A couple of questions about Post-Translab

[bpham]

I had Translab about 10 weeks ago (Oct 8 2007).

Currently almost everything is fine except a couple of minor things:

1.  My ear on the AN side seems to be itching inside, especially when there are loud noises, or when I touch the ear.  Does anyone experience this?  This has been going on for about 3 weeks.

2.  My AN side of the head seems to be fairly sensitive to the touch.  It feels as if the nerve on that side is super sensitive to anything brushing against it like when I'm taking off or putting on a t-shirt or running my finger through my hair.

3.  How do I know if these symptoms above might be a sign of infection?  Should there be fever associated with infection if there is one?  Currently I do not have any fever at all.

Thanks.

[Samantha n Adrian]

I had my surgery 1 month before yours, 9/6/07, and I had many of the same symptoms.  Since the 3 month mark, I can sleep on the AN ear which was impossible before.  You will keep getting strange sensations in and around the ear…loud noises do affect me as well….from what I understand this is normal.  I’m no Dr., but I do not think it’s an infection.  You should let your surgeon know.  Good luck!

Did you have any facial palsy?

Adrian

[danijake]

Everything you're experiencing, I went through. It's all normal. I am 4+ months post op and all I have now is a constant headache that gets worse unless I take ibuprofen...800 mg every 4 hours. I am also on Neurontin 300 mg 3x a day. The itching---is it deep inside or on the outside? Mine is both. And the touching of my ear or behind the ear is a numbness and is slightly painful. Not enough to cry over, though. I don't believe it's an infection, but just to be sure, call your Dr on Wed. Hope this helped. You can email me or send me a PM if you want. Be glad to answer any questions you may have because there will be tons!!

[bpham]

Dani / Adrian,

Thanks for the reply.

I did have facial palsy big time before the surgery (about 10 days before the ops).  I used to have drooping lip, twitching eye/lip, and could not chew on that side.  Dr. gave me a dose of Prednison.  I remembered telling the Anesthesiologist on my surgery day that I just took the last dose of Prednison so he could give me a boost in the IV. The prednison did help me recovering most of my facial weakness.  After the surgery, I did not lose any more of the facial nerve.  Now after 11 weeks, people can not detect that I had any issue, only I know because of some tightness around the ear and AN side.  The point is that the facial weakness has improved greatly after 8 weeks.

Also, after the surgery, exactly 10 days after, I was losing hearing on the good side which really scared me.  But after a couple of weeks, it has returned to normal.  No one knows why this happened.

Currently, I have no major issue.  My balance has improved to the point that I've not noticed it much except a few times a day.  I'm starting to jog again but slowly.  No headache at all since the surgery.

The itching in the ear seems to be in the ear canal and not in the inner ear.  The pain is also around the ear and behind the ear which is where the opening was.  It sounds like this is normal and I should not be concerned. I still can not sleep sideway on the AN side yet since it is quite unconformable.

I think I'm very lucky to have very few post-ops issues.  I do believe that any issue that we're all experiencing now will go away over time.

Thanks.

[danijake]

Yeah, your ear and behind it will feel tight because it is numb. Is it? Mine is. After a couple of months I could finally lay on the AN side, but it is still uncomfortable. I just use a soft pillow. You are very lucky, I'm envious that you don't have headaches!! It's a good thing though. I still wish I'd had time to research the surgical approaches before I had it done. The tumor was pressing on my brain stem and causing me to pass out all the time...mostly at work! So therefore they had to get it out of there. I didn't even have a month to get all of my affairs in order and plans made for my son. I was scared S*@#less. My whole family was at the hospital for the whole 7 1/2 hours. I think they spoiled me yesterday because they thought they were gonna lose me. I don't know, I'm rambling. Sorry. I hope you get everything back to the "real" normal. I am getting used to my "new" normal. Hugs your way .

[lori67]

I had the hyper-sensitivity on the surgical side for a while too.  I think the nerves that control the sensation to the skin were just irritated from the surgery.  I had a few weeks where I could swear even my hair hurt in some spots, yet other spots were completely numb.  Now at 11 months, I still have a few numb spots and the really sensitive, sore spots had gone away - until the BAHA surgery.  Now I have a whole new set of numb spots and one really sensitive spot.  I can deal with it to be able to hear again though - but it sure makes getting a haircut fun!   


As for infection, you'd probably have some fever or some redness around your incision if it was infected, but it's always better to have the doctor take a look at it.  Especially since it's a little hard to see that area for yourself!

Lori

[bpham]

Dani

I believe the Translab approach is the least likely of the 3 to cause headache and it is the safest approach and also allows the doctors to have a better view of the tumor for complete removal.

Hope you'll feel better.

As for the SSD, I'm used to it now and dont think that I need some kind of hearing aid...yet.  Probably wait for something down the road that works good and does not require another surgery.  Although I've, from time to time, thought about what I used to be able to hear my music without missing any little details (my hobby used to be stereo equipments...I had to sell everything right before the surgery and now listening to one earphone iPod....).

Thank you all for replying.

[cheza]

Hi I had translab 8 weeks ago I get itching inside my ear its horriable, and the more I try to itch the worse it gets and I usually end up making my ear hurt by wiggling it around, my left side is also very sensitive but it is getting better, I can put my head on the pillow on that side as long as my ear doesn't touch it and I can't have anyone touch it but me, even I make myself shudder, I'm guessing it will get better with time and your symptoms sound normal, although,, if your still concerned the only person who will put your mind at ease is your doctor,  at the end of the day thats what they are there for.

I also find noisey places hurt my ear and find that the next day its even worse and it can take upto a week for my ear to stop ringing, do you put a ear plug in your good ear? I do and I find it helps!

hope this helps take care

Cheryl AKA cheza XxX