little about 3:00pm to tell me the surgery went well and he was able to rebuild Rodger's ear with a prosthetic of the three hearing bones (see diagrams below).





He said everything looked as expected. He did have to take a skin graft from the outside of Rodger's ear to help in the surgery.

Usually the post-op of the surgeries is painful and no fun for Rodger. He hurts a lot and because it is an ear surgery he is very nauseated (therefore, throwing up quite a bit). Going back and forth with the pain medicine and nausea medicine it is usually a while before we get to go home. This one, however, was definitely an easier time in the hospital. We left Salt Lake City at about 6:00-ish where we usually are there until 7-9pm. I was so happy we didn't have to stay forever.

It still has been hard on Rodger... pain and nausea and dizziness... but he is coming along. So, this is the process now:

1. Rodger can't lift more then 10 pounds for 3 weeks. He can't blow his nose and has to be careful with water in the ear for a month.

2. Rodger will go in for a checkup in a month. The surgeon will remove the extenal packing in the eardrum at that time. The remaining packing that is further in the ear will dissolve over time. It may take two months. The packing is to keep the infection out... no good to have infection in the ear since it is so close to the brain and stuff... so we love packing.

3. Rodger will have his hearing tested in 4 months once the packing is all dissolved and his ear has time to heal completely. So, at that point we will know how successful this surgery went. We are praying everything goes smooth and I will have a hearing husband again. We pray this is the last surgery for him. He has had one in the right ear and this was his fourth in his left ear... we are ready to be done.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Below you will find photographs from the evening of the surgery and the following day when the dressings were removed.