Pity, party of one

It's been 5 weeks. Well, all told, the feeling bad, not being able to breathe, why-am-I-still-sick started the second week of October. We tried a round of antibiotics, then allergy meds since it just kept going and going. Then more allergy meds of the prescription variety with a nasal steroid and back on Azythromycin.

Chest x-rays were clear, despite pain when taking deep breaths. Sinus x-rays were clear as well, despite the continual congestion.

And then, BAM! Ear infection from H-E-double toothpicks. It appeared WHILE I was on antibiotics. Pain. Oh my, the pain. I have given birth to six children and had kidney stones more than once, and this was right up there. A 15 on the 1-10 scale. More antibiotics - Amoxicillin, Augmentin, then Rocephin intramuscular shots at a pretty high dose. And still, a very active ear infection. My ENT put a tube in the left ear on Tuesday. It has helped some, but wow! I had no clue an ear infection could get so bad.

We did an audiogram on Tuesday as well. Marked hearing loss in both ears, some nerve damage that "may or may not be reversible." I can't hear anything out of my left ear and very little out of the right. I can hear someone talking on the phone if I press it close to my right ear...but I can't even hear the phone ring to pick it up in the first place.

Oh yeah, the Bells Palsy. I woke up really early one morning last week and went to get a drink. The water just dribbled down my front. I freaked out when I flipped the light on and saw that the whole left side of my face was droopy. I googled (NOT a good plan) before running to wake up Michael (think stroke, mini-stroke, TIA...scary stuff) but Michael calmly assured me that it was most likely pressure from the infection on the facial nerve. The doctor put me on a tapered course of Prednisone to deal with the swelling, but resolution could be weeks or months. In the meantime, I can't close my left eye and my lips feel like I just came from the dentist. My tongue is somewhat numb and everything tastes like cardboard - good diet technique, though, lol.

Now, I'm just playing the waiting game. Waiting to see if the ears will clear up (no more antibiotics for now), waiting to see if I can sleep again, waiting for the palsy to resolve. I had a head CT yesterday to rule out any weird stuff. Mostly, I just want to get back to normal. I want to hear my kids. I want to have the energy to do something beyond dozing on the couch. I want to sleep! I want to feel good enough to finish the layout that has been sitting on my desk for the past 6 weeks!