Weekend Partially Ruined

I almost wrote, "Weekend Ruined".

And as I was about to write that I did a quick replay of the weekend and it was actually pretty good. I've had worse.

On Friday afternoon I thought I was cruising in to the weekend. A few hours left to go, the sun was shining, nothing planned and hours of free time ahead of me.

And as I was sitting there, my ear started to hurt. Ah darnit I thought to myself as I figured it was another one of my ear infections coming on. I tend to have ear infections about 2 or 3 times a year. They show up, they annoy me, they're gone in 3 days. During that time my ear is stuffed up, I don't hear very well out of it, and I feel a little bit imbalanced. I just shrugged my shoulders and figured I'd have to suck it up through another infection.

But this one was different. The pain kept getting worse. And worse. And bad enough to the point that I was cringing and suddenly my last hour of work was the most painful hour of work I have ever worked before. Why? Because I have never been in pain at work. If I'm in pain it's usually a dull pain or I've called in sick.

What the hell was happening to me? It felt like my ear just had to pop. I don't think many people go through what I do while flying, but the pressure change really does a number on my ears. During the descent the pressure begins to build in my ears. It gets so bad that the only way I can describe is this: Imagine first of all being under water. You can't hear very well under water. Everything is muted. Add on top of that having someone take a very long pin...or a needle and digging it down in to your ear. But not just pressing horizontally in to your ear. Going in to your ear, then making an upside down "L" shape and moving downwards to your throat. Spinning it around like they were trying to make you bleed faster than you already were.

That is why I hate to fly.

This is what was happening to me on Friday afternoon. And I figured - oh, this will go away. It's been almost 2 hours now. It should go away soon.

The wife came home and it wasn't gone yet. And the pain was getting worse. My ear was popping and clicking like crazy. And now after the pops it sounded like someone was pouring water out of my ear. Or maybe water in. Either way it sounded like someone had put a conch up to my left ear.

Finally work was over and I went to lay down in bed. Bad idea. The clicking and popping in my ear was non-stop. And it wasn't like there was any sort of rhythm to it. I screamed out because I was so angry at the pain which had gotten worse (even though I thought it wasn't possible) and the annoying sound in my head that I had no control over.

The wife suggested we go see someone. I agreed. She called around. Next opening for a general doctor was Saturday morning. My ear, nose and throat doctor's next opening was February 9th. Great.

At almost 5 pm the pain was now excruciating and we decided I had to see someone now. The wife drove me to the Urgent Care facility in Woodinville. You get seen about as quickly as you would in the ER (believe me I've been to both a few times - I guess not with serious enough problems) and I laid my head on the wife's shoulder for an hour and moaned. Along with the popping in my ears came a new annoyance. I could feel liquid seeping out of my ear. Awesome, a brand new experience for me.

I finally was seen by the one doctor working who gave me about as much help as WebMD did before I left for Urgent Care.

"Looks like you've got a ruptured eardrum." She prescribed amoxycillan to help avoid infection and recommended I take ibuprofen for the pain. We left the office at 6:30 annoyed, but luckily the pain had gone from about as high as an 8 on a 10 scale down to a manageable 5 then 4. Add in a couple advil with dinner and I was fine that night.

The rest of the weekend has just been a bit challenging. About every few minutes I have to dab at my ear because otherwise yellow liquid will drip down my cheek. I sleep on a t-shirt so I don't get discharge all over my pillow sheet. A few of the times I reached up with a kleenex I came down with what I would call "presents". That's about as much as I'll say about that.

My hearing on my left side has gone down to about 10%. Which has been interesting. You don't know what you've got till it's gone. I stare at the TV blankly and miss half of what's being said. I ask for clarification from the wife on what she says everytime when she talks to my "bad side". I freak myself out by covering my "good ear" and seeing how much I can hear. Almost nothing. Like the teacher calling on Charlie Brown...muted noise.

I can't let any water in without the tymphanic membrane to protect my middle and inner ear. So without ear plugs I shower to one side and try my best to get the other side of my body washed without getting my ear wet.

It still hurts a bit and the popping comes and goes. I've read that this can take a few days to a few months to fully heal. Great. I've also read that if it doesn't heal that I've got to go in for surgery to fix it and that I may never regain my hearing ability. Perfect.

Why do all the weird physical ailments have to happen to me? At the least I'll never be digging around in my ear with those Q-tips again.