A teen began listening to a wierd pulsing noise, however her delicate signs had been indicators of an alarming situation

When Lizzie Clark was 13, she began experiencing a wierd ringing in her left ear. At first, she thought the tinnitus-like sound was a facet impact from a chilly. However the chilly left, and the sound lingered, pulsing in time together with her heartbeat. 

For months, the “unusual pulsing noise” was fixed, Clark informed CBS Information. Her dad and mom took her to see her major care doctor, then an ear, nostril and throat physician, however it wasn’t till she underwent a CT scan that docs lastly discovered the trigger. The eighth-grader was racing in a observe meet when docs referred to as her dad and mom and mentioned that they had seen a development behind her eardrum. 

“I used to be terrified. I used to be 13. I used to be like, ‘What development? What does that imply?'” Clark recalled. “There have been loads of questions buzzing round.” 

Clark was recognized with facial nerve schwannoma, a slow-growing benign tumor. The primary physician she noticed beneficial instant surgical procedure to resect the tumor, however informed Clark and her dad and mom the operation would harm her listening to and completely paralyze the left facet of her face. 

Unhappy with that possibility, Clark and her dad and mom sought a second opinion from Dr. Pablo Recinos, a neurosurgeon on the Cleveland Clinic. He suggested a extra cautious route that will require cautious surveillance — however may protect Clark’s listening to and facial operate.  

Watching and ready  

Recinos mentioned as a result of facial nerve tumors are usually slow-growing, it is doable to attend earlier than working. Clark was younger, and her tumor wasn’t exhibiting indicators of development. He started working with reconstructive surgeon Dr. Patrick Byrne, the chief of Cleveland Clinic’s Built-in Surgical Institute, on a sequence of advanced operations that would deal with Clark whereas minimizing threat. 

First, Byrne would do nerve graft surgical procedures that will join the nerves on the left facet of Clark’s face to these on the proper facet. This may rewire that facet and maintain Clark’s face practical, Recinos mentioned. The nerve graft surgical procedures can be adopted by a surgical procedure to take away the tumor. It was a singular strategy, and Clark was the primary affected person that Recinos and Byrne developed the approach on, Recinos mentioned. They’ve since carried out it on a number of different sufferers. 

For a number of years, Clark had MRIs taken each six months. Throughout that point, the tinnitus-like continued and a tube was put in Clark’s ear to clear fluid that accrued and could not drain naturally due to the expansion. In any other case, Clark skilled few signs. She even named the tumor, calling it “Teddy” so it was simpler to “deal with all the pieces.” 

When a photograph of herself was taken in her junior yr of highschool, Clark seen her smile was crooked and her face was turning into asymmetrical. Shortly afterward, she started to expertise delicate facial paralysis. That introduced Clark and her dad and mom again to the Cleveland Clinic. Recinos and Byrne determined these signs meant it was time to begin working. 

Clark had the primary nerve graft surgical procedure in 2021, adopted by one other operation in early 2022. The procedures led to some enchancment in Clark’s facial asymmetry and paralysis, which had develop into so extreme her left eye could not shut correctly. In December 2023, scans confirmed that the tumor had grown and was threatening to achieve Clark’s mind stem. Delaying the elimination surgical procedure was now not an possibility. 

“Excited for it to be over with”  

Regardless of the years of preparation, there was no assure that Clark would not lose some listening to or facial motion operate after the elimination surgical procedure. In actual fact, Clark mentioned she was informed she would probably lose listening to on her left facet, due to the place the operation needed to happen, and get up with a “drastically completely different” look. There have been additionally considerations she’d have hassle talking as she recovered. It wasn’t that completely different from the outcomes she had feared when she and her dad and mom noticed their first physician years earlier than. Clark had hoped to attend till she completed school to get the operation, however there was now not any time to delay. She made preparations to take off the primary semester of 2024 and scheduled the surgical procedure for August. 

“I wasn’t scared, like I used to be at first. It was extra like a relaxed reduction that the tumor was going to be gone, that there weren’t going to be any extra issues,” mentioned Clark. “I used to be prepared for the tumor to come back out. I had accepted the very fact I used to be going to make use of my listening to. I used to be speaking to my dad and mom about probably doing an ASL class. I knew it was going bg to be an adjustment, however everybody was excited for it to be over with.” 

At 5 a.m. on Aug. 8, 2024, Clark arrived on the Cleveland Clinic for the elimination surgical procedure. Clark was so scared she hadn’t slept the night time earlier than, and her mom cried as her daughter was wheeled into the working room. They knew the operation was going to be lengthy and arduous, and that Clark’s world would look completely different when she awakened. 

Recinos mentioned that the 22-hour operation went easily. Neurotologist Dr. Anh Nguyen-Huynh operated round Clark’s ear and listening to buildings to achieve the tumor. As soon as there, Recinos minimize Clark’s facial nerve and eliminated the tumor. Lastly, Byrne reconstructed the realm the place the surgical procedure had taken place. Clark spent one other eight hours sleeping off the results of anesthesia. 

When Clark awakened, 30 hours after being wheeled into surgical procedure, the very first thing she heard was her dad and mom talking.

“I am like ‘That is unusual. I can hear them each out of each my ears,'” Clark recalled. “I informed them ‘I can hear you.’ My mother mentioned, ‘Is that the meds speaking? Or can she truly hear us?’ I am like, ‘Yeah, I can hear you guys.’ That was a way of reduction.”

Regaining operate and looking out ahead 

Whereas Clark was drowsy and in some ache, she did not have any problem talking. Her facial operate wasn’t restricted, however actually was bettering: Just a few days after the operation, she seen the left facet of her mouth was curving again as much as its pure place and her eyelid was closing higher. 

Recinos mentioned the nerve grafts earlier than the elimination surgical procedure led to the extra profitable outcome. The nerve graft had time to regenerate and resettle in her face, he defined, permitting Clark to keep up facial operate. 

“It was a shock to everybody that my face was working in addition to it was, contemplating they simply minimize out my most important facial nerve,” mentioned Clark. “My face would not look 100% prefer it did 5 years in the past, however it’s higher than the choice.” 

Clark is now ready to return to lessons at first of the spring semester. She’s on a pre-pharmacy college observe, impressed by having spent a lot time with medical professionals. A pathology report discovered that Clark did not have a schwannoma like she was initially informed, however a meningioma. Each sorts of tumors are slow-growing and might recur, so Clark can have common follow-ups to verify there is no such thing as a new development, Recinos mentioned. 

Clark mentioned that she hasn’t heard the ringing in her ear since waking up from the operation. That left when “Teddy” was eliminated, she mentioned. 

“Going to mattress and listening to that whooshing noise, or when it was useless quiet and I might hear it, was actually annoying me,” she mentioned. “It is very good that it is gone.”