Thursday, November 7, 2013

What? I Can't Hear You...

Last year, on the day after Thanksgiving, I started feeling a little "off".  If you do the math, you will notice that that was, roughly, 49 weeks ago.  I would tell you how many DAYS, but that would involve more math than I want to do.

**SIDE NOTE:

  Math Homework

Sophie Lee B
+  Waited WAY Too Long In The Afternoon to Start
Pure Unadulterated TORTURE

OK, where was I? Oh yeah. I started feeling a little off.  By Saturday night, I was flat out sick. I had some kind of sinus issue goin on and my ears plugged up and I felt all manner of ICK.  And, while MOST of the ick went away, the ear thing decided to move in and set up camp.

I called the doc, went for a little visit and was told I had an "angry" ear. My response was "you would be angry too if you felt like this! Now, stop analyzing the mood of my ear and medicate me, thank-ya-very-much!"  Except, ya know, not out loud.  The doc then assured me that adults don't GET ear infections (tell that to my EVERY SINGLE FALL medical history), but since something was clearly going on (what with the anger issues and all), he would indeed medicate me.

Thank you. So much.

However, the whole angry ear thing didn't really go away.

And, by mid December it was accompanied by a ticked off throat.

And, seein as how I was scheduled to sing a solo on Christmas Eve, I went back to the doc. Only, ya know, it was Saturday night, so I went to an Urgent Care type doc.  He looked at me for all of 17 seconds, called it a sinus infection and medicated me further. But, this time, he brought out the big guns.

The big guns, AKA the "that doesn't fall under that free antibiotic thing so get ready to pay out the wazookie" guns. YAY!

The Big Guns kinda helped. My throat felt better and I no longer wanted to stick an ice pick into my face to relieve the pressure. Which, ya know, was beneficial.

But the ears? Still somewhat angry.

After one more round of antibiotics in the early Spring, I declared my ears to be, perhaps, not really "angry" so much as in a kind of "seasonal depression". Maybe, I thought, they just need to wait for better weather to get back their happy go lucky selves.

So, I waited.

The summer was a little better. They were more moody than angry over the summer. Pretty happy for a while with some anger issues here and there. I could handle that. In fact, I hardly noticed, except in the moody periods when I couldn't hear a thang.

By the way, being unable to hear makes it SO much fun to sing.

NOT!

And then in October I flew to Arizona.

And, then I flew back.

And, if you have ever flown with ear issues, I know that you just cringed for me.

On the landing of the last flight I heard a loud pop, accompanied by a searing pain.

And that loud pop was the last thing I heard out of that ear - unless you count my heart beat, the blood flowing through my veins, the popping of my knees (yes, I can hear that INSIDE my head now - joy!) and the VERY loud chewing of my food.  But I can hear NOTHING outside of my head with my right ear.

And, also, it hurts.

So ... yay ... to the doctor.  More meds - but not antibiotics this time to see if it would help.

Nope.

And now I wait for an appointment with the nice (Oh, please be nice ... and smart ... and clever enough to find the problem before medicating me further) Ear Nose & Throat specialist. I finally got a call back and instead of waiting till late December, the are squeezing me in on Monday.

THANK YOU LORD!

So, suffice it to say (in a very long and drawn out way), I am asking you to please pray for answers. And healing. And grace.

Thanks so very much! Y'all are awesome!!!!!

2 of ya left some love:

Unknown said...

Dr. Bretschnieder in Port Huron is literally one of the best...
I had no idea. I'm so sorry my friend. Suffering stinks. But you still sing like a star!

Unknown said...

awe sweetie...of course i will pray for you. this has been going on for far too long and you are well in need of relief, healing, and some answers. i pray you get all of the above! and i agree with vicki...you still sing like a star. hence the fitting nickname: RockStar! love you!