Did I mention

That one of the other small, annoying things of the day was having to repierce my left ear for something like the fifth time this morning. If I don't wear earrings, or if I just wear the dangling type, the hole in my ear tends to close partway up, so the earring will go through half the earlobe only. This goes back to when I originally had my ears pierced and accidentally put an earring through halfway and then it went through a different way than originally. That lobe is thicker due to the scar tissue. But I've had my ears pierced for 28 years, so I guess I've done okay in terms of keeping them open. Again, it's a small thing, but aggravating. At least this time I didn't have to break out my original earrings with the pointy posts; some regular post earrings were fine. But I should probably leave them in tonight anyway.

By George, I think I feel better

Well, I slept through my 'naptime' alarm, and my 'take my insulin alarm', so it's nearly 1 am, but I feel oh, so much better. The swelling has gone some and I can kind of hear out of both ears now. My throat's a little better, too. Yay! Thank you, modern antibiotics (as opposed the the early antibiotics, most of which I'm allergic to). :)

According to YKWIA

I was pretty incoherent on the phone just now, as I walked home. I am so tired. I'm eating; which hurts, as my jaw is swollen, too. I just took the Bactrim DS that I got instead of the Spectracef, took a couple of Advil, and I'm going to go on to bed for awhile after I'm finished eating. But the pain is nowhere near where it was this morning, at least, and my ear is draining now, which is gross but I suspect good, since there's so much pressure built up inside.

Sorry to go on about being sick, but it's a little all-consuming right now, although I did get quite a bit accomplished at work despite feeling like crap. I'll try to get up a little later so 1) I don't have trouble sleeping later and 2) to do some interesting blogging, rather than going on about ear stuff.

PS The badge photos got moved up to Wednesday and Thursday. Joy. Oh, well, at least we're having a book fair tomorrow. :)

I am feeling a bit better

So maybe the ear drops are helping. I still don't have an oral antibiotic yet. They didn't have the one prescribed so they had to fax the doctor for an alternative. I should be able to pick it up when I get off work.

Okay, enough of playing with the phone on break. It is almost time to switch jobs. At least I feel decent now.

I looked in the mirror

earlier and of course everything's so swollen on that one side that I look a bit like I have the mumps. So of course we're having pictures made for our name badges at work on Thursday or Friday. I'm thinking Friday is the way to go, and hope this has gone down a bit by then.

I'm up (mostly) and ready to go to the pharmacy. I didn't sleep well as you can imagine. I feel very blah. But I'm going to do what I can today. I've got some interlibrary loans to do and I'm actually behind on the data entry, since I came home from the doctor's office yesterday. Hopefully I'll be able to focus okay.

It's still pretty cloudy

but this was the first night since I got the phone that I could see any stars (more precisely, two). So I took it out and brought up Google Sky Maps and discovered that those two stars are part of Ursa Major. Yay!

I keep getting tweets about the International Space Station going over my area, bright to see, but of course it's been lousy for viewing with all the rain. But at least a got to play a bit with the sky.

I've had a lot of rest but still feel drained. I just don't feel like doing much other than eat and sleep, and even sleep is getting harder now because I've already had five hours' worth tonight and it's just after midnight. Usually sleep is not an issue for me--I fall asleep with no trouble [unless I've consumed a 2 litre of soda :)], but the pain's making it difficult. I actually took some Darvocet I had left over from a neck injury last year and that helped me sleep. It's still dulling the pain. I forgot to ask about the CPAP and how it would affect my ear (I did that last time I had one of these, too, but had no ill effects. I have discovered, though, that it hurts a little more. Even outside today was windy, and it hurt going up into my ear.) And of course I use my CPAP to sleep, so there's a little more pain. Not much, mind you, just a little evil icing on the cake, so to speak.

PS This has, at least temporarily, solved the headphone situation. I can't use headphones at all. :)

Pain

So I do indeed have a case of otitis externa, with some throat involvement, too, so they put me on ear drops with Cipro in it and an oral antibiotic I've never heard of called Spectracef. They sent me home with the ear drops and I've taken those. The oral antibiotic will have to wait until tomorrow morning on the way to work--I walked out in front of a moving car earlier because I was feeling so bad that I did not see it (and I certainly didn't hear it!) I didn't feel like navigating over to Walgreens and back. Instead I went on home, ate, and went to bed, where I slept for three hours. I'm not running a fever but I was having chills anyway.

