The Girl: Living With A Cholesteatoma

I've recently been in hospital because of the long-term illness I have, and whilst there I had a lot of time to think. I remember how daunting it was, not just for me, but also my mum and dad, when I was told I had a Cholesteatoma. It's a big word, and it can be very frightening! When you Google it, you're met with a bunch of stories that can leave you feeling very scared, so I thought I'd do a post that will hopefully show on Google when you type in Cholesteatoma to inform people of what it is in terms that are a lot easier to understand! It's also for people I know away from the blogging world who don't understand what it is, but question why I'm always unwell. I hope this answers a lot of questions!

I started having a lot of problems with my left ear at the age of around 9. I woke up one morning and my ear was full of dried blood. Gross right. I'd never had any problems with my ears before, except maybe the odd ear infection, so this was very out of the ordinary for me! So off I went to the doctors, only for them to fob me off with an ear infection, which it clearly wasn't. For the next few weeks I had a lot of dizzy spells, and in the end my mum took me back to the doctors where they gave me a referral to see a ear nose and throat consultant at my local hospital. All well and good right?
Wrong. I had countless trips to the hospital over 2 years because they diagnosed it as glue ear. I had endless operations to 'clean out' my ear, and I had grommets put in many times. Yet my condition did not improve. However throughout all this time I had still not experienced any pain at all, not even your normal earache. This worried me, because that meant it could have been going on years without me knowing.
Then one day I had a standard check up with my consultant when I was around 10 or 11. He looked inside my ear under a microscope (an experience that still terrifies me to this day) and suggested I have another operation over Christmas and New Year to have permanent grommets in my ear. Immediately my mum panicked because it must have been serious to have surgery over the Christmas period, and the permanent grommets meant I would never be able to go swimming again and I would also have a permanent hole in my ear, which could be very dangerous. Being young, my mum didn't want this obviously, so as soon as we got home she booked a private second opinion for me.
This was the day I was diagnosed with a Cholesteatoma. The consultant I went to see put a little camera inside my ear to show me inside my ear on a screen (he was disgusted this had never been done before). It was just black. Think of when you eat a Blackjack sweet and it gets all black and sticky- that's what my ear looked like inside. It was horrifying! He then explained what a Cholesteatoma was and recommended surgery.

What is a Cholesteatoma and how is it formed?
A Cholesteatoma is a benign tumour (not cancerous) made up of an abnormal skin growth in the middle ear just behind the ear drum. Cholesteatomas can sometimes develop as cysts or pouches that shed layers of old skin, which eventually builds up in the middle ear. This explained why one day I had what my mum thought was paper coming out of my ear. Shedded skin. I told you this was not for the feint hearted.
A cholesteatoma usually occurs because of poor Eustachian tube function as well as infection in the middle ear. The Eustachian tube conveys air from the back of the nose into the middle ear to equalize ear pressure (“clear the ears”). When the Eustachian tubes work poorly, perhaps due to allergy, a cold, or sinusitis, the air in the middle ear is absorbed by the body, creating a partial vacuum in the ear. The vacuum pressure sucks in a pouch or sac by stretching the eardrum, especially areas weakened by previous infections. This can then develop into a sac, and this is a Cholesteatoma.

What are the symptoms/ What to watch out for?
There are probably more symptoms, but these are the ones I experienced. Other than the ear full of dried blood I mentioned earlier, I had a vile smell coming from my ear. It got to the point where my mum and dad refused to stand on the left side of me if we were out, because it smelt that bad. I also had a lot of dizziness, because it's in the ear it disrupts your balance. I passed out a couple of times because of this, especially if I stood up too fast. I also had a lot of hearing loss! I found myself having to turn the television up significantly louder, and I struggled to hear in noisy places. My ear also felt very blocked at times.

What happened after the diagnosis?
I had my first lot of actual Cholesteatoma surgery under general anaesthetic. Because the disease hides behind the ear drum, it wasn't known how far it had spread because it often doesn't show up on MRI and CT scans, which I had plenty of! The surgery was a success and I had all of my Cholesteatoma removed. My consultant said if it was likely to return, it would be within the first year of recovery. During the first year I was fine, I had regular check ups and none of my symptoms returned. Then in the second year, my Cholesteatoma returned. This time it had wrapped itself around 2 of the 3 small hearing bones on the back of my skull. This meant I had to have a mastoidectomy and have the 2 affected bones drilled off my skull. Actually not as painful as it sounds! The disease did not return the following year. Because my hearing suffered after this operation, the year afterwards I had reconstructive surgery to improve my hearing. I couldn't have a cochlear implant because there was only one hearing bone remaining, so I had an implant put into the middle ear made of titanium. This gave the sound something to bounce off and improved my hearing dramatically.
It didn't stop there though. The Cholesteatoma returned again, and this time I had to have my implant removed because it had been destroyed by the disease. My consultant then moved to a new hospital, so I had to start the whole process again with a new one. The disease came back once more, and once more it was removed. He then started to work on improving my hearing, and this meant having another implant. It was a success. I went 2 to 3 years without the disease returning, which was the longest I'd ever gone. I didn't dare get excited, and this year I had some of the symptoms again. My consultant was adamant it hadn't come back, but after a stern telling off from me he agreed to operate, and I was right. It hadn't come back in full force because it was caught early enough, and it hadn't touched my implant which was a huge bonus. I had a myringoplasty and an ossiculoplasty, which when done together is called a tympanoplasty, to reconstruct my eardrum. However, my surgeon accidently disrupted my implant, much to his annoyance, and I'm still waiting for my hearing to return, so I'll keep you posted on that one.

