I can hear!

This morning I still couldn't hear out of my left ear. Over the course of the day I tried peroxide, a hot shower, heat on my ear, and those ear wax removal drops again. I still couldn't hear by 5:00 so Lisa suggested I try going to Patient First. I was going to wait til Tuesday to call my Dr. but why wait.

I had never been to a PF before so I was nervous. You know how it is when you go to a new place. You don't know the protocol so you try to read all the signs on your way in without looking like you've lost your mind. When I walked in there was no one in there and no one at the window. I could hear them in the back so I signed. One of the signs I read said to have my ID and insurance card ready so by the time she poked her head out I was ready for her. She said "are you here to be seen?" (remember I can't hear out of my left ear) and I had to ask her to repeat herself. Once we got that straight she said "well come on around here" like I was supposed to know where to go. She was very nice about it but at this point I hadn't had a chance to tell her I was a first timer at the PF. That was the first thing I told her when I sat down across from her. Then when I told her I couldn't hear out of my left ear she was very understanding and spoke up for me.

I answered all her questions and within 10 minutes I was done with her and called back. A very nice nurse named Bobbi Jo took my vitals. I am NOT 5'4 evidently. She measured me to be 5'2 which I find very hard to believe. She was much shorter than me and I'll never see her again probably so I'm going to continue believing I'm 5'4. 5'2....pshaw! The scale was "very sensitive" so it weighed me two times before giving an "accurate" reading. Let's just say that I still have 15 pounds to go to get back to my pre-baby weight. That's what the swimming is for. Fingers crossed that it works. My blood pressure was excellent (112/86). Normal is 120/80 so I'm good. The only time my blood pressure has been high was the last week I was pregnant. My feet swole up like balloons!

Bobbi Jo took me to a little room and used the stepping stool to get up to my height on the gurney/table. (I told you she was much shorter than me) Her co-worker (who must not have been working with her long) started calling her a hobbit. Here was his train of thought: Bobbi Jo, Bill Bo the Hobbit, she's short so she's a Hobbit. She was not happy nor impressed. I too was annoyed for her. He was going to get her a cherry coke though, so he can't be all bad. She made sure he knew that was not acceptable. Us short women have to be assertive in this tall world. (I still can't believe I'm only 5'2!)

She took a look in my ear and said "Oh yeah, there's a lot of wax in there". Who knew I had a wax issue?! I thought that was for boys. Anyway, she said she'd get the Dr. to authorize them to flush it out. He came in, looked in my ear and said the same thing she did, that it needed to be flushed out. Then he sent in another nurse to do the flushing. She was quite nice too! She put some drops in my ear, the same kind I had tried, but I didn't have the tools she used next. After she let it sit for a few minutes she came back and pulled out this huge needle. I gave her a look and she smiled and took the needle part out so that the only thing left on the syringe was the plastic tube that was skinny enough to fit in my ear. That made me relax. I already dealt with that huge epidural needle in my back, I was not about to have something like that stuck in my ear!

She had me hold up this bucket thing under my ear and proceeded to squirt warm water in there. After the second flush I could hear again! She did it a few more times to get all the wax out and then showed me what came out. Lisa would have had a fit, she loves hospitals and stuff like this. She's a hoot! It was a lot of wax and I was happy it was in the bucket and no longer in my ear.

All three of them made me promise not to use q-tips anymore. I am converted. I do not want to go through that again. They said I could use the drops for regular ear maintenance and to let the shower wash it out.

The interesting part of all this is that the nurses could have done all of this without the Dr. yet, I'm sure he make more money than they do. The first nurse was able to diagnosed me but had to have him say it, probably for liability reasons. The second nurse performed the flush. All he did was confirm what we already knew and smiled at me. He was nice, but I could have saved 15 minutes if I skipped his step. My point here, Nurses should be paid VERY well! Goddess Bless 'Em!

I have been working right along on the shawl today. I am very excited about how beautiful it will turn out! I can't wait to get to the fan section on the trim so I can learn that stitch. I just love how much quicker crochet seems to go than knitting!

We hung out at home today, watched football and played with Jackson. I love family time! Tonight Bill made us chili and cornbread for dinner! Time to eat people!