Unanticipated Hiccup

Warning this post contains very little humor and will be quite boring to most of you. But it is a part of me that I wanted to share, so here it goes.
Well my Monday started off with a phone call to my boss letting her know that I will not be coming into the office today. My left ear was tender and bleeding and I felt a little dizzy.
You are probably thinking the fat basset thought my ear was a roast beef sandwich, but sadly that is not the case.
I was born with an ear problem specifically a cholesteatoma. The malady was misdiagnosed several times and by the time the correct diagnosis was made it was too late. The damage had been done, and I was basically left with a 95% hearing loss in that ear. Since it happened at a young age, I have grown up this way and compensated with it by the way I tilt my head or position myself in a conversation. I miss out on a few things but for the most part it has never been a big deal. I actually use it to my advantage sometimes. For example, if someone is yelling for me I can always say that I didn't hear them or since I sleep on my right side, my left ear is up and I can fall alseep with no problems because it is so quiet. They only drawbacks I remember were that I had about 7 operations on my ear during my childhood and for the most part I was not allowed to go swimming. I also have a pretty cool scar that is about 4-inches long on the side of my head. It is only visible if I cut my hair short, and people always want to know what it is from so it gives me an excuse to come up with an unusual story about how it happened.
Anyway that leads me up to today. I am supposed to get the ear drained and cleaned once a year because I have to. I don't want to gross anybody out but it has to be done. Well evidently my ear needs to be drained NOW because it was very tender and there was some discharge that included blood. When my ear is like this it also throws off my balance and I get dizzy. So I just had to get my ear taken care of earlier and everything is fine but I just had to call in sick because of it.
So know everyone knows one of my deep secrets, I am deaf in my left ear. I may have mentioned it before to a few of you but I don't think a majority of people know about it. It really isn't that big of a deal, and I actually have tried to use hearing aids to correct the loss but my problem is so unique that they don't have anything available that would benefit me.
I really don't think this is an interesting topic but it has been on my mind all day because I had to deal with it. I just get a little stressed out because of my experiences with hospitals have not been that great and I worry that my doctor might tell that they need to do some sort of operation. But not this time.
Everything is great and I will be back at the salt mines tomorrow.
Thanks for listening.

Comments

  1. Sorry to hear that you haven't had a good experience with hospitals. If you had come to my hospital everything would have surely been just fantastic. :)

    Also sorry to hear about your hearing loss. Hopefully this does not affect your ability to enjoy such wonderful bands as Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. I went to their concert last night and they were awesome as always! They are coming up your way soon, no?

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  2. Sounds painful!!! I get sinus infections in my inner ears, so I know about the balance and dizziness factor. That can really mess with you.
    Hope you are feeling better soon! Glad the fat basset didn't attack you.

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  3. Hey, at least you got a day off, eh?

    I had an eardrum rupture once in the midst of one of the fierce earaches I used to get in junior high. I don't know how I never got tubes in my ears when I was younger, given the amount of problems I have had with them as time has passed. Anyway, the eardrum ruptured while I was asleep, so it was quite a shock to stand up and have blood literally splash all over my clothing. Disgusting, so I can imagine how your day has been.

    Hope you feel better, and have a good day mining away for King Solomon.

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  4. Truly gross, but your writing made it ENgrossing...hehehe...

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  5. Aw. Glad you're feeling better!

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  6. maybe you should look into getting this.

    I don't know if it works, but heck why not try it?! If all else fails, at least it will look like you're listening to your tunes on your hip 80's walkman!

    Oh and nice pun! (whether intentional or not) :)

    Hope you're feeling better!!

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  7. Get well buddy!!!

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  8. Anonymous4/03/2006

    That wasn't at all boring, Shife! It was something about you that most of us had probably never heard. We thank you for sharing. :)

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  9. do you work in the Wieliczka Salt mines?
    check 'em out!
    http://www.kopalnia.pl/home.php?action=&id_language=2&

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  10. Wow thanks for sharing that shife, it's interesting story. I am glad everything went well when you got it drained. You're not missing much by not swimming, and at least your scar is somwhere you can show people :)

    I am a weirdo I was in hospitals so much they became like a second home.

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  11. Not boring--interesting. Hope you're feeling better, and thanks for the insight into you.

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  12. i'm also deaf, but on my right ear... probly not as bad, but i miss out on conversations and i have to tilt my head too...

    i hope you feel better mrshife !!!

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  13. That does sound painful. Unfortunately, my minor hearing loss is from attending hundreds of concerts, and never protecting my ears. Never.
    I actually went deaf for several hours after an AC/DC concert in 1996.

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  14. Thanks for sharing.
    I don't blame you for feeling antsy about hospitals. To have that many surgeries as a kid has to be traumatizing. Glad that you're relatively well now though, and chicks dig scars!

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  15. Yuck, draining your ear can't be a wonderful experience.

    But like a few of us already said, at least you got the day off!

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  16. You turning your head to compensate reminded me of my son who has to cock his head 35 degrees to look forward because he has Dewayne's Syndrome in his left eye. His is not painful though. I sure hope that ear is not hurting now. Take care and God bless.

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  17. My mother was 100% deaf in one ear and 80% in the other. Other family members have deafness. So I am especially sympathetic to hearing concerns.

    Good luck with the draining!

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  18. The human bod is gross but fascinating. It's a bitch when it betrays you tho. Feel better soon, Mr. S!

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  19. Ack! I hope everything is ok, dude. I mean, you said it was, but .. I dunno.. you could be lying.

    Anywhoo, I'm ready for some baseball! I know the Cards won last night [yay for you], and the Astros won last night [yay for me]. I can't wait till the Stros play the Redbirds. IT'S ON, MAN!

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  20. Hope you are feeling better today - sorry to hear you always have to deal with this. At least it isn't something you did to be mostly deaf in one ear, I swear my hubby is deaf from all the rock bands he used to play in hehe

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  21. We've all got flaws. It makes us unique.. and sexy.. ;)

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  22. Ouch! What a horrible thing to have to deal with....especially as a child. Look at the bright side....whenever Mrs. Shife yells at you, you can just turn your head and start chanting "Blah, blah, blah...I can't hear you. Blah, blah, blah."

    Hope your ear feels better soon!

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  23. i get dizzy and light headed all the time..but then im just wacko...sorry about your ear..my dad was partially deaf in one ear and he would always pretend like he couldnt hear as much as he did..he learned a lot that way...ha

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