I went to the ear doctor yesterday

to get my ears sewn up. My ears have been "almost ripped through" since I was in 8th grade. I always felt it had to do with wearing very heavy 80's earrings from the Asian store up the street. Anyway, a few weeks ago, Mike said "Elisabeth, you have to your ears fixed. I can't keep trying to buy you stud earrings". And I thought about it and realized, yeah. A whole new world of earring fashion could be mine if I had regular earring holes.

On the other side of my ear issues, I am a borderline canidate for a hearing aid. I've always had hearing problems. (details are two posts below, headed in pink).

So, yesterday I went in and had it done. This is my story.

My doctor really didn't tell me much. He had a student in with him and was very focusted on her. While I was being prepped, I said "I wanted to ask you about the balance problem in my ears. I know there's nothing that can be surgically done for the hearing, but is there anything that can be done for my balance issues? I'm always sniffing to try to adjust the sounds in my ears". He said "Yes, actually you can have tubes put in." I said "I had those when I was younger" He said "It's okay, sometimes people get them many times in their lives. What I like to do is make a small puncture in the ear drum and let people try it out for a week to see how they feel. It usually takes about 2 weeks to heal. I can do the procedure today, while you're here".

So, I decided okay. Let's get all this ear crap over with. I told him okay and he began with the rips. He sewed them up, all the while chatting with the student. At one point I interjected (realizing, he'd told me nothing about this) "Will there be a scar" and he said there would be for awhile but it would to away totally. Then he was done and he moved onto procedure #2.

He started prepping me and said "I'm going to put a topical anesthesia on your ear drum" I said "Will this hurt" He said "I'll tell you before I do it. Yes, you'll feel it". I said "Will this be unbearable pain?" and he said "I'm going to do it now" and
IT WAS UNBEARABLE PAIN! I was almost shaking. It took a second though and he said "You might hear a muffled sound in your ear.

A muffled sound? I could barely walk! My one ear was much louder than my other one (and still is) and when I would "sniff" to balance, a stream of air went directly inside my head. I couldn't listen to them. I stumbled out of the office to Anthony who was going to fix a layer on my hair. I walked my bike, totally unable to ride.

I walked into Anthony's almost screaming because I couldn't guague my loudness saying "Anthony I feel like I'm on drugs. I can't hear, I got my ear drum punctured and my rips sewn up" and I stumbled to the chair. Anthony was very kind and told me it was okay if I acted like I was on drugs. I went on and on about how shocked I was that the doctor didn't warn me of the "after effects" of these minor things. At the end, I realized everyone in the salon had stopped talking and was simply listening.

I woke up in the middle of the night to find blood all over my pillow. I am in massive pain and my ears look like Frankenstein's forehead.

More later. Mike is working and kids are awake. More about the band showcase Phil and I are planning.