An update on Mackenzie

I mentioned a few weeks ago about the ear troubles my son, Mackenzie, is having. Well, he is scheduled for surgery next week. It will be on Tuesday, March 6th. Yesterday we went for our pre-op appointment and I realized this will be a bigger deal than I had originally thought. Mackenzie has a cholesteatoma. It is a small growth in his middle ear. It is just a small piece of skin but if left untreated will continue to grow and cause serious problems including hearing loss and possible meningitis and other complications. So, the doctor wants to do the surgery right away. This is a two (or possibly 3) surgery process. The first surgery is called a mastoidectomy and will cause Mackenzie to have significant hearing loss in his right ear. The second surgery will check to make sure the cholesteatoma is completely gone and then reconstruct everything. During the first surgery, the mastoid bone will be damaged and he will be removing one or more ossicles. When he does the reconstruction, he hopes to be able to use Mackenzie's actual bone but may use some type of prosthesis. There will be about 6-12 months between surgeries so when he does return to school, the doctor has suggested that he sit with his left ear facing the teacher.

He will have to miss a week of school after surgery and then our Spring Break starts so he will have a good 2 weeks to recover. However, when he does return, he will not be able to participate in PE or recess for 4-6 weeks. No strenuous physical exercise. This is a bit sad because Mackenzie was signed up for T-ball and we are going to pull him out of that because he would pretty much miss the whole season. He will also be restricted from flying for several months.

As you can probably guess, we are a bit nervous about this whole thing but the benefits far outweigh the risks and if we left it alone, he would almost certainly have permanent hearing loss. But the good news is that it was caught early and the prognosis is very good. I took this picture of little Mackie when we were at the hospital getting his CAT scan a few weeks ago. He takes "Allie" (the alligator) with him to all of his appointments!

Please keep Mackenzie in your prayers next week.