Two months ago I had ear surgery and yesterday I had my 3rd follow-up visit with Dr. Cullen, the neuro-otologist who did my tympanoplasty.  This process has been more complicated than I anticipated, but began when, as a child, I had repeated ear infections.  My sister remembers me as a baby screaming in pain.  So, 59 years later in February 2013 I started  a series of persistent infections that caused me to use up all my sick leave at work.  Each one was progressively worse, and by March, while the infections did not appear obvious, a left-sided pounding began in my left ear.  After multiple doctors, including every doc in my primary care group, I saw an ENT who saw a hole in my eardrum.  There was "something" behind it, and he suspected a cholesteatoma.  This required a sub-specialist, and scans: CT, MRI and MRA.  All results were negative and the new doctor, Dr. Cullen, said I was a good candidate for a tympanoplasty.  He was not sure how much repair he would need to do until he got inside.  He could see from the scans that the malleous bone (the hammer) in the middle ear had deteriorated from disease.  He said he would build a new one using otologic cement to replace it.  It took two months to reach this conclusion and by April I was on medical leave. It was an anticlimactic end to my 18 year career with the Shawnee Mission School District, but my coworkers gave me a wonderful luncheon party the week before surgery in May.

One day post-surgery

On May 20 my sister, Jan Schiller, arrived from Florida to look after me for two weeks post-surgery, and on May 21 I went to the Overland Park Surgery Center for the all-morning procedure. The surgery was an incision around the outer ear to fold it out of the way.  A one-inch strip of hair was shaved behind my ear. Once the doctor got in he realized there was a sizable cholesteatoma and the eardrum was beyond repair.  He built me a new one out of some of my ear cartilage.  Amazing! He also replaced the malleous bone with a newly constructed model.  Both the middle and outer ear were packed with surgical packing, much of which dissolved over time, and Dr. Cullen neatly put my ear back together with a tight row of steri-strips and a pressure dressing. The outer dressing came off after 24 hours; after a week the doctor removed the tape and steri-strips revealing a tender, but neat and tidy incision, already beginning to heal nicely. The main thing was "The ear MUST be kept dry... No water in the ear!" I was also not allowed to lift or to bend over.

For 2 weeks Jan helped me wash my hair at the kitchen sink.  I was very sad to see her go and definitely missed her company when she left.  It wan then that I realized I couldn't pick things up off the floor without a deep-knee bend!

Celebratory farewell lunch 

Bill called my straight-postured stoop for using the dishwasher "The Tympanoplasty Dip." For the washing machine I used long tongs like a reacher.

Waterproof ear-gear

At the end of 3 weeks I was able to bend and lift, and I began using antibiotic ear-drops to loosen the packing in the outer ear. To wash my hair I developed a waterproof system of Vaseline covered cotton ball, covered then by Saran Wrap and a slit sandwich bag. Using folds and hair clips I was able to keep my ear dry, and definitely looking forward to being able to wash my hair normally again!

After one month I saw the doctor and he removed the remaining outer ear packing.  Bill was in California for family business and I asked when I could fly just in case I could join him.  He said I was free to fly!  So, within 20 hours I was on a plane to L.A.  Flying and changing altitude in general has always been painful for me.  I just grit my teeth, chew gum, yawn, take decongestants, and wait for the painful popping to end.  This was an amazing trip because in spite of all the fluttering and popping in my left ear, there was no pain - the first time ever! I definitely enjoyed my time in Manhattan Beach, California.

View from The Sea View Inn

And so, here I am 2 months post-surgery. Yesterday I got that much-anticipated clearance to get my ear wet!  I had a normal shower this morning - no ear-gear... It was glorious!  I am not quite done yet, there is still packing inside that dissolves ever-so-slowly over time leaving me with a metallic taste in my mouth. And there is minor tenderness on the top of my outer ear.  The eardrum still feels raw, tender and sore with some discharge now and then, all part of the healing process. I can tell that my hearing has already improved - another amazing outcome since I was at a 50% loss pre-surgery.  I will have another doctor visit in 2 months to check healing and hearing.  Overall, I am thrilled with the outcome.

College Best Friend

This is my friend, Mary, from Alabama.  We met in OT school in 1972 at KU back in the day when all the classes were in Lawrence and we graduated from the school of fine arts (so we could take ceramics and weaving!).  I took advantage of that taking another weaving class,  jewelry and textile arts as my electives.  Mary and I were notoriously cynical and snarky towards many of our more "sincere" classmates, but we also worked hard and earned our OT pins in the end.  While we went different directions in our specialty areas we have stayed close over the years, even more so since she moved to teach at UAB.  Since 2007 we have met nearly every summer in Estes Park CO where our families vacation.  We manage to overlap so we can do a day of crafts and/or a day of lunch/shopping in the touristy downtown.  

