This morning, I woke up with a low grade sore throat. It's been 70 degrees and WINDY the last couple of weeks, things are in bloom, and my allergies are having a field day. I wrote the sore throat off to that. On the way to work, the soreness moved to my ear, and by 8:00 am I had a full blown ear ache. As a kid I suffered from chronic ear aches/infections. It was a period of time where the medical community stopped putting tubes in kids' ears, so those of us with the ear issues just had ear issues. I was well versed in amoxicillin. As an adult though, they are few and far between. The last one I had was in maybe 2008.
As the day slowly passed, it was getting harder and harder for me to talk to the kids as just opening my mouth shot pain through the whole right side of my head. After recess, I got them working on a writing assignment and then went back to my desk and held my head. I'm not a desk sitter during the school day, but it was all I could do. The obligatory 25 minutes that 2nd graders can work quietly before they get wiggly was nearing so, after sucking down a couple more aspirin, I tried to get it together for the next lesson. After standing, the ear started sloshing and popping, each move it or I made sent more shooting pain up my jaw bone. It made me feel on edge and a little off kilter, so I told the kids what was going on as I didn't want them to worry. The more inquisitive ones wanted me to tell them more. Then we listened carefully and they could hear my ear popping and swishing. Yuck!
While some were gasping and others laughed, it must have been too much for one of my boys in the front, as he fell right out of his chair. When our attention turned to him, he was fine, and got right back in the chair, however the look on his face is one I'd seen AND felt before...I think he fainted, or felt like he was going to faint. As someone who doesn't like to hear about gross medical things, and who has passed out upon hearing them before, I'm almost certain us talking about my ear and THE SOUNDS made him woozy. He told me that he was fine, but someone had kicked his leg and he fell. No one kicked his leg...poor guy.
The next lesson began. While we were working on identifying complete and incomplete sentences the sound in my ear got louder and then....MY EARDRUM FREAKING BURST. There was a sharp pain and then fluid started trickling out my ear and down my neck. Blech! After the possible fainting, I quietly grabbed a tissue and continued the lesson. Every time the ear popped it sent a shooting pain, but when it wasn't popping it actually started to feel better - probably releasing some of the pressure. We finished the lesson, and thankfully, it was time for lunch.
After dropping off the kids and talking with my team (who had graciously offered to take the kids for the rest of the day) I decided to finish up a few more lessons with the kids after lunch. Yesterday I was out half day to do a training, so taking another half day, and having to plan for yet another sub...well it was just easier to stay.
My team took my kids out to dismissal, and I rushed to urgent care. After about two hours of waiting and 5 minutes of medical care, I left with an antibiotic for a ruptured ear drum and fluid in the ear. Still sucking down the aspirin too because, even with the leaky ear, there are still bouts of pain.
It's nighttime now, a notoriously bad time for ear aches, and I have to admit, I'm not feeling great. I'm on the fence if I should suck it up, set the alarm, get up and try the day or if I should write my sub plans now and just call in the sub.
three on thursday
5 hours ago
WOW, and sweet merciful jebus.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course stay at home, what are you thinking woman. Working when you are like that is insane.
Draw yourself a hot bath and stay in it for at least 1/3 an hour. And if you have a muslin bag you can put Rosemary in the bath all to the better if not boil a kettle and make a sort of tea with it and bring it to the bathroom. In something big, a 4 pt mixing bowl.
What does it do, who knows. But it's been used in that way for 100s of years. It could be nothing more than it smells medicinal.
Have you been to an actual doctor, not just the local nurse. Someone that can look in and see what's going on. A burst eardrum is exceptionally serious.
I'm still somewhat amazed that an abscess formed in your ear and you not know about it. And if you've mixed it for allergies you really need to go to a doctor specializing in them for there's something vastly more serious going on than the sniffles when the agave's are venting pollen. There's a good chance something/s you are eating are causing it. Now I know it sounds faddy and stupid young actress eating kale, but sometimes the cause can be something fundamental to ones diet.
