Dallas Food – What’s Noka Worth?has some some scathing remarks, and more than a few made me laugh.

To think anyone could do a 1800% mark up on chocolate… I’m pretty much sure it’s a Sin worthy of the lowest levels of hell. The one where goats to naughty things to your innards.

But interesting read on the value of hype – and how the chocolate industry works.

In other news, I have a “thing” in my ear just inside the ear canal, I can just feel it with my finger. I thought it was just a pimple, but it’s not going away and it’s sore. Week two. So now I have to take a half day off or something (of my new job) and head down to Kenwood to my ear doctor. It’s probably cancer knowing my luck.

I’m pretty sure my ear doctor would disapprove of this. If my ‘Engrish’ is right, I think it’s a little vacuum.

No thanks.

The ringing in my right ear is enough to make me take up drinking.

Thursday the high tone was joined by the humm again.

Today, the low hum is gone, but the hight tone is now at least TWICE as loud as the left is. LOUD. my god is is it shrill and loud.

Doctor will be back in the office on Monday. Yay.

Woke up feeling like death. Thanks to my lovely Excedrin I got it the worst of the head pain to go away. Still the nose and throat feel like crap.

Later, I notice the ear is Humming again, the high tone has left replaced once more by the low hum.

Here we go again. The doctor will likely be out till Monday. Yay.

(Lost? Hit the linked “Ear Crap” in the line below and catch up on the whole story.)

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” goes the ears. Louder than I ever remembering it being. Steroids are over now, and now it’s just LOUD.

God. Kill me now.

KEY:
Left=Red Square
Right=Blue Circle

First we have the audiogram from February,
after the second infection and the popping stuff:

Now, we have last Friday,
after the right ear began to humm:

You can see the drop in low frequency hearing (low is on the left side of the chart) as well as a slight drop on the high end. Left ear is pretty much the same.

After nearly a week on Prednisone:

Left ear virtually unchanged, the right ear shows remarkable improvement in the Low frequencies lost the week before! Doctor was stunned. Never expected such a large gain after one week.

Verdict: We still dunno. Turned over the environmental particulate dust results from the steel plant that rains on our house. He was very interested in that. It could be an Autoimmune deal, could be it as a result of the heavy metals in the particulate fallout. I’ll need more tests.

Will now go off the steroids and see if the hearing goes again. Or if it stays. Either way, we’ll get the immunological and heavy metal tests to see what the cause might be. He’s still not ruling out our house’s location. it could still at least be a contributing factor.

Today, I woke up and the right ear (the newest one to act up) no longer had a soft hum and a weird third wall sensation, it now makes the same high pitched squeal that the left has for months.

So, while it got worse, it at least is in matched stereo now. I actually prefer it.

This thing advances fast, eh?

Long time readers might recall my ear troubles the past couple years.

Yesterday, my right ear developed a low level humm and a weird third planey type thing to it. Today it was still there. I had to go get my 6 month hearing test on my left ear’s hearing loss thank to the famed twin abscesses…

Turns out it could all be fora reason. I might have THIS.

Nice eh? Yup the only thing Rush and I might have in common.

Gonna go cry some more.

The “good” ear has been doing weird things this week. Popping specifically several times fast -poppoppoppop! – when I’m just sitting here or chewing or something. Not normal.

So I went to the ear Doctor. He decided today was the day for the hearing test, and I did that.

Right ear, perfect. Left (Evil ear) has a lower pressure than right (possibly from the recent sinus infection) and might be why it’s popping. It might be trying to build back to a normal level.

The ringing in my ear which used to be a all over lowlevel squeal, since the BIG first problem back in May and again (but not as bad) in October, is ALL one one side now. And LOUD. I never not hear it, TV, phone, Music, Hear it all the time. That’s what is what spurred the test.

Great, just great. What a way to blow an afternoon.

Longtime readers may remember when I jabbed about my problem back in May for about a week. I was in HELL!!! Earchache, turned absess, turned into living hell, turned into ALMOST requiring surgery and almost losing my hearing.

Couldn’t sleep without pain pills, and an when I could it was only in my chair for days straight. Couldn’t eat, swallow, talk, see straight or hear. It swelled up so big my jaw was out of alignment for two weeks. I couldn’t bite spagetti for crissake.

(Let’s all thank god for now, shall we? I was on TWO every 4-6 hours)

OK the point of all this: My ear is hurting again. Same damn ear . The tinitis is louder there too again, and the same kind of itchy ache. JOY. Let’s repeat the most pain full thing in my lif (next to waking up after surgery getting my deviated septum fixed).