I understand why kids cry with ear infections. It's very painful. They couldn't even get the scope in far enough to see my ear drum, it's so swollen. It's hurting all the way down to my shoulders, and along the jaw. I feel like I'm living in 'The Tell-Tale Heart', as I constantly hear my heart beat. I only have two more doses of ibuprofen left--I'll have to get more at the pharmacy tomorrow. Unfortunately I can't afford to miss work (I have very little PTO due to having to take so much to fill in hours here and there from where I've been getting done early on many days). The worst part of the ear infection, besides the feeling of liquid rolling around inside like moths to a flame, is that it hurts, but then there are points where the pain increases tenfold for a moment. It's also really bad if you burp. :) I do well with chronic pain, but I'm a weenie when it comes to acute pain.

I got up and talked with a friend for awhile and made my payment to the IRS for this month. I also found a book requested from me through PaperbackSwap.com. I'll send it out tomorrow. Now I'm thinking seriously of just heading back to bed until it's time to take my insulin.

I got little screen protectors for my cell phone today, and the purple gel skin to help protect the actual phone is on its way. I might get that tomorrow or the next day. Even with shipping, it was something like $7.98 for both, much better than if I'd gone through the phone store. I love Amazon.com. I must say the screen protector feels a little stickier so you have to kind of work on lifting your finger a little more and just lightly flicking the screen.

Unfortunately I didn't request a phone number that spelled anything, and YKWIA wants me to give him something to remember it with. Since there are three zeroes in my phone number, that's an issue. I'm going to put it through one of those generators and see if I can come up with anything at all.

I don't feel well

The game went great, I braved byakhees, we got what we needed to restore our powers in the game, and all is right with the world. :)

But....

My ear is really hurting (and itching, too, which only makes me want to touch it, and then it hurts more.) The lymph node next to it is swollen where it meets the cheekbone. My throat and neck hurt, and my other ear is starting to feel painful as well. My head's also hurting, and the neck pain extends to the shoulders, but seems to be radiating from the ear, mostly on that side. I definitely am calling the doctor's office tomorrow morning, early, to see if I can at least get in to see the nurse practitioner.

So I took my insulin and I'm heading to bed, where I will try not to sleep on my usual side, the left, which is where the pain is. Have a good night.

:) It's amazing what they can do

Hollywood-style special effects give girl new ear: 14-year-old North Carolina girl suffered severe burn as a toddler

Elise Lutz never let her friends see what was left of her ear.

She'd carefully style her long hair into a one-sided ponytail, or swelter under a swim cap for hours at meets, to cover the molten lump from a severe burn as a toddler in her native China.

But as a teenager, the North Carolina girl expressed her desire to be whole again with a simple request: She really wanted pierced earrings. Thus began a months-long quest for a new right ear, one made of silicone but so lifelike that it even glows a bit in the sun like real skin.

Elise benefited from a little known field called anaplastology, where medical artists make Hollywood-like special effects come alive to fix disfigurements that standard plastic surgery cannot.

Kind of cool

Minute organs in the ear can alter brain blood flow

They're not just for balance. Maybe we'll eventually figure out what the tonsils and appendix are for, too. :) (Well, among others, they seem to attract infection...)

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.

I'm proud of myself

I got all of the recyclables over to Good Foods Co-op, rather than procrastinating and leaving them in my car until I had to move them or some such. I didn't know drink cases weren't recyclable, though, so I have a bag of some of them to go to the trash. I think I have a small storage container that would serve as a recycling bin so I could just empty it when it gets full, rather than putting them in bags. I also got some other errands done as well, all in about an hour and a half, with enough time to blog between jobs.

I'm working 30 hours at the store this week (starting today, through Wednesday--that's our schedule week for some reason), making for a total of 50 hours. Certainly doable, but I'm used to about 35-40. I'd really like to get more done on the notes and the house. I'm considering taking off at the hospital to get more done. Fortunately I have plenty of vacation time (over 25 days; you should see my sick time...we don't touch it unless we're sick more than three days, so I've used it once for a flu; I have 94 days extended illness leave. That's good, though, if something came up, like Gods forbid I found out I had cancer or had to have surgery or something liek that. They buy back your sick leave after 500 hours, but since I'm only part-time I don't accrue that quickly. I'm over 353, but not likely to hit 500 for a few more years at least. :) Anyway, I could use the money from working so much at the store, and I'd still get paid at the hospital if I took time off for fall cleaning.

Speaking of which, I recycled a whole lot of journals today as part of our clean up of the storage areas. (Ones I'd weeded and weren't taken on BackMed, the list for exchanging journal issues). First I had to go find my book truck; it had wandered off. I have a few more boxes of books to find a home for (I cannot bring myself to throw away books, even if they're recyclable, and anyway, these are in good condition; I just don't have a need for them) and about a third again as many journals to recycle. That leaves my space pretty neat and orderly. (And I put a sign on the cart so people wouldn't move it around. We'll see if that works, hah!) I discovered that a big trash bin (4 feet by 5 feet, I'd say, and about 4 feet wide) full of journals does not roll well on carpet. I really worked up a sweat! That's why I'm leaving the rest for tomorrow, but it shouldn't be as bad.

