Positive results for the Labrynthectomy surgery

One of the issues that many meniere’s patients have to deal with is what type of treatment they would be willing to go through. It can be a very difficult decision because some of the treaments can cause hearing damage and balance problems, with the labrynthectomy surgery everything is removed so there isn’t any hearing or balance, at least that is what my doctor told me. In August I received a comment from Peggy who at the time was debating whether to have the surgery or not. Well, she ended up getting the surgery and she recently commented on how things are going. I am so glad that Peggy shared her story with us because it is very important to hear how folks are doing after a particular treatment.


Here is an excerpt from Peggy’s comment…

Peggy said...


Well, I went ahead and had the surgery. I was terrified, but it went extremely well. No complications at all, and the recovery has been smooth so far.


What's really interesting, David, is my doctor really listened to all I've been asking her about in recent months, and she heard my concern about destroying the whole labyrinth system. The day of the surgery, she told my husband that she was going to drill through only one of the semi-circular canals, not all of them as is usually done for the labyrinthectomy. This means I have the apparatus left for possible future use if current research comes up with a way to regrow the tiny hair cells to regain hearing, or if I ever need a prosthetic vestibular nerve (if, god forbid, the other ear gets Meniere's too).






It's been a little rough these past two weeks since the operation, but not nearly as bad as I expected. Hardly any vertigo, no nausea (because I'd already had many gentamicin treatments, so the right vestibular nerve was already used to having to take over my balance functions from the left one). I also had very little pain. But my left ear doesn't feel like it belongs to me right now, which is incredibly strange. I expect that will improve as my recovery continues. The bone around the ear is very tender, and the incision is very, very strange feeling. Not pain, exactly, but irritating. And it's scary to look at. It runs from almost the top of the back of the ear (right down the crease) and goes nearly to the lobe. It's kind of itchy and very tight as it heals.


I think it was the right thing to do. I couldn't really imagine having gentamicin injections on a regular, ongoing basis, and the nerve kept regrowing. We had tried every more conservative treatment, and I sought a second opinion. We went by the book every step of the way.


I've been able to do quite a lot already since the surgery, including having friends over for dinner and going to an art show last weekend. This week I'm going to try driving locally and go back to rehearsals with the choir I sing with.


I can safely say I'm no worse than I was before the surgery, and I have some hope that I will improve. It's very early in the recovery process, and already I feel pretty functional. So let's see how much of an improvement I can achieve.




Once again I am thankful for Peggy sharing her story with us. To read all her comments go to the following website.

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