Ear Issues

"You have a cough? Go home tonight, eat a whole box of Ex-Lax - tomorrow you'll be afraid to cough." ~Pearl Williams

I love the above quote -- that's sort of how I feel about doctors and spending time and money in their offices. "A cough? I'll fix that myself!" "Sore throat? Ear problems? They'll go away!" I certainly have my own medical methods and procrastination is always my first choice.

You may [or may not] remember that I came home from our Disneyland trip sick -- terrible sore throat, plugged up ears and pinkeye. Mark followed with the addition of a hacking cough, then Natalie and the little guys joined us. Chris was the only one who missed out -- and I think it's because he went out of town as soon as we got home.

Anyhow -- what you may not know is that my right ear has never really cleared up, leaving me with hearing and balance issues. After a week or two, I talked with my doctor about it and she told me it could take quite a bit longer for that ear to drain [it was never infected, just full of fluid] and to be patient. But, she added that if it hadn't drained within a certain time frame, that I should go see an ENT specialist.

So I waited. And I waited. And I waited some more. I waited long past the time my doctor had suggested and finally yesterday Mark said "Why don't you call that ENT group and make an appointment?" I thought about it for a while and realized that I was so tired of not feeling normal [it's been a while -- we came home from the trip on Feb. 29]. So I made the appointment and saw the Dr. today.

He looked into my ear and was astounded because, according to him, it was full but not of fluid. It was not full of wax either, but rather skin cells that had sloughed off the inner part of the ear and formed a blockage. So he got out a little microscope, peered into it, grabbed the offender with his little forceps and pulled it out. Voila! [I was pretty amazed as I'd never heard of anything like this -- he said it's a little abnormal but not uncommon. Who knew?]

Once he could see, he told me that there still is fluid in both ears but not much -- and apparently I should expect that to be gone within another couple of weeks. But the bottom line is that I am hearing much better and the balance issues are gone. Just like that.

So I guess my belated doctor visit paid off. Wonder if I'll wait this long next time.

Probably. Some things never change.