Operation Eagle Attack
As I’m writing this story, I thought it was best to find a suiting title, I’m a huge history geek, specially military and conflict history. So for those who has done some history reading, they will know what the title stands for. I will try to tell this story as short as possible but it will not be an easy task to do, because my story is complex. Excuse my written english it is not perfect, because Norwegian is my main language. The story will be in a two part, the before surgery and after surgery.
By telling this story I do not want to make myself the survivor neither the heroe, because i’m not! It is the people around me who are, and they should be seen as heroes specially caregivers, nurses,doctors, surgeons,specialists, my wife and the people in this forum. I pay huge respect and I’m thankfull for those people that have helped me trough this!
I will thank my ENT specialist Dr. Bjorge, whom diagnosed me after seven years off being in hell !
I grew up in a small town in south-west Norway, I grew up under difficulties and struggled trough school. As my teenager years came, I discovered some dark sides off this world. I started taking drugs and was a drug addict trough my teenage years. When I turned nineteen I came clean, and started to turn my life completely. I quit drugs cold turkey and have never looked back on it ever since, I have been sober for 8 years now. After coming clean I got educated in farming and landscaping buissnes. when I finished my education I got a job as a landscaper, but it turned out that i wanted to work in the surface treatment buiseness instead.
The following years from 2018 i started having some awfull pain in my ears, both left and right. The pain that i felt was like a sharpshooting pain that came and went. I started struggeling with sleep, developing insomnia. Insomnia was because i mainly felt the pain flared when i went to bed and resting. The pain and insomnia quickly started to affect my life, I felt that the devil had a good grasp on me, he throwed me down to the lions and I have stayed there ever since trying to survive and fight.
Work and outside life was being uncontrolable, even family life was a hustle. My collegues and company boss could not understand my situation. They were infact angry and upset that I was on sick leave most off the time and overslept alot wich i partialy understand, because it’s not easy to help someone that does not even understand himself. The past 6 years, I have been shifting between nine companies because off frequent sickness absence, I’ve been layed off a dozen times even though i have tried and fight trough it all to the best of my ability, looking at it now it’s just hard to understand why I didn’t give up, was God there with me the whole damn time ? There must have been higher powers fighting alongside. In these seven years i have grown closer to the bible and the holy spirit, it has been uplifting. Something to belive in, when it has been desperate.
Was it a test? Was it a caracther building stage off my life? When you pray for rain, you’ll have to deal with the mud too!
I tried searching for answeres from different doctors to specialists, no one could really understand what was going on. My GP thought it was chronical external ottits, and I have been treated for that the whole time without any changes.
Hell’s Highway
In 2021 I had moved to Bergen to search for meaning and a better life, and new answeres, because maybe it was in my head, maybe it was just me going insane? Could it be that I was one off those who can’t handle life and should be put on under psychiatric treatment, wich started to become a reality. I was put on a psychiatric treatment for 2 months. It worked in someway. Once again i found myself trying to turn my life around, Working harder and harder to become better at understanding myself and dealing with the pain, because it was only in my head was it not ?
When dealing with this, I met the love off my life. Ella, she has become the key person to what was to become the turning point in my story. Once again, was God trying to tell me something, were the situation so desperate that I became blind ?
The pain started to flare up even more at this time, developing new symptoms such as neck pain and shoulder pain, migraines and reflux. It just wouldn’t stop! I was really going insane wasn’t I? Once again trying desperatly to search for answeres with specialists, it was all in my head and crhonical external otitis. The prhases was the same everytime ‘‘Come back in fourteen days if it hasn’t gotten any better’’. The pain was unbearable, starting on heavy doses off painkillers and alcohol when it was too much, because in the end we all just want to live somewhat normal?
Live to laugh, live to walk in nature, live to connect with other human beings, live to connect with yourself in hobbies and activites. We all just want to be able to experience the true beauty off being alive and in full affect and mostly, live to love ! Life ain’t much without these things. What I and many others have experienced trough this is that life has been taken away, it felt almost like I was melting away or being burned alive. Pieces off flesh and bone and the soul being burned slowly, until there were nothing left. Like an animal tearing flesh off it’s pray, leaving the carcass to rot.
