I grew up in a pulp and paper town and had a mastoidectomy at the age of 9 after repeated ear infections. The anvil, hammer and styrip were also removed as well as part of the eardrum, which was patched for a hole. Chronic discharge resulted, requiring suctioned cleaning every six months to a year. Ear infections spreading to the side of my face were frequent in my teens and early adulthood. Then sensorineural hearing in my left ear as well as my right started to decline, with a sudden extreme loss in the left ear after a flu. Some but not all of it was restored. I started wearing hearing aids in early adulthood. My mother also had chronic ear infections and a mastoidectomy, and was legally deaf by the time she reached senior years.