Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Huh?

I try not to say huh ALL the time.  I cannot hear my husband if he turns his face away from me and talks softly….you know like sweet nothings well that is what I hear ...nothing.

I have had one good ear and one bad ear for quite some time. A few people have commented that the TV is on a little loud.

I chalked it all up to the ageing process.  Just one more body part that fails you in your golden years.

Then I got a terrible shooting pain in my ear and a super dooper party pooper earache.  One of those earaches that if I was little I would cry and stand next to the dryer with my ear pressed up close just like my girls did when they were little….they would stand there for a really long time until their tears  dried on their faces….then I knew they had to see the Doctor.

I told Far Guy “I am going to the walk in clinic.”  He said “I’ll drive.”  Fine whatever.

Left ear is fine and has no ear wax.  Right ear has a hard as a rock ball of ear wax, the Doctor moved it aside enough to see my very inflamed and infected eardrum.  She could not wash the ball of wax out due to the infection.  She tried extracting it until the pain was overwhelming.  She said to put mineral oil in my ear for a couple of weeks and wash the ear out really good when I wash my hair, and take the antibiotics until they are gone.  She also said “You might hear a lot better when that chunk of wax moves on out…if it doesn’t move come back.”

FINE.  The first time we washed out my ear, I was standing with my head over the sink and Far Guy squirted sterile saline in my ear…and I immediately got dizzy and didn’t know which way was up or down.  Luckily I didn’t fall… as we zig zagged to the table where I flopped my head down…gravity helped.   It took several minutes until I got the saline to flow out of my ear and I knew which end was up.  Far Guy said “Thanks for not falling down.”  “Ya well thanks for holding the right end up.”

I still have that small ball huge boulder of ear wax in my ear. It has not moved…well except to make me hard of hearing sometimes…and I still have ear pain that wakes me up.

We are still doing the mineral oil along with peroxide flushes…without success.  I finish with the antibiotics today.

I asked the Doctor if it is strange to have ear wax in one ear and not the other…she said nope..there is no normal…one or both or neither can have ear wax.  I am shooting for neither.

I walked up and down the aisle in Wallyworld but decided all their products and gizmos were probably not much better than what we were already doing.

I suppose one of these days that wax ball will come loose of all the little ear hairs that are holding it in place and it will roll around striking my eardrum until it builds up enough momentum  to pop right out…

  Old Rake

An old rake   September 2015

Christmas Update:  Presents purchased 1, Decorations 1 wreath is up outside.  Cards have been ordered, Christmas letter is in progress.  Trees decorated 0.  Baking…none yet.

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26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry to read about your pain. Like your girls, when I was little I suffered terribly with ear aches. I sure pray that the wax will loosen and give you relief very soon.

Meggie said...

Take my word for it...a good ENT is the answer to your problem. I have the same problem and have now found a wonderful doctor. I routinely (like once a year) do a follow up visit and the extra wax is removed before I have the problem again. Sometimes he give me a prescription of antibiotics, to be used if I get an infection after the removal of wax. I've never had to use the antibiotics, but it's nice to have in case I have severe pain, over the week end, from an infection. By the way, my doctor's removal of the wax, is usually pain free....I know this comment is getting long, but I just wanted you to know that a good doctor and regular visits help with this re-occurring problem. Good luck !

Country Gal said...

The mineral oil will eventually or is supposed to eventually soften the wax and then it should be able to be removed either by you or a Doctor . Hubs here had it removed a few times by the doctor and hasn't had any build up since for a few years now as the Dr told him to put a bit of oil in his ears once a week and then clean them out gently with a Qtip . Hope you get relief from it all and it removes it's self .

DJan said...

I suffer from ear wax in my ears, too. When I visited my sister last month and went swimming with her every day, I suddenly got deaf in one ear, from the ear wax being pushed against the ear drum. I tried everything to get it out, and when I got home I used my magic tool: a Rhino ear cleaner, which I ordered from Amazon. It's a little pricy, but it works! I go every couple of years to the doctor and once I had an ENT guy who removed the wax with a little tiny vacuum cleaner thing. It was wonderful! :-)

lisa said...

Nothing worse than earaches! Matt has hearing aids and the doctor said he has one of the cleanest ears he has ever seen. I asked him why, and Matt's says he washes his ears every time he takes a shower by putting his ear under the shower head then moves his ear beside the opening to swish the water around in it. He's goofball too! Sure hope it gets better for you!

Intense Guy said...

I too suffer from massive ear wax ooze in only one ear. Debrox and annual trips to the doctor for industrial strength Hydrogen Peroxide is the only thing that works for me. Messy and unpleasant.

Henny Penny said...

Oh gosh, it made my ear ache to hear about your ear infection and the wax. I've had only one good ear since I was sixteen years old. I was sick with a cold, my ear started ringing, and even after I got well I could not hear out of that ear. Hope you feel better soon.

MTWaggin said...

Worst pain ever I've had was when I had a massive ear infection. Amazing all the things it messes up - not just hearing. Here is to wax departure and SOON!

Mac n' Janet said...

Sorry about your ear, I have problems with wax build up too.

Karen said...

