N3il's Blog

It’s now Saturday and I’m sitting at home in bed with a sore head after another operation last Thursday 20 March.

So as you can see from the photo, I have more metal staples back in the side of my head and so I’m again ‘The Man of Steel’ with another 22 metal staples behind my ear, these do look far worst than they actually are and they mostly follow the previous scar line from Novembers operation only changing direction at bottom of the ear and you can see the previous scar did healed very well and this scar has healed so well. My ear is still bleeding a bit and I’m still feeling pretty sore and tender on this side of my head, but generally the operation has been far less invasive than November’s operation was.

This operation has come as a bit of a set back, but was needed to trying to repair and reconnect my inner ear with my outer ear to restore the hearing in this ear, this was partly due to November operation and further damaged by the radiotherapy. If I didn’t have this operation my ear would have been prone to regular infections. Unfortunately the issue couldn’t be fixed and they had to close off the ear channel, which now means I have lost the normal hearing in this ear, but over the next couple of months I should be able to get a Baha bone connected hearing aid which will then hopefully give me back pretty good hearing in this ear. I’m now slowly getting over the operation and my ear is still sore and tender and blood is still coming out a bit from my ear, but hopefully this will all improve over the next couple of days. The staples will be taken out next Friday and hopefully the ear will be healing well by then.

Over the next few weeks starting Monday, I have a couple of appointments to assess my hearing and for general reviews with my treatment. So apart from my ear, the rest of me is still slowly improving, I’m still feeding via the stomach tube, but I’m also taking far from drinks and thicker soups and hopefully in the next couple of weeks I might be able to start eating some proper food again, can’t wait! The thick saliva has improved massively and I now seem to have a dry mouth most of the time. So that me for now.

On a technical note, there has been a issue with the email notifications for those who have subscribed to my blog as it hasn’t been working. Hopefully the issue is now fixed.

Thanks again for your support.

Neil

It’s now nearly 6 week since the radiotherapy and  nearly 4 months since the operation and 3 weeks since I was last in Guys having the stomach tube fitted.

The stomach tube, which I can report has been a great improvement from the nose tube I’ve had for the previous 3 months and most other areas have also improved. I am now drinking and swallowing far more and am daily having milkshakes and soup the proper way down my throat. The thick saliva has gone down massively, although my mouth is far drier, but I can cope better with this because I just have a drink. My energy levels are improving but I still have a way to go here, but I’m trying to get out for walk daily and fresh air which all helps especially as the weather has been far brighter. I also had another appointment 2 weeks ago with the eye specialist who re-tested by eyes and felt the left eye had improved better that he was expecting it to, although he didn’t feel it would improve much further, but again positive news. I then had my eyes re-tested at the opticians as I felt my prescription had changed and it has, but the left eye was actually stronger than it was before not weaker. This was another surprise. I’ve also been back behind the wheel of car, which has given me back some of the freedom I have been been reliant on others for recently.

I came up to Guys today for my 6 weeks treatment review with the consultant radiologist, who is very happy with my progress and feels I have progressed far quicker that they was expecting. This was positive and encouraging news. I’m also here today as I’m being admitted again for a small operation on my ear tomorrow (Thursday). This is to try and repair the connection of the inner ear to the outer ear, which didn’t work very well when I had the main operation back in November and could have been further damaged by the radiotherapy. There are 2 possible outcomes to the operation. One is they are able to fix it and I should be able to hear again normally or they can repair it and I will lose the normal hearing in this ear, but can then have a bone connected hearing aid. So one way or other I will be able to hear in my left ear, but I’m hoping and praying that they will be able to correct the ear and I will be able to hear normally. So if  want something to pray for it would be my ear operation this week.

We now come to the end of my update and I’ve come a long way in my journey but there is light at the end of the tunnel, thanks again for all your prayers and support and please contunuie to pray for my full recovering. Please also prayer for Sue who has been such a rock to me over these pass few months and for our teenagers Dan, Sophy and Amy, who have all just had to get on with life whilst having a busy mum and a dad being around but not able to really particate in normally family life, happyerly they can see this is slowly getting back to some sort or normality.

Thanks Neil