Oh, my head!

[lunadelcorvo]

About seven years ago, I was in and out of the hospital for a month on account of, of all things, an ear infection. It was a doozie, no question. That sucker tore right through most of my outer ear, worked its way through the labyrinth, and stopped just short of the cochlea. I lost a good chunk of bone to that beast. I also lost roughly 90% of my hearing on one side.

I mention this because today I realize the loss of 90% of my hearing on one side was not nearly enough.

You see, we often have to cover classes for out-of-school teachers. For me, on this day, that means I am sitting in a large room with two dozen beginning band students and as many instruments (from a tuba to drums and everything in between) ineptly (if earnestly) blatting at me and I cannot describe the headache.


My nerves are already frazzled to the very edge, and never have I wished more sincerely to be fully, completely deaf.

Comments

[cmcmck]

Oh lord I remember hsving to 'cover' for absent colleagues.

It made me aware of how hard earned the salary of early years teachers is!

[lunadelcorvo]

Honestly, some days, not enough money in the WORLD for this job....

The flu is bad enough that we're doing 'remote learning' tomorrow and Monday. In other words, we all stay home in our jammies and the admins pretend 'work' gets done. In this context,'bad enough is 20% or more teacher absences, so we have that going for us.

Still, thank goodness! While this group is still SO much better than last year's (not one student with an arrest record or ankle monitor; that's a plus!) they have been getting on my last nerve the last week or so. I think they feel the tension everyone else is feeling, even if most of them are pretty oblivious to current events.

[glowingfish]

That does sound unpleasant!

I had a persistent ear infection last year, although nowhere near that bad, and much like when I was younger and had eczema, it is one of those things that sounds like an annoyance but actually turned my life miserable.

[lunadelcorvo]

I can absolutely understand how something like that can dramatically impact one's life! I have had more or less constant tinnitus ever since, ranging from 'don't even notice it' to 'microphone feedback in my head,' but unless it's the latter, it's rarely an issue. I've also had relatively common, but varying degrees of vertigo. Both are typically related to stress and/or fatigue, so, you can imagine that this job, plus *gestures around* all of this makes that more or less daily. Funny what one can get accustomed to, innit?

[glowingfish]

When I got my earache last year (actually December 2023), it was a relief! That might sound strange, but let me tell you the story...

I was riding a train in Costa Rica, an intercity train that was about an hour. I was standing up, and about halfway through the ride, I started to feel very very heavy...and the next thing I know I was collapsed on the man next to me, and the train attendant was helping me up. I had just passed out in the middle of the ride! I go home, and am scared that I might have something very wrong, like developing diabetes. So the next day, when I start feeling pressure in my ear, I was actually relieved because it explained why I had such a sudden feeling of exhaustion.
It went away for a few days then came back two weeks later...I don't know if it was linked to another type of infection.
Also, in Costa Rica, pharmacists can basically prescribe for common conditions, so when I went to the pharmacy they gave me ear drops that included dexamethasone, which is a fairly strong medication. I also think that the dexamethasone might have made me sick itself!

[lunadelcorvo]

Under those conditions, I can absolutely imagine it was a relief to find out what was causing that. Also passing out on a train - scary stuff!

I think I have had dexamethasone, and it packs a punch. If I recall, it didn't set too well with me either.

What made my 'incident (?)' so weird was:
A) I had been having weird jaw pain for months, that neither my primary doc not a dentist could ever pin down. I am convinced that monster was just percolating away that whole time - eugh!
B) When it finally did make itself known, my eardrum burst. First, eeew. Second, barf. Third, pain! Then I spent hours clinging like a barnacle to the side of the bathtub, utterly unable to even crawl away without such nausea that my stomach tried to leap out of my throat. It was ghastly! The paramedics had to basically frog-march me out by the armpits to the ambulance, with me retching the whole way. Thankfully it's sort of a blur...
C) When I finally got it semi-sorted and was sent home, I started seeing paralysis in half my face. I went back in, had a tube inserted in my eardrum, right in the office, wide awake (1/10, would not recommend) and was shuttled back into the hospital again.
D) A small army of specialists later (apparently no one had ever seen an ear infection of this magnitude; I may have been turned into an article at some point), I was back home, and then had an 'exploratory surgery' just to make sure everything was all as it should be. That wasn't so bad, but the anesthetic they used left me with such muscle pains I couldn't walk for days.

It was a wild ride.

My ex teased me (once it was all safely in the rear view) that I just couldn't ever do anything the normal, simple way...

[lunadelcorvo]

Dear lord. I've just realized I have hit that age where illness stories are my war stories. Damn, I'm old!

[jehanne1431]

I'm so sorry. I would be frazzled, too.

[lunadelcorvo]

The band class was the last straw in a week that has been roughly 347 years long. Thankfully, we are remote for tomorrow and Monday. I mean, thankfully for the almost-break, but also yes, the flu is so bad they have to close schools, so that's definitely a mixed bag! Still I will take four whole days without constant tween clamour!

[avalonautumn]

I can't even imagine...

No-- wait! I can. All the feels!