Sunday, December 07, 2003
Lend me your ear!
About the only complaint I have now is itching behind my ear. It's kind of odd that the bottom quarter of my ear and some of my cheek and neck is numb, yet the itch sensation is amazingly strong. Since I hadn't been able to really wash the area too well because of the steri-strips, some of the skin is pretty dry, especially the crease behind my ear.
I took the last strip off three days ago, and now that I can really get it all wet, it is getting better. Sometimes, though, the itching is really strong and I need to be careful not to scratch too much since I can't feel it very well. I don't want to abrade it too much.
The whole "wooden ear" thing is a bit strange. I can't remember if I wrote much about this, but it is pretty much guaranteed that you lose feeling in your earlobe after surgery and it may never come back. My whole ear was quite numb and I started to get the feeling back little by little. Since it is mostly just my earlobe now, I wonder if I'll get it all back?
Earlier, the numbness was very odd - it felt like I had a large weight attached to my ear tugging it down. The other problem was feeling like my eyeglasses were falling off, but I've gotten past that now. Now it just feels like I have something clamped to my earlobe.
Hold on! I better check the mirror to make sure my wife hasn't clipped on an earring when I wasn't looking. Nope, just the numbness.
I took the last strip off three days ago, and now that I can really get it all wet, it is getting better. Sometimes, though, the itching is really strong and I need to be careful not to scratch too much since I can't feel it very well. I don't want to abrade it too much.
The whole "wooden ear" thing is a bit strange. I can't remember if I wrote much about this, but it is pretty much guaranteed that you lose feeling in your earlobe after surgery and it may never come back. My whole ear was quite numb and I started to get the feeling back little by little. Since it is mostly just my earlobe now, I wonder if I'll get it all back?
Earlier, the numbness was very odd - it felt like I had a large weight attached to my ear tugging it down. The other problem was feeling like my eyeglasses were falling off, but I've gotten past that now. Now it just feels like I have something clamped to my earlobe.
Hold on! I better check the mirror to make sure my wife hasn't clipped on an earring when I wasn't looking. Nope, just the numbness.
Finally a new picture!
It's been 16 days now and the scar is coming along nicely. It's all cleaned up and the part in front of the ear is not noticeable at all. I've posted a new picture and added a feature that shows the incision line when you hover the mouse over the picture. I think this will be more and more necessary as the scar fades away.
Monday, December 01, 2003
New Friends
I am really glad that I decided to do this Blog. Because of it, I have been getting emails from other people that are looking for more information and I try to help as much as I can. Of course, I encourage everyone to visit the Patient's Forum also - everyone there is really great.
I've traded email with people from Australia and, judging from the email address, the Philippines, as well as a number of folks in the US. I hope there are similar support mechanisms for other ailments as well! In any case, I feel "lucky" to have gotten this one.
I've traded email with people from Australia and, judging from the email address, the Philippines, as well as a number of folks in the US. I hope there are similar support mechanisms for other ailments as well! In any case, I feel "lucky" to have gotten this one.
Back to Work
Well, it was nice to have the time off, but it's nice to be back in the real world again. It's 11 days after the surgery and I feel normal. My ear is still numb and that causes the strange sensation of my glasses falling off all the time, but other than that, I have no complaints.