I have had a few complications with my surgery, and most people have much more straight forward procedures than me so don't panic!

So after around 8 years of surgery in my ears, I'm left with some lovely scars behind the back of my ear and I currently wear a hearing aid. My advice would be to not let anyone fob you off. If you think it's something more serious it is always worth getting a second opinion as my experiences prove. If I hadn't have had that second opinion I might not have been here to blog this now. It sounds dramatic, but if my Cholesteatoma had progressed through my final mastoid bone, it could have gone straight to my brain, and brain abscesses and meningitis are serious, (but rare!) complications if a Cholesteatoma is left untreated, so push to get it checked out. It isn't worth waiting until it's too late.

I hope this post has answered questions that a Cholesteatoma raises, but if it hasn't feel free to email me at justdoingkatie@hotmail.com and I will try my best to advise you or answer any questions you have. I'm not a medical expert, but I do have my personal experiences.
All the best
Katie xx

Update

Hi guys,just a quick update. I'm writing this very late because I can't sleep!
I just wanted to let you know why there has been a lack of posts lately. I'm not neglecting my blog, I've been very unwell and I'm on my 4th night in hospital (I'll explain in more detail later)
I don't yet know when I'll be home,but then I'll have to build up my strength before I'm regularly blogging again
I hope you'll bear with me and I promise to be back as soon as I can.

Love to you all
Katie xx

OOTD:Cheap,Cheerful&Casual

The sun has got his hat on. It's not warm in the UK but i'm trying to break a little bit of summer into my outfits because I'm so excited to say goodbye to this wintery weather!

Top-Primark

Leggings-Florence&Fred at Tesco (don't knock it till you've tried it-their leggings are good!)

Denim Jacket-New Look years ago!

Hat-Primark

I chucked on my trusty,but filthy,grey converse. I also threw a burgandy hoody in my bag just in case it's cold later,I can layer up.

Review:Lancome Teint Idole Ultra 24h

I was lucky enough to be given the chance to try a 7 day trial of the improved formula of Lancome's Teint Idole Ultra 24h. Now, long name aside, I was so excited to try out this foundation. Generally, I switch between my MAC Face and Body and Rimmel Wake Me Up, with Revlon Photoready being my full coverage foundation.

Although my MAC foundation is the right colour for my skintone, it can sometimes look a little too yellow toned, so when the lady at Lancome told me this foundation was pink toned I was quite happy to give it a try to see if I noticed a difference between a pink and a yellow toned foundation.. 

I did.

Let's get the bad bit out of the way right? This foundation broke me out. And I mean broke me out. I suffer from mild acne, but the spots this foundation gave me weren't 'acne' like spots. It broke me out around my hairline, my jaw line, under my chin where I'd blended it onto my neck, around my nose, around my mouth. This foundation broke me out beyond belief. 

BUT it could just be my skin it didn't get on with.. I'm not waving my hands and screaming avoid it don't ever use it. It could work extremely well with your skin. It's worth giving it a try, maybe get your hands on a sample first? 

On to the good stuff.. 

The colour match was fantastic! I got matched to 02 and it was the perfect shade. I have read some reviews saying the foundation oxidizes and goes orangey after a while on the face,but this wasn't the case for me. The coverage is amazing also. It's very full coverage and it hid every single freckle, acne scar and spot- even the ones the foundation itself gave me! It literally made me look flawless, but it didn't feel heavy. The texture of this foundation on the face feels like a powder rather than a liquid because it's so matte, but it felt like my skin could breathe underneath it. 

This claims to be a 24 hour foundation, which seems a little far fetched and I don't know anyone who needs their foundation to last 24 hours?! But maybe that's just me.. 

It did last a bloody long time however! I applied it at 6am (yes that hour does exist!) and by about 7pm it had just started to show what I call 'wear and tear'. It needed a bit of a touch up. But 13 hours is some going! 

