an embarrassing and somewhat disgusting personal note
at stoogeprac last night, i had to turn down a few times because the volume from marlin's rig was overwhelming jon and he couldn't hear steffin at all when i soloed. this was partially because i couldn't hear anything at all out of my right ear, which is currently blocked with earwax (the medical name for which is cerumen, a name i like because reminds me of the evil wizard from lord of the rings). i've been using these ear drops and squirting water into my ear with an ineffectual bulb syringe for the past week, and telling customers at the market that "i'm a little hard of hearing on that side." (is it a coincidence that lately my entahr life seems like a lesson in empathy for the aged 'n' infirm?)
tonight, when my sweetie gets home, we're going to a clinic down on mccart to get this sorted out. it happens to me about every decade or so. the first time was not long after i'd moved to the fort; i went to the emergency room at osteopathic because i thought i was going deaf and wound up getting my ear irrigated for the first time. the pressure felt weird, but it was a great relief when the _pop_ came and the blockage was removed. (it looked like refried beans.)
my preference for standing stage right when playing dates from the last time it happened, about 10 yrs ago. i was playing in bluesbands and thought i was losing my hearing. when i finally broke down and went to the doctor, the physician's assistant wound up irrigating my ear about 100 times and pulling all this stringy stuff out of my head. it took him two hours, on consecutive days, to get it all out. he was laughing the whole time. for years after that, everytime i saw him, he'd start laughing again.
i'm reminded of pete townshend, whose tinnitus, i'm convinced, was caused by cerumen impaction, not loud noise. i 'spect that sometime between the 'oo's '89 reunion tour, when he played acoustic gtr exclusively except for the encore and was surrounded by acoustic baffles onstage, and the y2k show when i saw him play a wailing strat the whole night without baffles, he musta got his ears cleaned.
tonight, when my sweetie gets home, we're going to a clinic down on mccart to get this sorted out. it happens to me about every decade or so. the first time was not long after i'd moved to the fort; i went to the emergency room at osteopathic because i thought i was going deaf and wound up getting my ear irrigated for the first time. the pressure felt weird, but it was a great relief when the _pop_ came and the blockage was removed. (it looked like refried beans.)
my preference for standing stage right when playing dates from the last time it happened, about 10 yrs ago. i was playing in bluesbands and thought i was losing my hearing. when i finally broke down and went to the doctor, the physician's assistant wound up irrigating my ear about 100 times and pulling all this stringy stuff out of my head. it took him two hours, on consecutive days, to get it all out. he was laughing the whole time. for years after that, everytime i saw him, he'd start laughing again.
i'm reminded of pete townshend, whose tinnitus, i'm convinced, was caused by cerumen impaction, not loud noise. i 'spect that sometime between the 'oo's '89 reunion tour, when he played acoustic gtr exclusively except for the encore and was surrounded by acoustic baffles onstage, and the y2k show when i saw him play a wailing strat the whole night without baffles, he musta got his ears cleaned.
posted by stashdauber at 10:13 AM
1 Comments:
Unfortunately, I suffer from this same affliction from time to time. There's an ENT doc I go to who uses a little ear vacuum to suck the wax (and maybe some brain) out.
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