Earwax is weird and gross. It smells funny. And, as I unfortunately found out while chewing on some random pen in a hotel outside Chicago about ten years ago, it tastes terrible. Does anyone know why we have earwax? I seriously don't know. Enlighten me, please!
So (as you might have read in the previous post), my ears have been plugged, and I haven't been able to hear well for over a week now. Let's just say rehearsals for my show which opens in less than a week have become a little unnerving. I don't know if I'm on pitch half the time! A few days ago, my jaw started hurting pretty ferociously too (I could barely touch the outside of my face yesterday without wincing), and I'd felt dizzy on a couple of occasions. These symptoms all added up to what I feared was an inner problem. Or a tumor. That's where my mind goes, you see.
Today, I finally bit the bullet and went to see about it. Turns out it was earwax. I had some industrial flushing with a pretty massive silver syringe, and aside from thinking my brains might start oozing out my ears too, it wasn't too bad. Not painful at all... just sort of uncomfortable.
OK, I know this is gross. Substances produced by our bodies are rarely pleasant (have you ever noticed that?). But I'm flummoxed by this earwax thing. How can something so lame cause me so much pain? Weird. And gross.
OK, I'm going to let you in on a little secret: Ear drops. Not pleasant, but also not nearly as unpleasant as having the doctor do it. A few drops in the old ear, hold them there for a few minutes, flush with warm water, and voila! You see, I also had plugged ears a week ago. (Another thing you and I can add to the list of things we have in common!) Chuck has had problems in the past so we had the drops and the little blue bulbous syringe in our medicine cabinet. I figured -- what have I got to lose? Turns out, nothing. My ears are all good ever since. By the way, if my memory serves me, ear wax protects the inner ear, and one of its functions is to catch dirt, dust, and other foreign microbes before they can get too far inside. It does have a function. Break a leg next week. I think I'm coming on Thursday. :-) ck
ReplyDeleteGross! I know how you feel though. My ear canals are abnormally small so I have to get my ears flushed out as a routine. Nasty business.
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