Modified Radical Mastoidectomy, Round 2

Yesterday I had my mastoid surgery. There was a brief moment in which it seemed the surgery might not happen. My dad was supposed to pick me up at 8am but the car (which was actually MY car that he was borrowing) broke down as he was on his way to get me!! Of course […]

Deaf As A Post – Part 2

Throughout my late teens and most of my 20’s, I lived in ignorant bliss when it came to my ears. My “bad” ear was stable enough that it didn’t bother me. Once in a while I would have nagging thoughts about the cholesteatoma coming back, so I would make an appointment with my ENT to […]

Full Speed Ahead

Surgery is looming at end of this week like an iceberg on the horizon. (Dramatic, right?) Scheduling surgery as an adult is a weird thing for me. I had so many surgeries as a kid that I just grew accustomed to being told when the next one was and steeling myself for the inevitable. But […]

Deaf as a post – Part 1

For about a week now, I’ve been 85% deaf (as opposed to my usual 50%). I seem to have acquired an infection or a swelling or some thing which has caused my good ear to feel clogged and useless. I’ve been walking around feeling like I’ve just jumped into a swimming pool and the world is […]

H-A-double-L-O, W-double-E-N, spells Halloween!

Halloween has never been a favorite day of mine. As a little kid I was unsettled by the fake tombstones and cobwebbed skeletons that adorned my normally pleasant-looking neighborhood. Even now, I don’t understand people’s fascination with death and gore, like the current zombie craze that affects some of my coworkers. I have lived through experiences […]

Dear Diary, Thanks for keeping all my secrets. Love, Heather

When I was 10 years old I was given this little pink diary for Christmas. I had no idea then just how significant a role this little book (and the dozens more that would follow) would play in my life. As a 10-year-old, I wasn’t even really sure how to keep a diary. All the […]

Oral Fixations

This past Thursday I had to get a root canal. I’ve had two before and found them to be among the least annoying dental procedures I’ve ever had. Despite that knowledge, I still felt that familiar sense of impending doom as the hours passed and my appointment time drew nigh. Logically, I know that I […]

Where it all began – The story of my birth.

It was a dark and stormy night… No, just kidding. It was a sweltering midsummer afternoon when my mother’s contractions began. My father’s cousins had come over to swim in the pool that day and through the window my mother could hear them laughing and splashing as she lay on the bed. She would have […]

Dr. Hulnick

My first plastic surgeon was Dr. Hulnick at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children. I had 5 surgeries with him, the first when I was barely 3 months old and the last when I was 6. I don’t remember what he looked like, but I do remember him being a big part of my early life. […]

Laughter… Better than Medicine

It is a crisp October night in 1984. I’m sitting at the kitchen table watching my mother struggle to cut shapes into a pumpkin, her brow furrowed in concentration. The mouth of this Jack-O’Lantern is lined with zig-zagging teeth and as Mommy slides the knife upward, it cuts through the pumpkin flesh and up into […]