I can hear!

Any of you following this blog for the last month or so knows I had a horrible ear infection at the beginning of February. Even after the infection let up, I had a lot of fluid in both ears, especially at night and in the morning. Well, I finally went to the doctor today, and he did indeed find fluid there. He had them give me a steroid shot and prescribed an oral form of the same thing to help with that.

But he also found that my left ear was completely full of ear wax (see what happens when you're good and don't dig at your ear for a month?) For that, they put drops in my ear that percolated as they loosened the wax, then used a Water-Pic-like device that shot water into my ear and then sucked it back out, and then the person used some sort of glowing instrument (it was clear with a bluish light going through it) to remove the wax. It took a couple of times to get it out; a large plug was impacted right next to my ear drum.

Whilst the drops were doing their thing, I suddenly felt some of the pressure release, and could hear more clearly from that ear. Once she got the wax out, I could hear the heater running. I didn't realise how hard it had been for me to hear. I kept having to ask people to repeat things, and it sounded muffled, but some sounds were just gone, like background noise. My hearing's actually a little sensitive to loud sounds like the radio; I'd apparently had the volume way up on the way to the office, because I had to turn it down quickly once I got back in. My ear's a little irritated, but otherwise it feels so good!

Also, the infection didn't linger, so that's a good thing, too. It's amazing how delicate and yet important your ears can be. Tomorrow I'm going to get a dropper for the sweet oil they say will help loosen wax before it gets that bad.