I can’t do this again. I better not have to do that again. I’ll freaking kill myself. I wouldn’t wish that kind of pain on ANYONE. It was so freaking intense.

I’ll call the doc as soon as I wake up. Damn it.

So last night is the first night in four I’ve FELT like eating. The pain is pretty much gone but still flares up if I move, I’m dizzy a bit now and that is clogged. But I felt good enough to make a fast dinner.

Mr Man’s been cooking the last four days so actually feeling able to stand up again, I pulled some of my sauce out of the freezer and had spagetti last night.

This damn infection has ticked me off now. Since it’s inside my to the side of my jaw joint. It has pushed my jaw out of aligment, and now my teeth don’t meet. I didn’t notice it the past few days, it hurt to chew. I’ve been doing soup since Sunday, but last night, chewing spagetti was impossible. It was like I was just rolling it around in my mouth. My teeth are off enough in the back they can’t close over a piece of spagetti. I ended up swallowing it whole more than chewing it.

This really sucks.

My ear hurts more than yesterday, if that’s possible. I can’t even swallow. I’m seeing my Doctor at noon if I can build up the strentgh to drive to Blue Ash. This is the most intense shit I’ve felt since waking up after my nose surgery last May. And that was a new level of pain.

I’ve been laid up sick the last few days so you’ve gotten a lot of posts. Hope those hold you over a while, owwwww. I think the next few are going to be sparse.

So, comment already and amuse me and yourselves!

UPDATE: went to regular Doctor – ER was all wrong, I’ts not just an infection, it’s an abcess. Started who knows how . Now, the entire left side of my face is swollen, and swallowing/chewing/closing my jaw is hard because it’s pressing on it. I have to go to the Doctor everyday for about a week all while taking horse pills and using drops. Yay.

And to top it all off, Doc Berg said I could still wake up with blood pouring out of my canal, or suffer hearing damage. Joy.

My was hurting me yesterday a bit. This morning I wake up at 5am in PAIN. I wait moaning in the living room for Mr Man to wake. He finally does and I call the Doctor’s answering service. They call back and they tell me I should go to the ER since they are closed today and tommorrow is booked solid too. You dont wait with infections.

Took three hours! I got seen by 4 people, and everytime I ask to go fetch Mr Man (wsho has been sitting alone in the waitig area god knows where) they tell me no, and to hold on they just need a signature on the Rx.

As I get up to leave, Rx in hand (Amoxocilllian and for pain, baby!)… I bang my head on the small swing arm TV in the room! Square on the same side of my head that hurts. Right onto a metal corner.

I cryout a muffled gurgle and fall over onto the bed/exam table holding my now screaming head. Good thing they just gave me a vidodin already. It didn’t help right then though.

They saw me standing there slumped over the table and asked if I was ok and if I wanted a Doctor to look me over. I said no, I’d spent threehours for a ache, I didn’t want to be there into tommorrow. I stuff the Rx in my pocket wincing, and stagger out to hallway to see Mr Man approaching.

He has asked finally to be taken to me; three hours with no word since. He was worried it’s something like brain cancer because it’s been so long. I had asked the staff several times to call the desk and tell him to come back. Nope, never did. Nor would they let me go get him and come back or wait with him while I was “just waiting for the Doctor’s signature on the Rx”.

Then we head to CVS for the drugs. I hate CVS. We stopped using them a year or so ago because of bad Customer service and NOT being able to get our Rx the same day.

I stand at the counter and wait. No one even notices I am there. I call out asking them if right place becasue there’s a sign and cryptic arrow. No one even looks up. I walk to the other counter. No one even looks up. I ask again, they act like they dont see me. I ask once more “Is this where I turn this in , or do I have to go to Walgreen’s acreoss the street” I turn around and signal to Mr. Man that we are out of there. Screw them.

We went to Walgreens. ANOTHER 15 minute wait to hand in the Rx while my , and bump, pounds. I can’t have it that hour, I have to pick it up later. WTF? This is why I go to Target. I have never had it take over 15 minutes TOTAL to get my Rx and walk out. I love Target, but thier Rx counter is closed Sundays though. Remind myself never to get sick on a weekend again.

Tell me how can a pharmacy, that has a dedicated staff and do nothing BUT perscriptions 24/7NOT be able to get your your perscription faster? Not even in a HOUR? How is this possible?

Come home and crash, the they gave me kicked in.

Have to go out and pick up my drugs now.
So, how as YOUR Sunday?