Looking this over, a friendship that has spanned 40 years (!), our looks haven't changed that much! We have been through so much over the years, this page is a treasure to me.

Path of Life

Every decade, the path of life. 

This was the first layout I did for the class Twelve.  I have done over 60 so far and I plan to add them as I get feedback from my class gallery at  Big Picture Classes.  Sometimes after I photograph a layout I see ways to improve it.  In this case I later added gold ink to highlight my decades' path.  The color I chose for the topic "Me" is red because it is a bold primary color and if I don't consider myself #1, then I can't go any further exploring my family history and memories. 

I shopped my stash and found a box of "finished pages." It was from a class I took several years ago at The Scrapbook Page, a local scrapbooking store in Shawnee, Kansas.  It was actually a Christmas-themed page, but I like to think outside the box, and just focused on the background color being red.  I added photos and made a few modifications. I am liking the color themes and I can see how the ephemera can bring continuity to the project pages.  Combing through my photos and continuing to find new stashes in various places around the house punctuates my need to further pursue photo organization, i.e. Photo Freedom, with Stacy Julian's Library of Memories.  

Scrapbooking 12

I am pleased to be scrapbooking for myself again. I haven't done much in the past few years & am excited to be taking the online class Twelve from Stacy Julian. Today I completed 5 pages! Cool!

Farewell old friend

Today is a sad day for me. RIP my good old faithful companion, Rocky. Here's to a dog's life well lived & well loved by his people. Almost 14 years old, always grateful to be ours 1997-2011

Rocky came to us from Westlake Hardware Store where Dan was working before he was a senior in high school.  The Humane Society had a pet adoption and I was determined to rescue one of those abandoned dogs.  We still had Cody, the beagle, who was 10 & in bad health.  She was not amused by a puppy, so we kept them apart as much as possible.  Cody lasted one more year.  Rocky became my empty-nest dog.  Always there for me as each of the kids left for college, marriage, jobs.  He was such a good dog... There will be a huge hole in our lives for a while.  I was honored to have the privilege of Rocky in my life.  

Best friends

Today I enjoyed a wonderful day with my best friend from college, Mary.  We never seem to run out of things to discuss and places to explore.  To gain inspiration we are considering artist trading cards as a new form of creativity.  I am going to explore this further.

The rain did not dampen our enthusiasm for the day.  Carpe diem!

Day 7 New Year's Eve ~ Going home

Friday 31 December 2010


This was a travel day, so we were up early and ready to go.  We crammed everything into carry-ons again since we were worried about making it through Charlotte to connect to Kansas City in time.   One suitcase zipper on an outer pocket broke, oh well!  Our delightful breakfast maid, Shanti, said "Oh mama, you leaving today?! You come back, I take care of you!" with hugs and kisses on both cheeks.  So sweet!  Our concierge had arranged a car for us.  It turned out to be a Mercedes minivan - NICE!  Our Thai driver was very talkative.  He grew up in Paris, had never been to the US and hated museums.  After we quickly ran out of common ground it was a quiet ride to the airport in the dark.

The airport definitely looked more normal than when we arrived (deserted with abandoned luggage & chained exits on 26 December).  Bill and I both lost items in security that made it through previously: my very nice, and little scissors I had forgotten about - they were buried in my yarn; and a small container of body powder.  They were quite stringent, diligent and humorless.  ("These are forbidden," she said frostily)  Also, sadly, we lost a jar of fig jam that was too large.

Bill's POV:
The SwissTech made it through security from Kansas City via Charlotte and Paris and back to KC. Had it attached to my keys, no problem.
The fig jam I purchased in Paris, however, perished at the first security inspection. "Do you have jam?" asked the officious man in the blue blazer. I readily confessed.


It was a long flight, but still, much preferable to fly during the day (than overnight).  We enjoyed the in-seat entertainment systems with movies, TV, GPS to follow the flight (fascinating!) and live international news texts.  We read there was a major winter storm in the US Midwest, but that could mean anywhere from Ohio to Minnesota to Missouri... 


We made it through customs and security once again in Charlotte.  Bill's suitcase was thoroughly searched, probably because of the 5 Salt canisters he had neatly, but suspiciously, lined up along the edge of the main compartment.  He had to repack the entire contents.  We talked to Katie while waiting for our plane ~ it was Minnesota affected by the storm; she was snowed in at her in-laws home in Perham.  Fortunately, Kansas City was spared!  We had the most amazing weather karma on this trip!


After retrieving luggage and being shuttled to our car, Bill went to Hen House for deli chicken and salad.  So, at the end of a 23-hour day (being awake) we were sound asleep on New Year's Eve by 10:00pm.  

Happy New Year 2011!