Cholesteatoma

Sort of an odd post to start off with, but it's something I am currently going through. So I figured I'd give a little info. 

What is a Cholesteatoma?- it is a benign growth in the ear. You can be born with it, or you can develop it. It is unclear as to what actually causes the growth. It is a progressive growth. It eats anything in its path and continues to grow bigger. It will eat bone and eventually will eat through the bone holding your brain in your head. When that happens there's problems! For me personally it ate away all 3 hearing bones, ate at a tasting nerve and was all wrapped around my nerve to my left side of my face, but luckily it did not result in any paralysis. It also ate away at the bone to my brain thinning it but no damage was done, Thank God! They found this growth after 5 doctors couldn't treat my ear infection and my ear canal was closing. They sent me to the ENT and in 2 mins flat he knew what was wrong. This was September 2015. That ENT sent me to a specialist at the University of Minnesota. She removed my Cholesteatoma in November 2015. They had to open up my mastoid bone and also take down my ear canal. Procedure called canal wall down tympano mastoidectomy. So I have an enlarged ear canal with no canal (open cavity) that needs to be cleaned out every 6 months by and ENT. Well exactly 1 year later I was having minor issues and its believed to be back..... so November 2016 they are going in again to remove either scar tissue growth or what is more than likely more Cholesteatoma! ugh!!! But I will also be getting titanium hearing bone prosthetics. I'm hoping that will give me a bit more hearing in my left ear. Here are a few pictures of my journey last year. I will keep everyone updated on Novembers outcome!

 This was the first time seeing my baby girl in 2 days. She was 2.5 almost 3 here. Sleep overs at anyones house is quite rare. She spent the night with her Grandma 2 nights in a row she was oh so happy to see momma. Not really understanding what in the world is going on!

 This picture is the scar behind my ear from opening my mastoid bone. This is the cleanest scar I have seen!!

This picture shows my left ear compared to my right ear. You can see how the ear canal is enlarged here.