Release from Solitary Confinement

I'm flying to Portland tomorrow for my friend Nick's wedding. Up until today, I still couldn't really hear out of my left ear-- except for the constant ringing I had in it.

I'm a little nervous to fly with my ear clogged like it is.
"As you should be," said my brother Tim (the medical one of the family). "Your eardrum could rupture."
If you're trying to scare me, it's working.

So I sucked it up and went to the doctor at Duane Reade.

"So what brings you in today?"
I've been sick since Labor Day.
[big pause]
"You know that was a month ago, right?"
I don't have health insurance....
"Okay. So you've been sick for a month...."
Yeah, and I haven't been able to hear out of my left ear for over a week now.
"And you got tired of not being able to hear so you came in?"
Well, it's more that I'm flying on Thursday, and my brother said my eardrum could rupture. I think he was just trying to scare me, but it worked.
"Uh, yeah! Your brother is right! When people are well, the pressure can equalize. In your case, it wouldn't equalize, so it would probably rupture and then you'd have intense pain and lots of blood and there would be nothing you could do."
Well, when you put it like that....
So yeah, that's why I'm here.

He unclogged my ear [ = PAINFUL]. And then discovered the inner ear infection that "only little kids usually get." Brilliant. Turns out, I have really bad seasonal allergies-- is this just a New York thing? I don't think I had them before.... -- that turned into an infection and then just kept getting worse.

But I'm starting to be able to hear again.

It's pretty nice to be back.