I don't have oily skin, and I don't have dry skin. I have a couple of dry patches here and there, especially in winter. I applied this foundation after I moisturized, same as I do with any foundation. 

The first day after around 6 hours the foundation had gone cakey on my dry patches. Not ridiculously cakey, but noticeable. And I noticed that on my nose, it clung to my pores, attractive right.. I never have this problem with any other foundations. However, it was still matte and other than that it looked like it had when I had just applied it. Impressive.

So the second day I intended to banish the cake face look. After I applied my moisturiser, I used Benefit POREfessional primer in my T-zone and it seemed to do the trick, both getting rid of the dryness and minimizing my pores. 

Now I loved the finish of this foundation, the colour match, the coverage and the fact it lasted so long! It's probably one I'd save especially for a night out, or a day when I really need my base to last. 

However, I won't be purchasing this foundation. 

I would break the bank to buy it normally, but I think it's a little too pricey to say you need a primer underneath. 

This foundation currently retails for £27.50 in Boots here.

Have you tried this foundation? Let me know what you think 

Katie xx

OOTD: LescottStewart

T-shirt: lescott-stewart.co.uk (review here)

Skinnies: primark

Shoes: h&m

Beanie: ebay

Ring: river island

Nails: ELF party peach

I threw on my bottle green barbour style jacket (around a 1/4 of the price!)

OOTD:Neon Beanie

Black jeggings from New Look

Skull-like Tee from New Look

Air Force 1s (what else?!)

Neon beanie from Ebay

Have a nice day.

Katie xx

NOTD: Muted With A Touch Of Glam

First off I removed all my old nail polish and gave my nails a good scrub. Using a cuticle stick,I pushed back my cuticles and then filed my nails a little into a square-ish shape. I then put on a base coat (I used Sally Hansen Hard As Nails) and waited for it to dry. When this dried, I applied 2 coats of ELF Desert Haze, a warm toned nude. Then I used my cuticle stick to clean up the edges. After the second coat dried, I applied the ELF Matte polish over the top. I then dipped the end of a hair grip (you can use a dotting tool if you have one obviously) into NYC Full Metal Jacket and did a dot at the top of the cuticles on each nail.
                                                            
                                                            Voila. The finished look 
                                                           Watch it here on youtube. 

Black Smokey Eye

So I had a little bit of a play around the other day and threw together this black smokey eye. It's nothing fancy, and I'm not a makeup artist, but it's not too bad I guess..

I primed my lids, then packed a dark grey onto the centre of my lid and blended it upwards. I then put a black eyeshadow in the outer corner of my eye in a V shape and again blended it out. I lined my tightline and waterline and added a bit of gel liner to my upper lash line, threw on some big false lashes and it was complete.

Hope you enjoyed this post, any tips would be appreciated!

Katie xx

5 Product Face

This weekend's lack of sleep catching up with me combined with the fact I leave the house at 6:45 resulted in me needing a light,dewy face today to fake the awake look. I opted out of a heavy coverage foundation and managed to wrangle together this look out of only 5 products! Pat on the back..

Products used: MAC Face And Body, MUA Bronzer,MUA Volumising Mascara(not the best but gives a natural look) MAC Cork Eyeshadow in the brows and Models Own Glossy Pink Lipgloss.

Hope you enjoyed this quick post.

What did you guys get up to this weekend? Can anyone beat my 5 product face?! Leave me a response!

Katie xx

Review:Nuit Pour Femme

Following how popular my previous perfume post was, I thought I'd give you my feedback on another sample I'm trying out: Hugo Boss Nuit Pour Femme.

The perfume is inspired by the little black dress, and Hugo Boss are "providing the ideal complement putting the finishing touch to your effortlessly perfectly evening ensemble." The scent is designed to "reinforce the strength and sensuality that defines the successful modern woman."

This is a woody scent, with basenotes of Crystal moss, White warm woods and Creamy sandalwood which my nose likes! It has such a fresh, clean scent that just makes you feel all polished and 'done up' making this the perfect evening perfume. The White peach top note comes through after a while giving it a bit of a fruity, feminine feel.

I am flipping enjoying wearing this fragrance because it makes me feel really elegant and sophisticated. Oo hark at me ey! Inside my sample was a picture of the packaging and I was impressed. The sleek black bottle conveys the image of the little black dress, with the gold rim and spritzer being almost like the accessories. I'd love to have this bottle on my dressing table, but I'm not so keen on the clear plastic looking lid, it just makes it look a bit cheap! All in all, I'm impressed.

This perfume currently retails in Debenhams for £35.00 for 30ml and £63.00 for 75ml so a little pricey but so worth it as a glamorous night out perfume!