Sounds a bit like here. Larry has one good ear and one bad. He has a hole in one ear drum, so if we are with company he tries to sit so that his good ear is closest to them. I've said to him that after he finally gets his eyes all fixed, we are going to see about his hearing, because I find it so frustrating constantly having to repeat myself.(He has hearing loss as well as the hole) David (son)has to get his ears flushed occasionally. He gets bad wax build up and has to put warm olive oil in his ears for a few days before he goes to get them flushed out. My sympathies on the ear infection, it's been a lot of years but I remember the pain....:( Hope things sort themselves out soon.

Terry and Linda said...

Golly what horrible pain you must be going through. I hope by the time you read my comment you are FREE of that hard ball of wax!

Linda

Anonymous said...

I am so sorry you are having that ear problem but glad that you found out what was causing the problem. I hope that wax will soften and come out so that you get relief. In the meantime please be careful with your sense of balance and for instance don't turn your head too fast! Please keep us posted on how things are coming along with that ear!

Shirley H.

Red said...

I thought you were going to say one bad ear and one badder ear. I have the same problem with the micro manager. I can't hear her in the house. When we're out I hear her just fine. Ear problems are very frustrating. I hope this clears up quickly.

Far Side of Fifty said...

Not yet:(

Gravy said...

I've had ear problems, infection and wax buildup all my life. Dr. Grimes would take a syringe and the pressure of the warm water would wash out the wax. Good luck with both!

L. D. said...

My hearing has been bad for a few years but my wife's hearing has take a turn for the worse just this past year. We both are repeating everything back and forth all the time.

Granny Marigold said...

Around here it is quite funny because both my DH and I hear less well than we used to. Many funny conversations happen as we mis-hear each other,
Hope you get this sorted out and feel better soon.

Linda Reeder said...

At first you were describing me: can't hear my husband when he turns his face away, TV a little loud. But mine really is a hearing loss. I'll be scheduling another hearing test in January. I don't know what's better, but I'm sure glad I don't have your pain.

Patsy said...

Sorry you feel so bad, not good when so much to do for Christmas.
Old age has got me for sure doctor said I had no wax just loss
of hearing in left ear and the right is going. But not ready for the ear things.
So I will just keep saying HUH or what did you say!

Cynthia said...

Ouch! That sounds so painful. I hope the problem solves itself, and soon.

Rita said...

I've had one ear worse than the other since I was a teenager and a weird, jealous guy I just met at a house party got mad because I wouldn't dance with him, threw me across the room, and my ear smashed against a really beautiful crystal door knob. Probably burst my ear drum because it crackled and made underwater noises for weeks and was never the same. I can't hear as good out of either ear now--huh? Maybe I should think about cleaning my ears out. Hope yours is better soon. :)

troutbirder said...

Sorry to read of the owee and no immediate fix for the problem. I do wear a hearing aid though Mrs. T. has diagnosed it as a "selective hearing problem... Ouch!

Jacqi Stevens said...

I see from your Christmas update that you and I might be racing to a photo finish at the last possible moment...

Unknown said...

I too have narrow ear drums. Do not go to your family doctor! I went three times and they could not wash it out. I then went to an ENT and he pulled the wax out in 2 seconds. Never again will I go any place but ENT. Oil does not work for everyone.

Mrs Shoes said...

Have you ever heard of ear candling? Mind you, I'm not making a suggestion, but your story put me in mind of a time, many years ago when I saw it done. I declined to participate, feeling a bit sceptical of the claims being made about the process & not about to plunk down the $45 - and that was the "party price" - to be one of the guinea pigs.
Anyway, the patient lay down on her side, the practitioner stuck a tall tapered paper cone into her ear & then lit the top of the paper on fire. As I recall, there was some kind of shield against the ear, sort of like a paper plate - I wondered if there was a concern of setting the patient's hair on fire. The cone burned down to about 3" from the ear when it was extinguished & removed from the ear.
3 ladies had candling done that day. The practitioner made quite a show of peeling open the stubs of the cones & displaying what she said was ear wax - the huge globs of wax were yellow & brown & lumpy... weird looking, & the practitioner said that this was wax & "toxins" drawn out of the ear by the vacuum produced by the lit cone. It was SO much junk that it seemed a wonder that any one of those ladies could hear at all (which didn't do a thing to quell my doubts) but those gals exclaimed how they felt so much better. I wondered if the paper cones hadn't had some kind of wax on them to begin with, but nobody had looked at them prior & I felt like I was being a party pooper if I were to ask, so I didn't.
I cannot recall seeing anywhere lately about ear candling (though it seemed a real rage at the time, about 1995 or so) & checking wikipedia it seems to have been proven a hoax.
I hope that you'll be hearing well again soon & suffer no recurrence of the problem. In the meantime, I'm going to have my husband ask his doctor if ear wax is why he never seems to be able to hear me; maybe he hasn't been tuning me out on purpose after all! :-)

Sam I Am...... said...

Sorry to hear you're in pain but on the good side....ear wax is healthy. They had it on the news awhile ago that if you don't have ear wax (I never do..just a few dry flakes once in awhile), and if you have wrinkles on your ear lobes and there was one other thing I can't remember that you are prone to heart attacks/strokes. I fit all 3 criteria and my family history is all heart attacks and strokes so count your blessings but as in your case there can always be too much of a good thing. I hope you get better!
P.S. The ear candling was interesting and I thought it was something that took place back in the day but to hear it was 1995? Really? I was amazed that we haven't gotten any smarter! LOL!