This comment is by way of lot of real sympathy. And I'm sorry I'm not nearer to give you a big hug and send you to bed. There to feed you soup or something that allow's you to swallow easily.
Of course I'm man enough too to have a fascination with gruesome oozing's too.
It is totally gross and totally fascinating at the same time! I keep looking at the cotton I've stuck in it to keep it from running down my neck and off the pillow. I can hardly believe it is STILL leaking. It is odd and it is odd that truly today was the first day of pain. There is something going around right now as I had 4 students out the day before yesterday and one of my colleagues had 8. But I really did just think the stuffiness was allergies. She said it could be from the sinus collected (I guess) from the allergies, but it is weird. But it could be something else. I did see a nurse practitioner and she told me to come back in a week if I'm still having pain and they'll refer me to a ENT. I hope I don't have the pain for another week!
DeleteThank you, that's very sweet. :) I did make up my mind to call in a sub tonight and just finished writing sub plans and sent them to one of my colleagues. It is HARD to be out and often so much easier to to go into work. But I'm most worried that I won't sleep tonight and then I'll be useless. Took a big swig of Nyquil though and starting to feel drowsy. I'm hoping it won't be long now.
Weeeeeell, how long did it take before you were out of bed and working at something ?.
DeleteWell, that shows how much you know...I stayed IN bed working. ;) But only a little bit. I keep dozing off. But I am glad I decided to stay home...it would have been a rough day had I gone in.
DeleteDo you need a doctors to certify the illness to get paid, or will the nurse-p do the job.
DeleteDelighted you stayed put. Is her ladyship scrunched up against you. They know when we're not so hot.
Oh, I asked here. If it's weeping it's relatively a good thing but don't put the cotton in so far that it staunches the flow and forms a scab. If that happens the gunk will build up inside. So apparently a wadge of cotton on the rim is the way to go, and changing often.
Anyhoo's, cook yourself something nice.
Hugs.
Ya Rigby lasted a few hours curled up at my hip, before she decided she was done with that and sat on my chest. She's spent the afternoon exploring the backyard.
DeleteI get 10 sick/personal days a year and as long as no more than 5 are taken in a row, a doctor's note isn't needed. After 5 they require a note. Unused days are carried over so I have at least 120 after 15 years of teaching. I can't use them all at once of course, but I've got them if needed. Part of me would like to take another day tomorrow, but I'd have to go in and plan another day. That sounds unappealing.
Bless your heart! I've never had an eardrum burst, so I have no idea how long that takes to heal. I hope for your sake it's quickly. And like Vince, I have a certain amount of gross fascination for stuff like this. I would have been one of the kids crowding around to see.
ReplyDeleteI sure hope you're feeling better today.
Thank you! I'm still not feeling great and the ear is still leaking, but at least it feels better. But I'm glad I decided to stay home.
DeleteYou would be interested then that I had to change out that cotton in my ear 4 times last night. 4 times! Grody! 😝😝😝
Ooooo, that's a lot of seepage! Better to come out than stay in and build up pressure, though. Is it a clear discharge? (let's see how gross we can get on here!) I'd be paranoid about it getting all over my pillow.
ReplyDeleteRIght?!?! The pillows are the reason for the cotton. I don't know how good it is, even germ-wise, to keep it sealed up like that, but yucking up the pillows is worse.
DeleteHow are things today. Did you go to work ?.
ReplyDeleteThank you for asking. I decided to call in for a sub last night and set the alarm for my regular wake up time, figuring I'd either feel good and cancel the sub or not feel great and have to go in and get the day prepared for the sub. I chose the latter. So ya, I'm home. Now that I'm up, not feeling awful, but just not great, a little like I'm under water, ya know. Anyhow, I won't take another day...slowly going out of my mind with boredom. :)
DeleteHow's the studio search going? Any luck finding a place?
