This was the first time I have been in a MRI machine. Have I mentioned I am claustrophobic? Well, I am. Intellectually I know it is silly. I am safe, I can get out just by asking to be taken out. And the truth is I was in that machine thirty entire seconds when I asked to get out. The Technician was great about it, and said a lot of people find a cloth over the face of the cadge that holds your head, helps. “Okay, lets try that. And I’ll go back in, and talk to God for the next hour.”
I was fine. I found the experience intriguing. It was loud even with ear protection. While I talked to God I was listening to the different sounds for the various scans being done. Between talking to God, and listening to the machine, I had something to occupy my mind.
One more thing I found interesting, I could feel the hair on my arms stand up and lay down as the machine worked, and at times, the edge of my right thumb and forefinger tingled. Made me wonder what it was doing to my brain, assuming I have one, which the results seem to confirm I do.
About two hours after we got home, the significance of one of the questions I was asked by the Technician hit me. The question was, “Have you ever had a piece of metal removed from either eye?” I’m thinking if there had been any metal in my eye, it would have been unpleasant, once I was in the machine.
Okay, why did the Doctor think I may have a tumor, and have me get into far to tight a place, in a machine that is too loud, makes your body tingle and the hair on your arm dance?
Because sometimes, wisdom does not come with age.
March 19th, a friend brought over his new 9mm pistol. He knew nothing about them, and asked me for pointers. Okay innocent enough, but when I fired it sans any ear protection, my ears exploded. My right ear screamed at me, and has not stopped since.
After ten days of this, it occurred to me, I might want to talk to my Doctor about it. He sent me to a specialist, and that is where things started to get weird. I thought he was going to say hearing aide, and he may yet say that.
But first, he has an attractive young lady test my hearing. Tests on my eardrums show there is no obstruction in front or behind them. Then it was listen for the beeps. Not fun.
My hearing test is nuts. The right ear just falls off in a pattern Doc says is unusual, which is why he suspected a tumor. My hearing was deteriorating, but the sudden loud gun shot irritated the tumor on the nerve, which we know now, is not there. I mean the tumor, not the nerve.
I waited too long to see the Ear Specialist. Oral steroids are the usual treatment, but they are not something I should do as a diabetic, and it was to long after the damage was done, there is a 72-hour window.
The next option is to numb the ear and inject steroids through the eardrum. I don’t think so. Plus, there are no studies that show it would definitively help at this point.
Or now there may be other options. The 20th will tell. I just want this high pitched screaming in my right ear to stop, without me having to mentally block it out. And I’d like to not have to stand to someone’s right to to hear what is being said.