At a Dilemma

[PinkyRock]

I can't write this without giving a full explanation of what I've been through so far.

So basically I've had ear problems since the age of maybe 4/5 (I know first op was at 6 but then there's all those appointments before) and then they went away for a bit. Skip to age 11 and they came back. Skip to age 13 I had another op. The year after the op I was given good news that the hole in my ear was healing.

Skip to March this year I had my routine yearly appointment (a little off-topic but this was the appointment I was likely to get de-referred from outpatients) and they told me it had come back again and that my eardrum was beginning to collapse (or was at risk, hazy memory) and another op would be considered (a longer one, with a week/two weeks of recovery time plus the potential to go deaf/have hearing loss in the ear the op would happen in, in worst case scenario).

I had to have a CT scan in May (to help them decide) and now waiting on the appointment in September which will decide whether I have the op or not.

Now I can say what I am at a dilemma about:

I am honestly not sure what to do. I'm at two minds about it. I'm not having any physical effects from the hole and in fact my ear ache I did have occasionally before has gone. But then if I didn't have it I could have problems in a couple of years (which I personally think is unlikely but it's happened before...) and then could be forced to have the op at a inconvenient point in my life (but then again if I were to have it before it came to that point it would likely be at the time of my A/AS Level exams or the revision lessons for them). In addition to this I haven't had any ear infections since the time it all happened (I had a couple of consecutive months of them).

I think about this dilemma almost as much as I think about results day, so it does mean a lot to me. It isn't helped by the fact that they sent a letter today (again off-topic). Anyone saying anything about this would help me, even if its not words of advice. I just can't keep all this in my head anymore.

 

[Waterwerx]

Many children when they are young can suffer from frequent ear infections(otitis media iirc) and usually grow out of it due to the change in geometry of the middle & inner ear. My guess is you had a(or multiple) myringotomy when you were a kid and one of the eardrums did not heal correctly(I'm assuming this continuing issue is in one and not both of your ears).

You need to discuss this with your ENT specialist and weigh the risks vs benefits. If this is from a retracted/concave eardrum(tympanic membrane), then they need to find the cause and correct it asap. Otherwise this can cause undesirable wear on the bones(malleus, incus, stapes) and lead to deafness of the affected ear.