Tommy, Can You Hear Me?

Well, I'm happy to report that I arrived home in one piece from my trip to Atlantic City. I had a good time and learned - or rather relearned - some things I'd forgotten over the years. The traffic coming home was a little heavy in places, but hey, what do you expect for rush hour on the Garden State Parkway?

So, everything went swimmingly, my hubby and dog were waiting with big smiles to welcome me home. We sent out for dinner so I wouldn't have to cook...and then I went to bed. Or tried to. First of all I had to clean my ear where it had been bothering me the last few days....

Enter a Q-tip, a 50 lb Golden Retriever mix, and door.


Do you see where this is going?

One knock of that big muscular body of my Lilygirl and the cabinet door swung shut with a great deal of force right on my ear, where the Q-tip stook out. There was a pop, overwhelming pain, and then nothing but blood in my right ear. I hit the floor, my hubby came running as I wailed and sobbed. The dog tried to lick me by way of apology. Sad to say, her efforts were in vain. I still can't hear out of that ear and I have a hole the size of Pittsburgh in my eardrum.

The ENT I saw said in a case like mine 95% of the time, the hole will close on its own and hearing will be restored in about six weeks. This, however, has not stopped me from worrying that I'll spend the rest of my life hearing the world like I'm sitting with my head inside a goldfish bowl. Yes, I have hearing on the right, but it's that odd annoying sound one experiences when they have a cup-full of water in their ear. You all know the feeling of which I speak. The ENT also told me I was lucky because the injury did not involve any bony structures, therefore surgery is not indicated in this case. Well, thank God for small favors! I was so not looking forward to surgery.

This happened at about 2am on Thursday morning...so explain to me exactly why I wake up on Sunday afternoon after working two twelve hour shifts and had relatively no pain would it be excruiating? My first guess is that the inflammation from the initial pain response in the area has started to fade and those pain receptors in the ear are now able to fire. I'm telling myself this. If I am still on my knees in pain tomorrow, I'm going to call for some pain meds or some anti-biotics as I'm afraid I might get an infection. (Though the ENT assured me that my particular injury ususually doesn't become infected). I did pack my ear with cotton while at work, since hospitals are notoriously full of bugs and I didn't want to introduce anything into my ear canal that could impede healing.

But you know, in the back of my mind I'm wondering if instead of something horrible happening to me like I mentioned last week, if my magic was just strong enough to divert death and dismemberment, but not enough to deflect all injuries.

I mean, what else am I to think about so freak an accident?

So, that's been my last few days. How are you all doing?

-Kate