A friend put me onto Swaylocks a couple of months ago, said they might appreciate knowing what to expect of the surgery. I had it done Wednesday (2 days ago), so here goes:
I went to California Ear Institute at the corner of University and 101 in Palo Alto, CA. I had 98% closure of the left and 80 on the right. They did the left.
Dr Michael Murray was my quack and he’s good, clearly done it many times before and has a great bedside manner. He understands that we just want to get back in the water.
The surgery was at Stanford Hospital (on the university grounds). I went in at 8am, did paperwork etc and they started cutting at around 11 or so. They gave me a general, and I woke up at around 2pm feeling pretty sick. They say often people get nauseous after ear surgery and I sure did, I was dry retching till 5pm with the odd half hour sleep. My wife got me home, said the doc’ told her it was a success. Big bandage holding a lot of wadding over the ear, a few drops of blood overnight but not too bad. Took the bandage off Thursday, they pack the ear itself with some kind of wax that they remove after a week. They gave me vicodin which has helped so far but I’ll be moving to Tylenol to stop the narcotic effect, it’s pretty hard to get a decent sleep. It gets painful every 3 or so hours so I take 1 vicodin (instead of 2). Jaw is a bit tender on the left but I could eat ok the day after surgery. They used tissue glue to stick the ear back on, so no stitches to remove.
All in all it’s worth it and I’d recommend Cal Ear Institute. Doc’ reckoned I’d be back in the water after 6 weeks.
I’ve attached a photo of the back of my ear, I’d always wondered how it’d look and I’m sure a few others have too.
What were the issues you were dealing with that much blockage? Infections, pain etc.? I had Doctors (15) years ago tell me I would need that surgery, but over the last few years, wearing a hood in the winter, the ears have actually gotten better.
Do surfers in warm waters have problems with this?
Proneman I started haveing symptoms about 5 years ago, mainly my ears not draining after a session. Sometimes it took a couple of days to fully clear. I never got an infection (well not bad anyway, I got some pressure but never bad enough to see the doc’). Cold water is worse for it, I surfed through NZ winters (cold enough there’d be snow on the beach at times) and also rode motorbikes for 15 years year-round without plugs. Last March or so I went deaf in the left and it wouldn’t come right, sort of on again off again with a popping sound. I started using those wax plugs from Safeway after that, they’re real good once you figure out the best way to install them. I finally saw the doc in about September and she said I was deaf because there was a tiny wee bit of detritus blocking the tiny wee pinhole I had left. She got that out, gave me steroid drops and then I saw the Cal Ear Institute and started down the surgery route.
In retrospect I wish I’d looked into it 5 years ago, I would have gotten drops and started wearing a plug.
Moral is, take care of it sooner rather than later. I ignored it as long as I could and didn’t really gain anything by doing that.
PS it’s an expensive operation, luckily my insurance is covering it all but so far it’s well over the $8000 mark. Makes the $10 for drops and plugs seem not too bad eh.
Yes they do. Make sure your ear is dry and clean, and when I pop 'em in I try to form almost a vacuum seal that sucks the plug in. Kind of push it in right in the centre till you feel the vacuum, then spread the wax over the hole.
I got a drop or two in every half dozen or so sessions.
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