What? Say Again? Turn that up!

For the first time since age five, I went to an emergency room early Monday morning – as a patient. We had a delightful time with our friends Rick and Henry on Sunday, but by the time I went to bed, I couldn’t hear out of my right ear. I didn’t think a whole lot about it. After all, I’d been sick (congested and coughing) for at least 10 days (nothing that kept me from going to work, though).

When I laid down, my right ear was downright painful. Really painful. I tried ibuprofen, which usually works pretty fast for me. It did nothing. I soon began looking up home remedies on my iPhone for ear infections. Curtis helped me add garlic juice, but it produced no relief that I know of. My ear continued to hurt. The pain was really bad – an eight!

I knew that Kaiser just cut back their urgent care hours, ending them at 8:30pm. This meant that my only option was to go to the hospital. Curtis drove me (what a great guy!) and we arrived just before 1am. Surprisingly, I got checked in and was in a room within 20 minutes. Soon, a nurse and doctor asked me the same questions and did the same exam. They told me I had an outer ear infection. I was really in pain and was happy when they had a blister pack of Vicodin. It took a while to kick in, but I was finally able to fall asleep about 4am. They also prescribed some oral anti-biotics and drops to go in the ear. Since I’m on painkillers, I have been unable to work.

My ear drained a lot Monday, but since then has been all clogged up. I am going in again tomorrow to make sure it’s getting better. I have not heard anything out of that ear for several days now. It’s weird being half-deaf. I’ve never had an ear infection before. I had no idea they were so painful! It was the worst physical pain I’ve possibly ever felt. Since Monday, I’ve attempted – twice – to stop taking the pain meds. Bad move. The pain returned. Although not as bad as it was on Monday, it’s still pretty noticeable. Unfortunately.