Monday, December 24, 2012

Do You Hear What I Hear

In my last post, I claimed my blocked ear had begun to clear. Not so. I won’t bore you with details, but since October 29th I have taken Amoxicillin, prednisone, Sudafed (yes, prescribed), and lots of Tylenol. In addition, I had my ear lanced and drained. When the puncture healed, my ear filled up again. Ten days ago, my primary physician prescribed Flonase to treat swollen sinuses and help with drainage.

Each treatment produced initial improvement but failed to end my cotton-in-the-ear syndrome.

It’s not that I felt sick. I continued most of my normal activities, occasionally chanting “All I want for Christmas is my ear to clear, my ear to clear.”

Then last Friday, December 21 – the day the light begins to creep back – I was able to hear pretty well. Yay! I’m on the mend! I skipped breakfast in order to do my fasting blood test. I met some friends at noon. I shopped. I went to dinner with other friends. I dropped!

Over the weekend, cotton-in-the-ear changed to ache-in-the-ear. That side of my head felt heavy again. Darn!

Still, I persisted with normal activities. Today, Monday, Christmas Eve, my friend and I walked our usual six miles by 8a.m.

But the ear nagged. I called the doctor’s office at 9:15. She had an opening at 9:30. I grabbed it even though I hadn’t showered. I threw on some semi-clean clothes and hustled out the door.

I didn’t want to hear – pun intended – that my ear is actually worse than ten days ago (dang!).

She prescribed a stronger antibiotic in hopes of avoiding a visit to a specialist to drain my ear again. She suggested adding Robitussin to my arsenal of medical weapons. I now take two horse-size pills, squirt stuff up my nose, and drink weird tasting liquid – all at different times during the day. Whew!

The good news? My blood tests were back. Everything was A-OK. She even said she'd be really happy if her cholesterol numbers and ratios were like mine!

Although I could go to a couple of events tomorrow, I’ll stay home, listening to the ringing in my ear instead of jingle bells.

Gives new meaning to 'I'll be home for Christmas'!

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