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Tomorrow we will be going to my dad’s house for Thanksgiving. We were planning to go today, but my head had other plans. I woke up this morning before 6 AM with a horrid horrid migraine. I won’t go into the details, but I wasn’t able to even drink anything till 2 PM. Ugh. I am feeling much better right now, and thankful that I do not get them frequently anymore. I can’t remember how frequently I got them as a kid– maybe one a month? I’m not even sure when I first got one, but I remember having one in Kindergarten, when I was 5, and it wasn’t my first one. The last incapacitating one I had was in April, and before that, it was last October, which isn’t that often, but before that it was like one per year for a few years, so I hope I’m not entering a more frequent migraine era. That would really stink.

Anyway, enough ramble about that. I forgot to mention that after this post last week, I DID have a Wawa Turkey Bowl. My first thought was that it was a little like dog food, but that didn’t stop me from having a second bite. The second bite was better (I think the first had too much gravy), and I actually enjoyed it very much. Tomorrow is our big Thanksgiving dinner at my dad’s house. I’m looking forward to it, but feeling guilty for not contributing anything… I asked a few times if I could bring anything, but never received a response, and planned on making the apple cupcakes today anyway… but the migraine interfered with those plans. Oh well… empty-handed. I’m sure there will be enough without us bringing something.

Just thought I’d give an update on my ears, in case any poor soul who googles “perforated tympanic membrane” or “i broke my eardrum- help!” comes across my page, looking for info on how long it takes before feeling better.*

After blowing my nose on Thursday, February 7, my left ear felt like someone had shoved a pillow in it. It felt more serious than any other ear pain I’ve had, but I did not expect to wake up around midnight with horrible excruciating pain. It was so bad, that I called the doctor’s office, but was told my only option was to either page the doctor, or drive to the emergency room. I suffered through the night– 2 ibuprofen only helped for about 20 minutes, and soon blood started running out my ear. Around 6:30 AM, I gave in and paged the doctor, who arranged to see me at 9 AM. She confirmed that I broke the eardrum, and I started anti-biotics and super high doses of ibuprofen (declined the narcotics), which helped keep the pain away. However, my right ear decided to join the party, and started dripping fluid too (but never blood).

By Saturday evening (about 48 hours since I damaged the eardrum), the pain was under control, but the severe hearing loss was quite shocking. I was convinced it would never get any better. I walked around for the next week in a fog– my head was so congested. The following Saturday, I was sure it was getting worse. And then, my right ear started popping. And popping. After a few days of this popping, my hearing in my right ear cleared up considerably.

Now it is two and a half weeks later, and my left ear is getting much better. The hole has healed, and the congestion is better, so I am just experiencing tinnitus and decreased hearing. Sometimes I feel some pain, but not too often.

Anyway, just thought I’d put this out there for anyone suffering through this. My fingers are crossed that in another week or two, as the lingering congestion clears up, my left ear will be close to normal.

Part 1 is here.

*When I googled it, most broken eardrums seem to happen from accidents– scuba diving, water-skiing, etc.  I think having the flu/ear infection is what kept me in such a fog for 2 weeks.

Well, It’s Valentine’s Day! I have never been big into celebrating this holiday, but I did purchase some Trader Joe’s Sea Salt Brownie Petites to get a chocolate fix. Yum.

I took Miss Lilia to the doctor today. She’s been very snotty and she has said her ears hurt. Yesterday was probably the worst day, but it was very bad weather, and I didn’t want to venture out to the doctor in it. Thankfully, the doctor thinks she is over the worst of it, and that she doesn’t need antibiotics. The doctor also looked in my ears, and proclaimed my left ear “a mess”. Joe has been under the weather too, and finally went to the doctor. Diagnosis: Bronchitis. Unless it’s pneumonia.

Ah, so, we are surviving. But Lilia actually seemed a lot more perky today– this gives me hope that we are at the end of this! And then I’ll just have to wait for my ear to heal.

How about some Valentine’s Day pictures of my February Sweetheart? (Only 2 weeks till Lil is 2!)
The Ham (who knows where she learned this smile!?!)

Can you believe this girl didn’t win Regis and Kelly’s most Beautiful Baby contest?

Since we have a sizable tax return coming our way (thank you, TurboTax– I actually started filing with H&R Block online, ran into a problem that couldn’t be fixed, and decided to re-do with TurboTax, and ended up with almost $600 more back than H&R Block– wow this should be its own sentence, instead of stuck here in parentheses), I am thinking about making two large purchases. I am soliciting advice from my readers (how many of you are there??).

1. Our water supply is pretty icky. We use either a Pur or Brita filter on the kitchen sink, but both of them get clogged pretty quickly. There is an off-white substance coming out of the water– I can’t believe that’s good to drink. So I am considering getting some sort of under the sink water filtration system. I don’t know where to start looking, and have no idea how much something like this would cost. Any ideas?

2. A new digital camera. I’ve been suffering with my hand-me-down, old, slow, sometimes-won’t-take-a-picture-even-if-I-push-the-button-a-dozen-times camera, and I really want a new one. I’m not looking to spend a lot, so no fancy Digital SLR for me. I want something small and good. Joe always liked his Canon PowerShot Digital Elph, but the screen died on the last one, and that discouraged him. He got a Panasonic Lumix, but is taking a long time getting used to it. I’d be willing to forgive Canon for the screen problem. What do you think? What kind of camera do you have? How much was it? Do you like it?

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In other news, I think my hearing is getting worse. The info I’ve seen about broken eardrums makes it sound like it isn’t a big deal. However, the pain in the first 48 hours was worse than labor. And the lingering not being able to hear (due to constant ringing and cloudy feeling) is really discouraging. It looks like it could take 2 months to heal. Fingers crossed that it is much less than that.

I didn’t intend for this blog to include the mundane details of my day-to-day health.

BUT

I have to share this: I blew my nose yesterday afternoon, and immediately my ear felt like there was a pillow shoved into it. It didn’t get better, and in the night, woke me up with excruciating pain. I am bleeding out the ear.

I have broken my eardrum. Or more precisely, perforated my tympanic membrane. It is terribly painful, but apparently, is not that big of a deal. I have some nice medicine to take, and will hopefully be in less pain soon.

But let this be a lesson to you, especially those of you with large Italian noses…