PROUD OWNER OF A HOLE
a late lunch at 2pm takes me to the City GPs (my general practitioner) for a routine session of having my ears cleaned out. i've got these little collapsed ear canals which make me more prone to ear wax buildup...or so i'm told. i've had it done before and its really not a big deal. you go in, sit down, hold a cup under your ear, they syringe it out with warm water, you wipe off and you're away and laughin. normally, that's how it goes.
today was not one of those visits unfortunately.
i went in and waited, and waited and watched the waiting room empty two times before i saw a rushed woman whisk in the front door and rush past me. 5 minutes later, that woman comes to call my name a half an hour after my scheduled appointment time of 2pm. i'm mellow with it because i know i have ten more minutes on the parking meter out front.
we go in after a hurried introduction "oh, i'm jane by the way" "nice to meet you jane" i respond in a patient kind tone. we dart into this common area where i sit on the doctors bench and the curtain is drawn two thirds closed.
i'm handed a piece of paper to read which outlines the process while jane gathers her tools. i quickly absorb the info on the paper paying special note to the line which makes mention of the possible risk of damage to inner ear workings during this process. i read that line again.
i'm draped in a black nylon cape. then i'm asked to hold the plastic container under my left ear to catch the water run off from the syringing process. i do so. syringing commences.
the first round goes alright and the desired results are achieved. when the water drains off, i can hear as i'm supposed to. jane peeks in my ear with her tool. she can't see my eardrum so she calls on an assistant for her input. the assistant peeks in my ear and can not see my eardrum either. she has a go at the syringe process whereby i again hold the bucket under my ear.
i think we had two successful flushes of water - in, then out. then on the third, possibly a bit to heavy, squeeze of the handle, the water shot into my tiny ear canal desparately looking for an exit...ANY EXIT...even if it was straight through my head and out the other ear! that's what it felt like anyway.
i'm not sure i can put that kind of pain into words so it's best to imagine someone shoving a highly polished chrome skewer in your ear and having it lodge itself halfway through your skull. eyes welled up instantly and shortly there after, in between my rocking bout of writhing, the sweats hit me. you know the pain is bad when your whole body sweats and you have to lie down. with time, the pain slowly subsided until the doctors noticed the possibility of serious damage and asked me to rush over to a specialist at the hospital. i did so.
nikki (the specialist) mentioned that i was the second person to have the luxury of the use of her new microscope. she also mentioned that i have collapsed ear canals which might have been the reason the other doctors couldn't see my eardrum. she completed the job, gave me a clean bill of health and then noted nonchalantly at the end that there was a miniscule hole in my eardrum. this can't be good i thought. it stands now that i'm to see her in 6 weeks time when hopefully this '
hole' will heal itself.
till then, imagine tightly packed cotton in your ear. that's how my left ear is currently operating.