Particularly the past few months. My ears have been so itchy! I have always had seasonal allergies but I am subbourn and will not take meds for them. I like to make my body work out it's issues before medical intervention. Well last Saturday morning I woke up with my usual stuffy head and went through my morning routine, but noticed I wasn't really hearing properly out my right ear, the one that has been itching the most. That is where the Neti Pot came in, it helped but after a couple of days but there wasn't the total improvment I had hoped. So I broke down and called an Ear Nose and Throat doctor here in town and got in a few days later. I don't do doctors well. I have had bad experiences, well realistically who hasn't, it's not like you are going for a fun time! Anyway my husband happen to have the day off so he came with me for moral support. It was in the next county over so we left extra early since we didn't have a clue as to where we were going. Gorgeous drive through the mountains and hardly any traffic which was surprising. On our way there I am mildly starting to panic, rolling over and over in my head the worse case scenarios.
Me: If Q-tips are so bad for you why do they make and sell them?!
Husband: They make crack too and sell it doesn't mean you should do it!
Point taken. LOL.. I am so glad he was with me, he kept me laughing most of the time which was what I needed to take my mind off the clinical walls.
Me: Maybe I have eczema in my ears?!
Husband: I don't think you can get eczema in your ears, nice try though. Face it you are gonna have to give up your Q-tip habit and take an allergy medication.
At this point I was hoping he was right, I could live with taking an allergy medicine if that was all it was. We arrive at the office super early and I had all my paperwork filled out and my co-pay ready to go. The receptionist was blown away by my prompt arrival and really impressed that I was there with my forms and money ready to go! I stood there feeling pretty proud of myself, why I have no idea.
The doctors nurse calls my name and tells me she needs to take my weight. Really?! What a way to start the morning! So I stood there and emptied my pockets, hung my purse took off layers, please I want to make sure that scale doesn't go up any higher than what I think it should be at. She was so sweet she put the setting on a lower weight and asked "would you put yourself there?" "um no, that is my goal weight, you might want to bump that up one." That was sweet of her trying to be polite and suttle but I am nobody's fool.
From there we head to the exam room and she starts to take my blood pressure, which turned out to be perfect much to both mine and the nurses surprise! Usually they have to take my at least twice because I get so worked up. Maybe it was the Paul affect, keeping me laughing and distracted who knows.
In walks the doctor, really nice older man, soft spoken which is ironic given he does ears, nose and throat. Apparently my ears are too clean. Who would have thought they could be too clean! He is concerned as to why I lost my hearing suddenly so he says he is going to have me to an hearing test. Well this would be about when I am panicking a bit more.
They hook me up to some machines and do some testing, then I am put in a tiny sound proof booth with only a tiny window to see the Audiologist. Paul was behind her but out of my view. If I was clausterphobic this would have been sheer torture. One of the tests was I had to listen and say the words back to her that the computer said in my ear. Half way through I though "Crap what if she thinks I am saying one thing and I am saying it correctly but because of my accent she thinks I am not hearing it right!"
Little did I know on the other side of the wall, she looked to Paul and said "She isn't from Illinois originally is she?"
Paul simply replied "No she isn't" but didn't give her any more details cause he didn't know what was going on, he couldn't hear my responses. This is something we joke about all the time. Paul being from the mid-west will say words that I can't understand. Example he will say what sounds like "Shannon can you pass me a PIN" and I will say "A Pin? what for", "Not a Pin and Pin!" What he is really saying is he wants a PEN! But it sounds like PIN, and I always have to clarify. Thats just the way his accent works. After I said another word which I have no idea which word would have triggered her to look at Paul a second time to figure out where I was from, he looks up at her and says "She is from Nova Scotia, Canada originally" "OOOOHHH, I knew I could hear an accent! "
Funny thing is I am told all the time lately by my family that I sound "American" not so much here do I hear it but in Illinois people noticed my "Canadian or different accent". But then again if you live anywhere outside of Nova Scotia your accent changes after a while and they tell you how you "talk different." But being in America now the family blames it on them, lol.
Anyway I was in this sound proof booth for a while, and all I could hear at one point was the sound of my own heart beat in my ears, and it was becoming un-nerving. I was suppose to be listening for tones and then mind would wander, and her instructions were if you hear a tone or you think you hear a tone push the button. Well now I was thinking I was hearing tones, so I would click the button, and finally she comes over the mic and says, we are getting a lot of false readings let's start over. Well lady I am starting to go a bit crazy here with the silence and having an Edgar Allen Poe moment here maybe that has something to do with it all!
Then came the not so great news. There was definate hearing loss in my right ear, and she would have to talk to the doctor about what we should do. I was crying at this point, I am not even sure why, she kept asking me questions like "Do you work with loud equipment, in the military, blah blah blah" all I kept thinking was " will you stop talking so I can compose myself before I completely fall apart in here! My mom had hearing loss but never talked about how it happened, so that was going through my head. Here was another one of those moments where you think "I never had the chance to ask her. What else don't I know about her health history that could affect me in the future?" When these moments happen that is when the water works start even now, nearly 6 years after her passing but how do you explain that to a complete stranger. "Excuse while I grieve here for a moment. Can you shut the door so I can continue to listen to my own pulse until it passes and then we will talk."
Then the drama queen side of me comes out, " I was a receptionist for 2 years that is the only thing I can think of!" Paul is chuckling to himself now, "thinking here we go, IT WAS THE JOB!! I Knew it!!" He knows me so well! LOL..we laughed about it later in the exam room. In walks the doctor and tells me there is inflammation somewhere behind my ear and he can't see it so he is going to put me on a steroid for so many days. Then he calls me out. "do you use q-tips." I nod, "A Lot", "yes some might say too much." He said it could be something that is irriated by them and hopefully we caught it in time and we can reverse the damage. I asked about why my ears it so bad, to the point where if I don't scratch with a Q-tip I will seriously start to loose my mind. He explained I am making it worse when I do that and it drys my ears out and that causes the itch to become persistant. Sort of like eczema in your ears.
Husband: Shannon gets eczema, usually when she is stressed it will flare up else where on her body.
Dr: Well there you have it.
That is likely what it was. And with the stress of our move my ears took the hit! On top of likely sinus inflammation with the change in climate.
So he gave a perscription for the itch as well, I started taking the steroid medicine and he told me the most common side effect was insomnia but not to worry it will go away after they ween me off the meds. This stuff is hard core, he is trying to beat this inflammation out of me. I started my new regime, and after about 24 hours, I had the first five side effects on the sheet. LOL. Suddenly I became one of those commercials where they list off all the potential effects of a drug. Burst of energy, mood swings (roid rage?), indigestion, face flushing, depression, weight gain, slight insomnia I think not too noticible. My favorite part of the sheet of side affects was "inform your family members of the side effects so they can be aware of your behavior" Yup it is a trip and half. I think I am noticing a slight improvement, hard to tell for certain, if nothing else I am entertaining with my buzzing around tearing out Paul's closet yesterday afternoon before work, to loosing my temper easily, usually at inanimate objects when I trip over something stupid, and then crying because I feel bad about my mood swings..lol Only another week on this and I will be done and hopefully back to normal, or as close to normal as I will ever be!
On our drive home, Paul was asking me if I would be distracted by his using his phone while I drive. "No it's in my bad ear so it won't make much difference."
Paul: Hey maybe you will sleep better cause that is the side I sleep on and you won't hear me snore anymore! lol
That's my husband Mr Brightside!
On the drive home we were laughing about how we are the living version of Hear No Evil/See No Evil with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. Between his eyes and my ears, we make a dangerous team! But entertaining none the less.
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