My temporary loss...

Summer makes me so lazy. I have done so little (with the exception of today). Today I was up at 6:40 a.m. and off to try my hand at Vinyasa Yoga. Quite an interesting experience I would say...at first I started doing the poses and I thought that it was the dumbest thing I had ever done in my short life. But then they started getting hard. And I changed my mind. I learned that I'm not flexible and I have zero balance. Fabulous.
But anyway that's not really what I'm here to talk about. Nope. I know I have neglected my blog but my reasons for doing so are valid. I went to Texas to visit my bestie and captured a cold (what a great way of saying that! 'captured a cold!') then I got on the plane to go back to Ft. Lauderdale. I came back in one piece but a day later I had a bloody freakin' painful earache. It woke me up at 3:40 in the morning and nearly pounded the brains right out of my ear, it was extremely painful. My mom found me crouched in the corner of my bed clutching my left ear at 7 something that morning...She wanted to take me to the ER but, me being me, I staunchly refused. That my friends is the dumbest thing you could ever do. If you can rate your pain higher than a 5, I would have said my was an 8 (my mom asked me to rate my pain) you should go to the ER. Don't be all macho...like me.
Anyway I nearly passed out from the pain, or what I have no idea...but the point is I nearly passed out. You should be concerned at this point; I have never passed out in my life.
I remember sitting at the dining room table, feeling my stomach lurch, and me thinking 'oh snap, I'm gonna throw up.' I walked as fast as I could toward the bathroom, opened up the lid, and said those famous lines 'Mom?' My mom walked over (more like ran) when she saw me go sheet white...and I slumped onto the bathroom floor (yes, I know, nasty). My mom started saying my name...and calling my brother at the same time. My brother said I was white enough that you could see the veins in my forehead. Of course my brother would notice that...never mind me dying on the floor...
Anyway I start coming to and my mom puts me to bed....which was hard because I was exhausted but the pain was so great I couldn't sleep....so (haha!) we abused prescription medicine. Hey I wasn't for it, but after my experience I'm all for it! She gave me Hydrocordone(?), leftovers from when my brother had his wisdom teeth removed. It put me to sleep in 45 minutes. I woke up after with blood coming from my ear (this just gets better and better) and it wasn't a drip-drop blood thing either, I mean it was coming. My mom who's in the medical field said something about a middle ear infection, oh joyousness. That day I just mostly slept.
The next day I went to see my doctor, I didn't have an appointment, which is a huge no-no for them at least, so I kinda shoved my way into an appointment. I get in there and the doctor is looking at my bloodied ear and she says, and I'll never forget "Michelle, you should have come sooner." Oh..................well I guess shoving my way into an appointment didn't cut it....next time I'll just barrel through the doors, forget the receptionist and the other people waiting. Oh the irony. Anyway my doc flipped her top and shoved me into another appointment, same day, with an ENT doctor.
Oh and did I mention, that since the moment blood was coming from my ear I was deaf in that ear? That was the best part!
But anyway, off I go to the ENT doctor and he tells me I do, in fact, have a middle ear infection, perhaps a blood clot on my eardrum, and a buildup of blood in my ear. He gives me steroids and another batch of pills that didn't seem as exciting as the steroids and sends me on my way informing me that I will get my hearing back (that is what concerned me most) but it might take up to a month.
It took about 3 weeks for me. But it did come back. Ironically also, prior to that whole experience about a month before I was talking to someone, I can't recall who...but I said that between seeing and hearing I would rather lose my sight....there is no replacement for the sound of human voices. And then I lose hearing in one of my ears. God has a sense of humor.
Regardless the whole experience was fabulous. Yes, it was awkward, I had to turn my head to really grasp what you were saying..I would get really dizzy just getting up from a chair sometimes...if you spoke behind me I had no idea what direction you were coming from..and my right ear (I never thought this was possible) would get tired of listening...really it would. At the end of a day I would tune people out without even intending to do so. Very strange.
Now I can hear fairly well, not fully yet, but I know the direction of sounds...it's still in some pain....like a very faint earache...but overall I'm on the mend.
I wrote this in my drug-induced state when I noticed my hearing was going in my left ear:
I now know what it is like to be deaf.
It is just what you hear on TV when the screen darkens and the voices fade away.
The people's voices, the clamor of the dishes, the slamming of a door are just a whisper.
It is as if they muffle themselves to avoid being overheard.
I guess that sums it up pretty well.
But anyway my last thought is for photographers with dSLR cameras!
You have to check out this site, but most importantly this post....it's just so creative.
I promise to post again later on this week :)

1 comment:

Alex said...

Dang, that's insane. Glad you're better. Also: "I mean it was coming" is what she said.