feng_shui_house | Ow. My ear. Ow. My jaw. Ow.

I've been up all night with an earache. Finally I gave up and took a hot bath (not probably medically advisable, but I was desperate) and a couple acetominophen which eased the pain enough so I could think. Walgreens has a health clinic not far from me, open at 8am. I'll give them a try, earache is within their repertoire. I think it's an infection since the jaw joint is also sore & tender --oooh, it makes crackly noises when I prod it. *makes notes for hypothetical story in which Avon has an earache.

5:45am... am going to lie down with paper towels wrapped around my damp hair & try for some zzz.

Drat. I had plans for the day which are probably shot down in flames now.

EDIT: It's 8:30 and I'm almost dressed & finishing breakfast (banana and a cup of tea). I woke up around 8:10, pleasantly surprised that I'd dozed off. I woke up with a sudden memory of the discount prescription card I downloaded & printed recently. I'll take that- maybe I'll need a prescription.

My throat is slightly sore...mmm... maybe I'd better try to push myself to get to the Postal Orifice too, at least. (The rate goes up early next month but if I buy the 'Forever Stamps' now they will continue to send a first class letter at the current price.)

I do not have time for a cold. Shall eat lots of vitamin C and echinecea later.

EDIT: 8:42 I got myself all pulled together & called the taxi- he'll be here in about half an hour. Gives me time to try to do my morning chores & check on my cement cat.

EDIT 2: 1:32pm I"m home. The Walgreens clinic was quite good- there was only one patient ahead of me so only a 15 minute wait. The nurse practioner took a medical history (I remembered to tell her I'm allergic to aspirin), took my bp, looked in both ears and my throat, felt the glands in my neck, listened to my heart, said my bp is in the prehypertensive range (eh, I have white coat hypertension) and said if I could lose weight that would help (hey, she's gotta wsay it or be unprofessional) and invited me to a free cholesterol screening on May 5.

$59 for the exam, and because I had the discount card it was about $30 for both meds. (That printout saved me $18.25 today)

Turned out I needed 2 medications because I have both middle and external ear infection- she had to keep trying for a while to find something without an aspirin component (their computer is nice- it looks at my medical history and compares with the prescription and says 'NO' when part of the medication contained an aspirin derivative)). I've got antibiotic tablets 3X a day for 10 days, and a combination antibiotic/cortisone drops 3 drops 3 times a day in the left ear. I am typing with my head held sideways, keeping the medicine in. I'm not allowed to get the ear wet, of course, but also not even to use an ear plug to keep medicine in or water out. It's quite swollen and sore inside so I didn't really want to, anyway

I went to the Postal Orifice next. The wait was a LOT longer there, but I stuck it out and got 100 of the Forever Stamps. Then I went to Big Lots a couple doors down and SPLURGED on fancy yarns, 'fun fur/boa/chenille' types (they crochet up into cute animals, or knit into pretty scarves even in plain stockinette) and a shower curtain/liner and some lovely soft microfiber cleaning pads (I *resisted* potting soil- just too much to haul around today). Then I walked across the parking lot to Office Max and splurged on artgum erasers/drawing pencils/bead filled wrist rest/antibacterial mouse pad (my gel mouse pad's been hurting my hand)/computer 'glove' (fingerless palm/wrist support, ambidextrous) and rubber cement (for putting the soles on boots for teddy bears & also repairing old paperbacks).

Then I called the taxidriver who said he'd be 15-20 minutes, so I walked a bit further and went to Subway intending just to get a non-carbonated drink because my throat was sore, but when I was waiting to pay for the bottle of iced tea I saw that they'll make Salads, so I got a very plain chicken salad with oil & vinegar (I figure it'll only be a tiny bit contaminated by gluten as they use the same knives/choppers on everything including the bread, but I was soo hungry I figured it was worth the fractional risk.

The taxidriver mentioned again how his daughter enjoyed the two books I'd given him for her (Pollyanna, and Because of Winn-Dixie). Yesterday, I picked up the Lemony Snickett 'Unfortunate' books at the thrift store (Volumes 1-6, don't know if there are more. I figure if I read them and don't want to read them again, she might like them.)

Well, I've sat here with my ear sideways for half an hour that should be enough for the drops. Ear is still ouchy, but I have permission to take extra-strength acetaminophen up to 4X a day if needed... I think I'll take a couple now, and finish my salad & ice tea & have a bit of a lie-down.

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From:

linda-joyce.livejournal.com

Deepest sympathy, I know what you are going through. Actually a hot bath isn't too bad a thing for earache, the steam loosens any gunge in your sinuses and allows it to drain down your Eustachian tube more easily and that also allows any infection to drain out of the ear also. Try inhaling eucalyptus oil in boiling water, I've found that works quite well for me.

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Ow. My ear. Ow. My jaw. Ow.

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