A dumb thing to do

This happened the day of our Canada tournament. I hadn't really told anyone about it because .... well .... it was just a stupid thing to do and I'd sometimes prefer not sharing.

However, I was reading my past blogs from this time last year and realized how grateful I was that wrote some things down. I don't write everyday (well I did try the blog-everyday-in-November-thing and THAT was exasperating) but I do try about once a week. Because my memory sucks bad, reading those past blogs were so much fun and actually remembering what happened was joyous.

So, in light of that, I am going to try to write ... not for the benefit of anyone because I fully believe no one really reads my blogs (I think Kathie does but that's because she's being nice) but because it's great way for me to record my life like a journal. I probably won't put personal things down but events like exactly how much snow we had last year, are important.

Kreshiznik there. Sorry.

Back on topic. Saturday morning about 5 am. We had to leave by 6 to get to Canada before the line up. Showered and dressed, and I'm just about ready when OOOPS!!

The end of THIS falls in my ear:
It actually wasn't even in my ear, just sort of sitting on the outside edge but I thought "Oh! I'll use the end of the stick to get it out" and BAM! The end of the Q-Tip pops directly into my ear canal.

I'm not a real panicky kind of person. I sort of stood there and thought, "Well ... now what?"

I finally went out to the kitchen where Thomas was on the computer (surprise surprise) and said "I have a Q-Tip in my ear and I think it's stuck."

Now Thomas, he IS a panicky person. His first response is "Do you want to go to emergency?"

Right. We have a tournament in Canada today, we have to leave in 20 minutes and I'll be in the bloody emergency room for 3 hours at least since I'm not bleeding out my eyeballs, for a Q-Tip. No thank you. And I don't have a regular doctor because I really don't ever get sick.

So off we went to Canada, knowing that really ... this little thing was not going anywhere since there was no where for it to go (and contrary to rumors, there is something between my ears).

I'm at the tournament, watching the kids, watching Thomas with this little nagging thing in my head knowing that a foreign object is butting up against my eardrum. Not only that, it's slightly hard to hear and I keep getting a little dizzy -- which could have been nerves watching the kids compete.

Drive home at 1 pm. Go get something to eat. Start working on other projects at the house. I still really don't want to go to any clinic. Remember this is at the height of the swine flu and every clinic is stuffed.

Sunday, still in my ear. Still can't hear.

However, I do read on the Internet (O Holy Internet - Give me an Answer) that this is rather common because as humans, we do tend to like to stick things in our orifices even if we're not supposed to.

Several people give several different options. One option is to drip hydrogen peroxide into the ear and let the bubbles bring up the Q-Tip end. Another is to do the swimmers jump (think Seinfeld episode when Kramer was jumping on the plane) and try to bounce it out. That didn't work either. The best one was the vacuum tube to the ear solution ... but just make sure you don't suck out your ear drum (does that even need to be said?). That also didn't work. Damn.

So here comes Monday now. I'm due to pick up Owen at 11:30 and I need this thing out of my ear without it taking hours in a waiting room. I go to a clinic in Smokey Point, which is in a medical building. I walk into the clinic and waiting there are about 20 people, six in masks. Phones ringing off the hook. I did an about face and walked right back into the elevator before it had time to close. I was NOT going to get sick waiting for a Q-Tip to come out of my ear.

I decided to go to my little hometown clinic in Arlington. One NP, no waiting, no issues. Walked in, filled out my paperwork (still embarrassed by this whole thing, I wrote my symptoms was an earache), and paid $39. I told her what happened, she syringed my ear with hydrogen peroxide and water and the little sucker floated to the top. Done. Finished. Painless. And I didn't catch the flu.

She did say that I had ridiculously small ear canals and how in the world did something that size get stuck in there, she'll never know.

And she reminded me of a an old saying, "Don't put anything in your ear smaller than your elbow --- or in your case, a basketball."

I'm now on the search to find an elbow-sized Q-Tip.