Thursday Thoughts (A Few Days Late)

I didn't get to Thursday Thoughts last week. Thursday was a doctor day, and we were there for a bit. Then when I got home, I desperately needed food because it was nearly 1 pm and I had not yet eaten that day. Then, priorities. I had to choose an ENT specialist from the ones suggested by my PCP. That meant looking them up, reading reviews on several sites, looking them up in my insurance to be sure they are in network, and then finally a phone call and a long talk with a super helpful lady who helped me make an appointment for the next day. Then it was time to nap because my ear was not happy and I was exhausted form getting up earlier than normal.

Friday was another doctor appointment. I know I've mentioned I've been enduring some evil sinus crap. It started Nov. 11 and got really bad on the 14th with me hearing a pulsating/whooshing sound in my right ear. I went to Urgent Care and they said I had a bad sinus infection and prescribed 10 days of a decongestant pill and sinus spray. There was a lot of sinus draining but my ear whooshing got worse. So bad. I thought I was going crazy. It was sometimes a whoosh, sometimes a squeak, sometimes a honking noise. Sometimes so loud I thought my head was going to split open. I was not sleeping well. I tried using a white noise machine to mask the noise, but then I heard SP's snoring, so I'd put my ear plugs in to block his snoring but then I'd hear the horrendous noise in my ear. I was barely sleeping and I had a constant headache.

The 10 day plan of attack failed so the day before Thanksgiving my PCP put me on a week of antibiotics. We went ahead & hosted Thanksgiving because I was not contagious, but I had a tough time and I was exhausted and short tempered. The antibiotic plan failed. OK, to be fair, there was a wee, wee bit of improvement, but still so much pulsing and whooshing. I was carrying the white noise machine around the house.

The latest failure meant an urgent same day trip to my PCP. I had to see another doctor at the office. New plan: I had swimmers ear and needed a week of special prescription ear drops. OK. Sadly, I couldn't get the drops in myself because the bottle was super stiff so SP did it in the morning & evening and my mom came over every day in the afternoon to do it. Result: minimal improvement.

By now we're up to last Thursday, the 25th day of ear crap. My PCP said no wax, no swimmers ear, time to see an ENT. So I did, on Friday. I had a hearing test (and hear better in the sick ear than non-sick ear!). Diagnosis: A Really Bad Sinus Infection/Eustachian Tube Dysfunction. Sigh. That's been the diagnosis since Day 1, it just won't get better. New plan: a week of a steroid prescription and 2 weeks of Flonase twice a day, if not better in 2 weeks, go in again.

I'm decongesting. Still waiting on the ear pulsing/whooshing.

So that's life here. I'm a giant sinus infected blob about ready to enter the loony bin from the constant pulsating noise in my ear.

What We ate Last Week:

• Pasta with Asparagus, Smoked Mozzarella, and Prosciutto
• Meatloaf with Roasted Cauliflower
• Dessert: Raspberry Shortbread Bars

What We Watched Last Week: 
The usual. I really don't remember because of my ear.

What I Read Last Week: 
My magazine pile more than doubled. Some new issues arrived plus MIL brought over a bunch of magazines she'd finished reading. I'm slowly working my way through the pile.