Best news on Earth ever!
It’s as good as it’s going to get. I’ve gone from moderate to severe hearing loss in my right ear to mild hearing loss. And now, because there isn’t a hole in my ear drum, I can get my ear wet! Yes, I can finally take a shower without wearing earplugs!
I’ve been wearing earplugs while showing and swimming for as long as I can remember – my entire life. Tonight, I’ll try to take my first shower without an earplug. It’s both terrifying and liberating.
Hey Richard, I’m scheduled to get a tympanoplasty on January 5th and I’ve done a lot of research on it. Firstly, I’d like to thank you for posting all this stuff about your surgery and recovery. It’s been really helpful to me in understanding exactly what it is that I’m getting myself into. I right ear drum was perforated when I was about 14 and I’m 19 now, so it’s been a few years and I’ve had to deal with the ear infections and avoiding getting water in it for all that time. It’s really quite a bother in the shower and prevents me from swimming, which is something I love, as well as the girls in the bikinis (haha
). Anyway, seeing as how you went through all of this already, I was wondering if you could answer one of my major questions with a unique perspective, seeing as to how you had to deal with it (my tympanoplasty will be done by going into the ear from making the incision behind the ear, not through the ear canal, by the way). After your surgery, how did you manage to wash your ear and hair in the shower without getting water/soap/shampoo on or in the wound or your ear?
Daniel, thanks for your thoughtful comment. I rounded up your comment and some others for a new blog post dedicated to Tympanoplasty questions. You can find that here:
http://www.richardmondello.com/2009/12/28/nice-words-from-new-friends/
“Best news on Earth ever!”
Winner: Understatemenmt of the year.
Understatement? What should I have said?
so what was the outcome of this? have you been able to not have to wear earplugs since the surgery? (I’ll go through the rest of your blog, as maybe you have answered this…)
I posted on your main post about the surgery itself (as I also mentioned I just had a tympanoplasty & mastoidechtomy this past week) – and I too have worn earplugs since as far back as I can remember – in fact i constantly have terrifying nightmares that I’m in a situation where I’m surrounded by water and the only thing I think of is that I don’t have my earplugs!!!
My doc has said that it MIGHT be possible for me to NOT have to wear earplugs once all of this is said and done – but I’m terrified to try it because I’ve been wearing earplug literally all of my life around water….course it’ll be a few months til I can even try anyways as I’m obviously just beginning to heal from the surgery itself.
I just have to say, again, I really appreciate your blog as I am so happy to find someone else who understands what I’ve gone through all of my life.
Keri-Ann,
I’ve been showing without an earplug for over a year now. I went swimming just the other night.
I understand how liberating the idea of not having to wear earplugs must seem to you. I really do hope, so much, that you get to that point. It would make me so happy.
me too.