Zer Netmouse

First thing this morning I went to the bathroom and contemplated my veins.

The main one in the right elbow collapsed during the second colonoscopy of my carcinoid diagnosis. The left elbow one was used for an IV two weeks ago Tuesday but it looked ok today.

Good.

I would not have to make them use my hand.

I brushed my teeth, being careful not to swallow toothpaste, got dressed, and headed out the door, ignoring the complaints of our Calico cat, Candy.

Two minutes later I was in the car, heading... heading...

Downhill. Dang it. I got distracted and went the wrong way.

At Rathton I took a left, then a left on George, then back up the hill to Apple Hill medical center. A convenient 3 minute drive from our house, if you go the right way.

Lovely morning. The gracefully landscaped hill beyond the medical center looked like a postcard in the dawning light. Birds were singing. A nurse was asking me questions.

“Have you been tested for Covid-19?”

“No.”

“Any fever, cough, other symptoms?”

“Nope.”

“Do you know where you’re going”

“Yup. To the lab.” I gestured to the lab inside immediately on the left, and was allowed to proceed into the building. A volunteer in the hallway interrupted his crossword puzzle to get me checked in via his tablet, and used his elbow to hit the door open button and admit me to the lab lobby.

There were wide pieces of tape across most of the chairs, but I had been there yesterday and didn’t have to puzzle out the question of where I could sit. I sat in the same chair I sat in yesterday... until my bloodwork request finally showed up in the system, I found out one of my blood tests required an overnight fast, and I went home to do that...

Back this morning, the actual blood draw went quick. A nice lady named Jessica made sure I had not eaten, poked that left vein, filled three tubes of blood, applied some gauze and a bright green 3M wrap to my tiny new wound, and sent me on my way.

Still a beautiful morning.

How’s yours?

I thought I had an ear infection in February, but I had also accidentally poked the ear with a Q-tip when Rosie rammed into me while I was cleaning it. A visit to the doctor reported a clear ear drum but redness around the ear canal, and pain when they tugged on my ear. They prescribed antibiotic ear drops. It sort of got better, but not completely. Repeated visits to the doctor got me gradually stronger antibiotics, and in the meantime I started to suffer tinnitus, odd hearing effects, and then hearing loss. The doctor reported the ear canal plugged up with white build-up, and referred me to an ENT. The ENT office offered me an appointment in _July_. Attempts to get the doctor's office to negotiate an earlier appointment initially failed. The ENT office put me on their triage waiting list.

Meanwhile, I complained on Facebook, and someone said they had a similar problem and it turned out to be a yeast infection, so I looked that up and called the doctor's office about it. And a friend who is a massage therapist recommended I see her for lymph drainage therapy, which improved the tinnitus considerably. I started drying the ear out more in case it was a fungal infection (typified by white build-up and hearing loss)- putting a cotton ball in while showering, and rinsing with one part vinegar, one part rubbing alcohol. My hearing started to improve.

The doctor's office had me in to see a different doctor, who reported there were now two holes in the crust, and she was worried I might have a pierced eardrum, and couldn't prescribe any treatment until that question was resolved. She got my ENT appointment moved up to the following Monday.

So... yesterday I got a hearing test and saw the ENT. The hearing test reported some high frequency hearing loss in both ears, slightly worse in my right ear, which I knew (I burst that ear drum once in high school). Otherwise, the nerve response is fine in the right ear. Bone conduction hearing on the rt is MUCH better than hearing conducted through the ear canal. Not able to get the ear drum to move at all. Hearing through the ear canal is not good.

The Doctor worked on manually removing the crust in my right ear with tools, which hurt like the dickens. After he suctioned what he could away, he could see the ear drum - the otoscope image was up on the wall, so I could see it too. The ear drum is lying limply against the bones of the middle ear. It is not taut like it should be, which means it is either stretched or pierced. But if the ear was pierced, I probably would have tasted the vinegar I've been rinsing it out with, which I haven't. He has no way of knowing how the ear drum was before February, so he doesn't know if it's been that way for a long time

He didn't see any of the structures he expected to see if it was a fungal infection. Said the crust looked more like a buildup of skin cells. He's going to have me flush my ear out with a mix of vinegar and warm water once daily for a month to try to clear out the rest of the crustiness, then see me again and see if the eardrum looks any better. If not, he might refer me to an ear surgeon.

I'm also getting another round of lymph drainage therapy on Thursday, because that was terrific. The therapist is Sarah Musil, and I can't recommend her highly enough.