The Importance of Ear Health
So many kids grow up with ear infections. And for the vast majority of those kids, they get treated and everyone moves on. But what do you do when it becomes a chronic, life long issue?
I was that kid. While I don't know my exact pathology, I was essentially born with blocked ears and didn't learn to talk properly until I was close to school aged. One of my earliest memories is actually being in the hospital overnight, without my mom, when I was 3. I was getting my first set of tubes. I even remember the smell of the anesthesia - it smelled like cheap bubble gum. This was circa 1981 - and yes, I am dating myself….
One of my other early childhood memories is walking up the big hill of the Mount Pleasent School yard in my hometown of Hudson, Quebec to go to speech therapy. I must have been 4. I was not yet in school.
Once I did start school, it was apparent that my ear issues were going to continue to affect me. Because I didn’t learn how to talk properly, I had a miserable time with all things spelling - I didn't know how to sound out words. To make matters even worse, I was in French Immersion, so I spent half my day learning French, while still trying to figure out English.
Surprisingly, I remained infection-free for the most part through my teens and 20’s. But in my mid-30’s, the issues started again. At the time, we had moved from the Montreal area to Minneapolis. I found an ENT who worked so hard with me, even to the point of getting tubes in my ears the morning of a flight to Mexico so I could go on our family vacation while dealing with a horrible infection. Trying to shove a tube into an infected ear drum is not a pleasant experience, BTW and I don’t recommend it.
I eventually developed a MRSA infection in my right ear. This infection lasted 9 months, and took 19 rounds of antibiotics to get rid of. I never want to go through the "decolonization" process again. At the time I joked that “only I would manage to die because of an ear infection”.
I finally qualified to get Eustachian tube balloon dilation - which was just coming out of the experimental phase at that time. Unfortunately, I was one of the few people who undergo this procedure and end up with pETD. I knew from the moment I woke up from surgery that I was screwed… And while I would love to turn back the clock, it was truly the only choice I had at the time: more infections/MRSA or a risk of pETD - not much of a choice.
Both oETD and pETD have been part of my entire life- all 48 years of it - in one way or another.. Both have come close to putting me 6 feet under - one from the severity of infection and one from the sheer effects on my mental health.
If there is one thing I want you, the reader, to take away from what I have gone through: Ear health should not be overlooked. It should not be minimized. Ear health is so delicate and yet we treat our audiology and balance system like it doesn't matter… until it does and oftentimes, the damage is already done. I am so lucky that my son, who is an aspiring pilot, does not seem to have inherited my bad ear anatomy. He may complain sometimes that he got my temper and stubbornness, I can always say “well it could have been worse - you could have gotten my ears and vestibular system.”
As technology has improved over the years, there are so many more options for ear treatments, especially for oETD. The balloon dilation field has come so far, tubes are better, stay in longer and easier to insert. And in reference to pETD, we now know the effects of over use of antihistamines, nasal sprays, reflux and the effects of rapid weight loss. And yet so many people still suffer.
Whether you have perfect ears, or chronically messy ones like me, take care of them - they are the only ones we have.
Love Stephie xx
