Hearing in stereo
Wednesday 8th June, 2022
Today I got my ear syringed after being partially deaf for five weeks. I was supposed to get it done a fortnight ago but the taxi I had booked cancelled on me 30 minutes before the appointment; this was incredibly frustrating as they gave no reason and I couldn’t get an alternative arranged in time.
Just over five weeks ago my left ear got blocked when a well-meaning carer tried to clean it; I knew it would need to be syringed but I also knew that the doctors wouldn’t do so until I had applied drops for at least three weeks. Waiting that long whilst being partially deaf was bad enough, but the fact that my tinnitus became deafening on that side made things so much worse; the high pitched hiss that is my almost-constant companion made me more than half deaf and ensured that I have trouble hearing most conversations with even the slightest bit of background noise.
At the appointment the lovely nurse explained what would happen: she would squirt water into my ear until the blockage cleared; it took literally 60 seconds and for around half an hour everything seemed really loud! After that, though, things returned to normal and I am frustrated no more.