So on Sunday I had begun my self isolation, and I hated every second of it. My mental health was incredibly low, and I never got anything done as my schedule was an absolute mess.

On Thursday I had my surgery and it went well. They didn’t have to cut behind my eardrum which was brilliant and meant less stitches. I woke up in the recovery room and was in so little pain that I went back to sleep 😂

Not the case now of course! I’m in a fair bit of pain which isn’t affected by the painkillers, my ear is bleeding and the left side of my mouth is numb. Living with chronic pain though, I’m fairly unbothered and just living with it as I know it’s only temporary. Oh! I’m also pretty deaf in that ear but that was the one thing I was expecting the most.

I have a post-op appointment in 3 weeks which I’m a little nervous about. I had to have this op because I was in the 1% that had a perforation from a grommet, and then I was also in an even lower percentage for a cholesteatoma. There’s a 3% chance of this op being unsuccessful.

Though of course I’m not spending much time worrying. I’m just cautious about celebrating early about closing a 16 year chapter. And I doubt it’ll be immediately obvious yet in terms of whether the op was unsuccessful. After all, last time things looked successful and good for a year and then it wasn’t. Then it stayed stable for 4 years and then it didn’t. It’s just in the back of my mind.

#ChronicPain #Surgery #Operation #HearingLoss #tympanoplasty #ent #MentalHealth