Further proof that I am not really a grownup

I have to admit that I was beginning to feel pretty smug. I was all the way into January, and I hadn't gotten sick. I was pleased that I was taking my vitamins, being healthy, washing my hands enough, blah blah blah.  To make it worse, J had been fighting off a cold for weeks.  Well, Karma can be a real *itch, and she smacked me down but good.

So, last Monday, I was feeling the tiniest bit of a sore throat, but didn't think it was any big deal- I blamed it on the smog/inversion in the air.  Then I woke up Tuesday. UGH.  So sick with a cold. Absolutely miserable.

Wednesday was even worse- by day's end my right ear was starting to hurt, and my voice was starting to go.

Thursday, I had no voice and my ear hurt even worse.

Friday, I managed to drag myself to a closing, even though I couldn't talk at all, and I was completely distracted by the pain in my ear.  I finally went to an instacare Friday night, hoping they could "fix" what I was sure was an ear infection.  The doctor didn't seem terribly impressed, but did say it was infected and gave me some antibiotics.  I mentioned that I'd started to notice a little bit of fluid coming out of my ear, and he asked if I'd been using ear drops. I said I had, but that there was more coming out than I'd ever put in. He noted that it was unusual for an adult to get an ear infection, and even less common for their eardrum to burst.

Saturday morning I woke up with all kinds of scary creepy goo coming out of my ear, and almost completely deaf on that side. Greeeeat! To make it even funner, my balance was completely gone, and I had a pretty good case of vertigo.

The weekend passed much the same way.

On Monday, I had a friend take me to an ear/nose/throat specialist, who confirmed that yes, my eardrum had burst, and yes, it probably had been really painful. He gave me stronger antibiotics (he very diplomatically said that he disagreed with the course I'd been given) and antibiotic ear drops.

I'm finally feeling comfortable driving- vertigo is pretty much gone unless I turn my head too quickly. Loud noises still bother me a lot, and I'm still mostly deaf and in some pain. But, I am starting to think I'll recover.  The doctor feels that my deafness is temporary.