Thursday, March 11, 2010

(h)ear (h)ear

How does it feel when an insect decides to have a rendezvous with your ear canal and decides to end its life there? I was in splits at the misery of a fellow blogger who logged such an experience a few months back. I never imagined that I'd be aurally deficient for 2 days from my own doing which ended only after a visit to an ENT specialist.

My ear seems to be a gunk magnet and needs to be taken care of every now and then. In the process of one such twiddling operation with ear buds two days back, I messed up, causing some gunk to half-block one of my ears. From hearing in 2 channel stereo, I was reduced to a 1.5 channel stereo with one ear struggling to hear. My ear was reacting to it in a funny fashion. I take a finger close to my faulty ear and I could hear odd whoosh sounds inside. I take the finger away and the sound reduced and faded. The tuning fork experiments in the Physics labs of yore flashed back.

Me, being the eternal experimenter, for relief, tried pouring warm water (not hot water, mind it) into the ear, shook and slanted the head in an effort to cajole the gunk to come out, but it refused. After a few minutes, it almost became a single channel stereo, disorienting me with a perpetual whoosh sound and a 'goiiiiiinnn' sound (:-) there is a medical term for the ringing, buzzing, crackling and hissing sound, 'tinnitus'). In spite of careful prodding with Johnson's ear buds, it worsened and I was a verbal wreck, bugging Señora every now and then (நச்சரிப்பு) to see with a flashlight if she could see something inside. Fed up on my antics from the morning, she quipped "இப்போவே இப்படி, இன்னும் வயசானா என்னெல்லாம் படுத்துவியோ". (It is like this now itself, I dread it when you age older)

Drove with the mono-aural capability to an ENT specialist in the evening who 'irrigated' my ear with warm water and washed the gunk out restoring my stereo hearing to all glory, all in just around 3-5 minutes, the driving took 25 minutes each way and the waiting at the empty clinic, another 30 minutes.

Today morning 'el Niño' was in a bad mood and left a piece of dosai in his breakfast plate, and I told him not to waste food as half the world goes hungry every day and that he was wasting food and hence money. Came a quick-fire retort, "You wasted money yesterday at the doctor by not knowing how to clean your ears properly. I don't do that. Ok!!!". I was speechless.

Lessons learnt - Avoid using ear buds to clean your ear, they could push the wax further into the ear canal, causing you extreme discomfort. Do not advise kids when they are in a foul mood. You will get it right back where you expected it least. :-) :-)

13 comments:

Appu said...

இப்படி வீட்டுக்கார அம்மா பத்தி எல்லாம் பொது இடத்தில நீங்க பேசினதால அடுத்த ஒரு மாசத்துக்கு வீட்ல இட்லி கிடையாதுனு கேள்விப்பட்டேன்!! ஆமாவா?

By the way pl pass on my 3 cheers to him :):)

chennaigirl said...

// Do not advise kids when they are in a foul mood. You will get it right back where you expected it least. :-) :-) //
I will keep that in mind.
So, was the gunk the insect, or someother thing?

RamNarayanS said...

@zeno-வீட்டுக்காரம்மா ரொம்ப நல்லவங்க. அப்படியெல்லாம் செய்ய மாட்டாங்க. அப்படியே செஞ்சாலும் கைல, கால்ல விழுந்தாவது I'll get இட்லி + சட்னி. :-)

'el Niño' is a CA in the making. He will remember that you promised him some money long long back and audits his money comparing his with that of 'la Niña'. It is celebration time for him when his grand parents visit us.

@chennaigirl-The gunk was ear wax only. While cleaning, looks like I dislodged a layer which blocked the canal partly and worsened because I poured warm water to get it out and it dried in the ear. :-)

G3 said...

//tried pouring warm water (not hot water, mind it)//

I always try with Coconut oil when ants get into my ears :(

//"You wasted money yesterday at the doctor by not knowing how to clean your ears properly. I don't do that. Ok!!!"//

ROTFL :))))

RamNarayanS said...

வருக G3.

பூச்சியெல்லாம் காதுக்குள்ள போகலை. It was only ear wax that got dislodged. The suggestions I checked also suggest using a few drops of warm olive or coconut oil and then cleaning up. :-)

இந்த காலத்து பசங்களை நம்ப முடியரதில்லை. :-) வாய் ரொம்ப ஜாஸ்தி.

gils said...

title pathutu unga kaathu non vegetarian aidchunu nenachen :D :D ENT kita ponathuku badila neenga g3ku fone potrukalam..avangala neenga ARAKKI nu sonathukaga freeya kaatha kodaainjirupanga :D :D narayana narayana

RamNarayanS said...

ஓய் Gils, நாரதர் வேலையை நிறுத்தும். :-D (கங்கணம் கட்டிகிட்டு திரியறீங்க போல, சண்டையை மூட்ட :-D)

Anonymous said...

sevikku unavillatha pothu vaitrikku ee apdinu thaan solirukaanga..neenga sevikullaraye ee ya vituteengalonuuuuu nenachen :D :D

G3 said...

@Rammmm,

No worries.. Naarathar vela paakara gils mandailayae 4 kottu tomorrow me kottings :))

Ramesh said...

Thanks God such occupational hazards do not interfere with the writing - what would we do if RamMmm blogged at 1 stereo ??

Hee Ho Ho at Gils. Gils is in roaring form and just retort from RamMmm :)

R-ambam said...

Newton's third law proves to be darn good with parenting.

last week , in an attempt to spit out the phlegm, the tongue sprained.Thank good ness! was ok the day after. weird things scare the .... u know what ...out of one !

RamNarayanS said...

@Anonymous (aka Gils) - :-D thangal sledaiyai migavum rasiththaen. :-D amaichcharaey, gilsukku oru 1000 porkaasugal (virtual) kannil mattum kaattavum. :-)

@G3 - Thanks-o-thanks.

@Ramesh - Gilsukku neenga kuduththa award is very just. :-) Full formla irukkaar.

@R-ambam - :-D Parenting is an occupational hazard. :-)

Anonymous said...

What an Experience...!!!
@//Do not advise kids when they are in a foul mood.//
Very true.. lol.!!
@//"இப்போவே இப்படி, இன்னும் வயசானா என்னெல்லாம் படுத்துவியோ"//
Thank yourself for saving the ears for future instead of more damage..!!