A Conversation with
Elizabeth
1999
Ear problems
From:
LMixson
To:
Elizabeth (E-mail)
Sent: Friday,
February 19, 1999 9:39 AM
Subject: Ear problems
I was out most of yesterday at the doctor's offices.
Wednesday night I played racquetball and took a hard driven ball right
into my left ear. I all my 15+ years of playing I've never had my
ear hit. I wear goggles to protect my eyes but not ear protection.
Well I couldn't hear much out of my left ear all that night and when it
was the same on Thursday morning I went to see the doctor. My
regular doctor looked at it and then refereed me to a ear specialist who
then looked at it and found that I punctured my ear drum. He says
that punctures usually will grow back but in my case he isn't sure
because it is quite a big puncture. He said we would monitor it
over the next six weeks or so and see how it does. If it doesn't
grow back they can operate on it and graft a piece of skin over the
hole. They also did a hearing test and found that I can still hear out
of the ear but only about 20% of normal. It feels really strange
to have such a hearing loss. If it was gradual over years it would
be quite one thing but to lose it all at once, well it is not a good
feeling. He says if it grows back or they do the graft I should be
pretty much back to normal. I hope so. Well still not much
else happening, no plans for the weekend so it will be quite and
restful.
Larry Mixson
Updated: 04-26-2024