Bang your drum...

I woke up yesterday with a pain in my ear. Over the past couple of weeks, I had a tickle and jabbing pain in my ear. It was pretty painful at times but it would disappear rather quickly so I thought it was just a passing headache or similar.

When I awoke, the pain was pretty bad. In fact, I think the pain woke me up. It hurt with every exhale. When I burped or yawned or sneezed... ugh.... it was like someone was sticking a nail in my ear.

So with my left eye closed (from the pain), I went through my morning routine and got dressed. I headed down to the computer and looked up my local doc. They squeezed me in that afternoon and the pain subsided as I went through my day. I even considered canceling but I thought I should get someone to peek in my ear.

My guess was that I had somehow torn my eardrum a little... then now fully. When I moved my head, I heard a scratching and crackly sound. I didn't notice too much of a loss of hearing but the highs seemed a touch dull as I listened to music on the way to the appointment. "Sigh", I thought, "I just hope I don't have too much permanent damage." I knew that torn ear drums could heal over a few months, but I was concerned that I could not go swimming or diving.

When I got to the dr's office, they checked me out. As the doc looked into my ear with a scope for less than 10 seconds, he immediately and cheerfully said "Ah ha!". I braced myself for the bad news.... what would it be? Deafness? Would he compare my eardrum to a tattered and used tissue?

"It's a hair. In your ear. One end hooked in your ear canal. The other end it poking right into your eardrum and the hair is under tension like a spring. The hair is trying to poke right through your eardrum."

Now, as relieved as I was, I started looking at his hands and thinking he didn't look to have great dexterity... so who was going to pull this thing out? I mean, this wasn't brain surgery but an eardrum is not somewhere you want to be stumbling around. He mentioned there was an easy way to get it out...

An assistant came in with a ear wash bottle and after a couple of pleasant bursts of warm water, I was free from pain. The hair looked like a clipping from my head and was about an inch long. I am thinking it was the recent haircut + blow dry that sent it in there.

Today, I am pain free and really happy to be hearing well.