Thursday, August 14, 2008

I can hear

My maternal grandfather is almost completely deaf. (he's 99)
Before my maternal grandmother passed away she used a hearing aid and could hardly hear.
I've never really worried about my hearing, but it's always been at the back of my mind. The idea of losing one of your senses is scary, and watching my grandmother's frustration as she gradually lost her hearing was depressing. My grandad is also frustrated, but he has had hearing issues my whole life so I haven't really watched the progression.
So for me, the past couple of months have been a little stressful. Shortly after the baby was born I noticed I was asking people to repeat stuff a lot. It wasn't like I was deaf, I was just beginning to not hear quite as well.
I often drive past the store "Listen Up, Canada!" and wondered if I should go in for a hearing test. Seriously. I kind of debated asking my doctor about my hearing, but I didn't want to.
But, this past week my ear started to hurt and my ears got really stuffy. And, since my sinuses were also hurting I went in to see my doctor. I expected a prescription and I would be on my way. I did get a couple of prescriptions, but she also asked me to put some special oil in my ears and come back in 3 days to get them cleaned and checked.
I went back today and had a procedure done that I've never had before. I had my ears washed out. It was the strangest thing. Basically they rinse your ears out with warm water. You use oil for the days preceeding to loosen the oil and then the wash part literally washes out the wax.
So, the nurse was rinsing away and I didn't notice any difference. She kept saying she could see the wax but it was just not coming out.
Suddenly - WOOSH - it was out. (sorry I know this is gross).
But really, it was incredible. She took out this GIANT chunk of wax. It was the grossest thing I've seen. And it came from me! ewwww. But wow! When that came out I could hear. I could hear better than I have in a very long time. I was shocked. I must have said thank you about 10 times. I got to the van and I had to turn the radio down because I could hear! I came home later and we turned on the tv. Again, I could hear!
I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Life can be so exciting.

6 comments:

SciFi Dad said...

(Warning: possibly TMI)

I have excessive ear wax too. I have to clean my ears with q-tips 2 times a day. Once I had ear candling done, but I don't think it was done right.

I think I want to visit your doctor.

Leece said...

What?? No picture!?? Tsk Tsk. ;)

LoriD said...

I would be excited too! My dad wears a hearing aid and my grandfather was almost completely deaf by the time he reached his eighties, so I'm hyper-aware of any changes in my ability to hear.

Anonymous said...

OMG...my doctor has been telling me to get that done for an extremely long time and I've been so paranoid about having it done. I hate having water in my ears letting alone having it flushed out or plunged or feeling the oil swishing around in there for a week beforehand. Did it hurt at all?

Urban Daddy said...

WOW, pretty scary. I'm glad your doctor managed to have you ear(s) cleaned out. I have thought about it too. I had some "drainage" issue with my left ear which I managed to clear myself with repeated massage of the part behind my ear leading down my neck towards my thrat. Worked great. I had a fuzzy ear for almost 2 years. It was really scary. I considered the candling but heard it was risky and quite dangerous.

You never realize how much you rely on something until it gives you problems.

Take care!

Badness Jones said...

I had that done by a much less compassionate doctor than yours - halfway through a flight home from the Bahamas my ears started to hurt, and when we started the decsent I started screaming with pain, I thought my head was going to explode. Hubs hauled me off to the nearest drop-in clinic and they couldn't see whether I had an infection due to the wax so they cleaned my ears. I had a raging infection - it took 3 rounds of antibiotics to clear it up, but I think it was aggravated by the cleaning. It hurt so much that Hubs had to hold my head and I bawled the whole time. I hope it didn't hurt for you!