You're going to have to explain the going in thing.
DeleteHas the ear stopped weeping, is that 'why' the underwater feeling.
Spent the day building frames for the pictures. Bought a miter saw this AM. I decided on a very simple frame A3 ishy with the picture A4 ishy. But I expect a week of crazy until they are up on the 15th.
Thought about black for the frames but they've painted the walls of the exhibition space white. If you remember the walls were naked redbrick and hard to work with, so one of the reasons I went with the gallery wrap last year. But I think the white frame on a white wall with a white gap to the picture should pop the colours in the images just nicely. And the rough simplicity will transition from the brick to the picture.
So too answer your question, no, I'm long fingering the studio for the mo. But will push for it after next Saturday week.
I'm half afraid that the A4 might be a bit small. It looks right in teh mock up, but meah, you'd never know.
Oh the exhibition begins on the 15th!?! FUN!!!
DeleteThe white back drop will make your display a bit easier this go round.
The A4 is like an 8x11" print? And then you'll mat to fit in a A3 which looks to be 12x16"? I think the white on white will look nice, but if I might suggest that you check the white you are painting the frames (assuming you're painting them) with the wall white. There are so many different whites you'd hate for them to clash with the walls in the library.
The going in to school thing? I have to write subplans and have the materials ready for what I want them to do with the kids. Plus, what I had planned on doing with them is a little different than what I'd have a sub do. My regular sub wasn't available, so you never know what kind of skills he/she will have. So I spent about an hour getting things together so they could get through the day. For Wednesday's sub I had gotten my materials out the day before (as I always do) so they were ready for Wed. All I had to do was write the plans so I did that at home and sent them in. I couldn't do that last night since I couldn't remember what I had planned to do. :)
I've found in the past that a frame can destroy a show. Sometimes people think they are framing a Velázquez.
DeleteYep 12 x 16. I wanted the ratios. One is double the other on it's side.
The worry I have is that the frames merge with the walls.
Ahhhhh, I see. No chance at all that you are a teeny weeny bit of a control freak. :-D
But I do get it, truly I do. Both you and the kids need to follow a programme.
Oh, no, there's definitely a chance. :)
DeleteI am required to write plans for the sub, but the control freak made them 4 pages long!
The white on white will be nice. They'll only recede into the wall if you match the colors exact - which I actually think is impossible with white paint. Different whites are ok, but the tones in some clash and that might be something you'd want to watch for...in my opinion of course. :)
Pages ?. Esses, plural ?. Do you write in such detail for yourself ?. Is there a book in it ?. Or even two since you're hitting 800 pages. Well slimmed a bit you'd hit 500 of text. You could probably get 4 with illustrations. Those educational books can be a nice little earner. And if you're doing it anyway.
DeleteAmazon makes it relatively east to self publish for you've to fit to their template.
I was debating about glossing the frame, but I think that would pick up the overhead spots.
Yes, snarky, pages!!! :). In my defense there are very good reasons beyond being a control freak. One, back when I first started teaching and would sub during my breaks, I would get plans that were minimal and I was always do afraid I wouldn't do the lesson right or the way the teacher wanted. In all reality,they probably didn't even care, but I hated that feeling. Two, I'm out so much of the year doing trainings that my regular sub is just an extension of me. She has to teach real lessons and get the work done otherwise the instruction would just be a series of starts and stops with my schedule. This week that wasn't the case but old dog/new tricks. And then three is I'm a big ol control freak! But that could because of the above or the above us because I'm a control freak. It's a case of the chicken and the egg!?!? ;)
DeleteI am showered and generally ready to leave for work in a few minutes. I'm glad it's Friday though so I can go back to bed for a couple more days.
While glossy does look so nice, your concern is understandable. Could you do a distressed look on the frames and then you wouldn't have to worry about the imperfections as that would be part of the charm? That's quite a stylized look, but if it went with the location and your photos it could work.