Eagle Syndrome, for sure makes you dehumanize yourself.
The breaking point
My beloved Ella and I, moved to a small place in Molde. Because off work. We both were on a journey trying to figure out life. I gave up trying to look for more answeres, just trying to survive the pain and the rapidly and badly developing state off my health. Maybe I was being too weak, was I supposed to live like this for the rest off my life, just bearly coping and making it ? Well i grew some pair off balls, and just said ‘’ well if you are going to make it, just hang tough!‘’
Because what else are there to do? When you are constantly banging your head in the wall, and no one can help you. Everyone you meet and try to search for answeres with , neglecting you and does not seem to care that much, giving themself the easiest way out off helping.
I thought I had the strength to overcome this, and live trough it by just keep pushing myself. Turned out that I was wrong. The sate off my health started to become the most abnormal thing one can imagine and experience. Undescribable seizures, constant migraine, high heart rate and palpitations. Catching frequent cold and feeling ill every day, and many other odd symptoms. I went to my GP, trying to get a routine chek off my blood, with extended samples. They found out that my PTH hormone levels was way off. I did know that I had been diagnosed for FHH, when i was a young kid but it was not followed up by this growing up. This started the ball rolling, after many years. But the fight was not over yet there were more road ahead. Frequent hospital visits, taking all kinds off tests to see what FHH could have affected. Nothing concerning was found, but I was put on regular blood tests and medication. Soon after taking the medication, some off my symptoms went away, but the pain was still there.
One day, i had so much pain I was crying, I was screaming out in agony. I have had enough I can’t hold on any longer. My soul was giving up. Ella, whom also was tired off seeing me like this pushed me to go once more to a specialist, a private specialist in Aalesund.
We drove two hours to Dr. Bjorge ENT in Aalesund. The feeling we both got when entering his office, this was a safe place. A place were the patient is in deep focus, not the doctors expertise or his personality. It was for the patients only. He was very calm,collected and thoughtfull. Very concerned about who I was and my story. He started searching for key clues to my list off symptoms, Bjorge was very inovative with his methodes. After awhile, he said ‘’ I think what I’m finding here is something called Eagle Syndrome but we have to make sure with a CT scan’'. The radiologists lab was right beside his office in the same building. Bjorge took a quick phone call to the radilogists, but unfortunatly the radilogists said he was closed and had turned off the machines for the day.
Bjorge, told the radilogists that we had droved from Molde to Aalesund in about 2 hours. The radiologists was quick to decide that he could do one more patient for the day. Ella started crying, the odds were finally with us.
The day after I got a phone call from Dr. Bjorge, he explained that I had Eagle Syndrome wich he did also confirmed with the CT scans. I had the variant with calcified stylohyoid ligament. Dr.Bjorge further, sent a refferal to Rikshospitalet in Oslo.
The following days was a bit up and down, because there were a lot off misinformation coming from the ones who was dealing with the refferals, a lot off back and forth between hospitals and the ENT doctors. But it resolved in a few months, the refferal was finally accepted in St.Olavs Hospital in Trondheim. Where I had an online consultation with Dr.Nagy. Dr.Nagy explained shortly what was going on and how they wanted to perform the surgery. The final stages off the consultation was set, and Dr.Nagy sent a surgery application further up in the system, he explained me that surgery date was to be expected in late February 2024.
The diagnostic part and also knowing that there is finally help to get, and maybe I will be okey after surgery. Made both me and Ella starting to look for hope and a better future.
The days prior surgery was a hustle, but I was starting to prepare to manage the outcomes off surgery. Preparing myself to what will become off it after. Suddently when I finally had a diagnose and an upcoming surgery, I could get some help and find answeres to what needed to be done prior surgery. I did also stumble across this lovely forum, wich has helped me a great deal dealing with the pain prior and after surgery.
Story to be continued…
I will finish this chapter, with a qoute from someone that I have been looking up to my whole life.
‘‘Lastly, ‘‘Hang tough!’’ Never, ever give up regardless of the adversity. If you are a leader, a fellow who other fellows look to, you have to keep going.’’
- Major. Richard Dick Winters
