Bum Eardrum

Some people have a bad knee, or perhaps tennis elbow. I have a bum eardrum. Two years ago, seemingly out of nowhere, my left ear started to hurt. I ignored it at first. Then laid down for a nap. It just kept getting worse. Finally I broke down and called the doctor. My choices - drive an hour to the ER on base or wait until the next day for a regular appointment. I made the appointment and debated whether or not it was worth it to drive all the way over to the base. Next comes excruciating pain and tears. Then... Pop... no more pain. Of course I can't hear either but at least it doesn't hurt any more. So I go to the regular clinic the next day where I am diagnosed with a ruptured eardrum. This incident was just the beginning of the thrush rollercoaster that followed for the next 6 months but I'll save that story for another post.

And by now you are all wondering why I am writing about a ruptured eardrum from 2 years ago. Well, at about 4 this afternoon, once again coming out of nowhere - ear ache. Ouch! I have learned from the first time though that it most likely won't just go away on its own. So I check my Green Pharmacy book. It recommends immune system boosting (so I down a couple Echineacea gummy bears) and ephedra (so I take the last 2 sudafeds we have in the house). Back upstairs to rest until time for my meeting. Pain gets worse so I call the doctor (this time within 2 hours of onset, not 5 hours like last time - I'm learning!). The best they can do is a 9:30 p.m. appointment at the after hours clinic. We are with Kaiser now, not the military, so I only have to drive about 15 minutes to the clinic this time. I arrive on time. I am taken immediately in to get my vital signs recorded. This is where I make a BIG mistake. The nurse asks me my level of pain on a scale of 1-10. Well, the Tylenol dropped it down to a 4. Then by the time I headed out to my appointment, it had stopped hurting and I once again couldn't hear anything out of my left ear. So I told her that. Which apparently put me at the bottom of the triage list. I should have stuck with the original 6 that it was several hours earlier. Instead I spent one and a half hours sitting in the waiting room. Yawn! This is way past my bedtime. I just want to go home. After all, I figure it had already ruptured (even though I didn't get the Pop this time). But, I was already there and if I left, I'd just have to spend an hour or so the next day at the regular clinic. So I stayed. Turns out it hasn't ruptured - yet. Which would explain the abscence of the Pop. A prescription for antibiotics and a box of sudafed and I'm home free... time - 11:36 p.m. - and I'm on the road. So over 2 hours for about 10 minutes with the doc and 10 minutes waiting at the pharmacy. And since the only sudafed they had at the pharmacy was non-drowsy (though I think all sudafed is non-drowsy, really), I'm not sure how well I will sleep tonight regardless of how tired I am. Oh well. Such is life. I don't really want another rupture so I'll take the meds.

And so ends another day in the saga of my life...