Ear Infections

At 43 I'm a bit old to be getting ear infections, but that's exactly what I ended up with last week.  Again.  I don't remember ever having one as a child, but then in my 20s, I was suddenly getting several every year.  Eventually I got referred to an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist who placed some tubes in my ears to ensure pressure between my ears was equalized and to provide drainage for fluids that would have otherwise accumulated behind my ear drum.  This helped, though I still suffer from the occasional ear infection, or just simple fluid build-up.

So, last Wednesday I awoke with the familiar pressure in my left ear, and it hurt.  My wife, Kate, had a couple of appointments at the hospital that day, so I couldn't go to a clinic until later that afternoon.  I was prescribed some anti-biotic pills and drops, but alas, they came too late.  Later that evening I felt the pain of my eardrum bursting along with the tell-tale bleeding from the ear.  Good thing I'm married, because I doubt the look would be very attractive to the opposite sex.  My left eardrum has "perforated" several time, with a concomitant decline in my hearing each time.  I'll probably be deaf in that ear by the time I'm 60.

So, for several days afterwards I was oozing some gelatinous goop.  I told my nine year-old that it looked like custard but that it sure didn't taste like custard.  That's one uptight little kid we have.  She found it no funnier later in the day when she asked if she could have a snack and I suggested a spot of ear custard.

Well, post-A-Z Challenge has left me scurrying about for topics.  I've read that when faced with writer's block, the best approach is to just write about any old thing at all.  Hopefully this will knock some more substantive topics loose for my next post.