Anyway, that's what's going on in my life. Oh, and I had to put my piercing earrings back in my ears because my left ear's hole is trying to close up again. I'd left it in about 6 weeks last time, but haven't worn earrings for about three months. Obviously I need to invest in some post earrings (most of mine that are intact in terms of pairs are French hook ones).

I'll probably blog tonight if I'm not too tired. As always, thanks for reading.

Success!

As you may recall, several weeks ago I repierced my left ear where the hole had closed up, using one of my earrings. Then I put the original earrings my ears were pierced in (22 years ago, yikes!) into the holes to make sure they would be big enough to easily put in and remove earrings (my right ear was trying to close, too, I think).

This morning I took them out--and that was no small feat, because the backs lock and the right one refused for awhile, and now I have silver earrings (circles with little clear stones in them that dangle a bit) in them instead. Most of my necklaces are silver and I don't like to mix the metals, but the earrings are gold because one of the conditions of getting my ears pierced when I was younger was to get them in 24 kt gold over surgical steel to keep down the chance of allergy, since my mother reacted to gold when she got hers pierced. I never had any problems, maybe because of that. And I didn't have any trouble with either hole this time, no infection or anything, and the earrings slid right in. (Previously earrings would go in the left ear to a point, then strain against a bit of skin in the back, sort of 'swimming' around in my ear, which was a little unnerving. Anyway, I'm happy, I can wear earrings again (and take them out when I sleep if I want...I have kept those original earrings in for quite some time).

Okay, now it's time to go to that birthday breakfast at work. Have a nice day.

I'm sorry for the lack of posting

A friend has started a new work schedule, so instead of getting him at midnight I'm getting him at 3 am. So I've been coming home about midnight, going straight to bed, getting back up at 3 (intending to blog when I get back from getting him) coming home, going straight back to bed, and generally not getting up early enough to blog, either.

So what did you miss?

Well, the high point of my weekend (other than not getting any drive-offs at work) was re-piercing my ear. I had my ears pierced (the nice, normal, missionary-style way, I suppose, as opposed to up in the cartilage with four or five holes). Nothing else is pierced, just in case you're wondering, and I have no intention of doing anything else. It's just not me. But I do enjoy being able to wear earrings. Unfortunately, the last two years, the left ear's hole closed only in the very back because I wasn't wearing them enough. In the interim, the right hole was trying to as well. I thought about going to a piercer, but then if I had it re-pierced at a shop, I wouldn't be able to give blood for a year.

So I took one of my earrings and was just seeing if I could find where the hole had been, when I felt some pain and got some blood on my fingers, and voilà! my ear was pierced again. I wore those earrings overnight and realised at work the next day that I'd lost the back to one. So I dug around and found the earrings I first had my ears pierced in. They're thicker with a pointy end and have locking backs. I figure if I was going to keep earrings in for awhile to let the hole heal, these would be best. So I put them in, an ouchy on both sides, after cleansing the earlobes and earrings with alcohol pads (something I should have done when I actually pierced it the other day; I hope I don't get an infection). Anyway, the result is I have my original earrings in both ears and hopefully soon I'll be back to wearing different types of earrings on a regular basis.

What else?

Saturday was work. Sunday was the game, and we finally defeated the evil glob thing that assimilated animals and people, was laying eggs and talking, oozing about. The adventure is called 'The Devourer' from the book Lurking Fears. It was the 'Thing that Would not Die.' We had enough problems dealing with the thing with our Elder Signs and ninja abilities...I hate to think what a standard Call of Cthulhu character would do.

Speaking of ninjas, YKWIA found this gem:

'Ninja Librarian' from Letterbox Media


Dare to use a cell phone in the library!

Today I was at a library seminar on marketing, time management, and reaching out to users beyond the walls of the library. It was worth 4 hours of MLA continuing education credit, sponsored by the Kentucky Medical Library Association and hosted by Hospice of the Bluegrass (which is one of only two stand-alone hospices in the country with a medical librarian, as far as anyone knows), here in Lexington. That, plus the Web 2.0 class gives me 12, which is nice. It was a good programme by Diane Wolf, who was very knowledgeable and engaging.

This evening I've had a headache and generally haven't felt well. My allergies are acting up and although lunch was good, it didn't agree with me. So I think I'm going to go on to bed. Good night.