Thinking about the subject of yesterday’s Thoughts paper, I realized I had more to say. This will be Part 2 of my discussion of the nightmare I call mono hearing. If you didn’t read yesterday’s paper, stop reading this and read that. Now that you’re back or you never left, I will continue talking about my good ear (if I’m feeling positive) and my bad ear (if I’m feeling negative). I’ll wait until the next paragraph, though. I made this one too focused on ensuring you know what I’ll be talking about.
The main thing I didn’t talk about yesterday was my sister. What does she have to do with this? Did she jam a pencil in my ear to cause the problem? If she did, that would have been the first thing I mentioned about my mono hearing. She is being mentioned because she also has mono hearing. My good hearing is in my right ear and hers is in her left. When we sit at a table, we must make sure we’re at opposite ends of the table with our good ears toward the middle. We could sit right next to each other on each other’s good side, but then we could only hear each other. This would be convenient if we didn’t like each other. Unfortunately, we get along these days.
My sister’s hearing loss is as big a mystery to her as mine is to me. This was the other part of what I neglected to talk about yesterday. When I looked up celebrities who have mono hearing, there was usually a reason given for it. They were born with it, something happened to their ear, or they are nearly deaf, but one ear still hears some. I have speculated about causes based on events in my life. None of them accounted for the gradual decline of one ear over the other. The next paragraph will go over some of the possible causes.
My family was driving to the mountains once and my ears were in pain. I could not pop them no matter how hard I tried. This may have been the beginning of the damage. I also used to swim and take baths where I would soak my head under water. Many times, I had water in my ears when I was done. I went to the doctor at least once and had my ear wax washed out. Eventually, I used several ear wax removal kits over the years. When I first noticed the hearing loss, I thought it was wax build up that needed flushing. In the end, I had to admit it wasn’t wax causing the problem.
A visit to the doctor revealed that I was losing my hearing in one ear. The only suggestion they had was to get a hearing aid. This did not appeal to me and didn’t seem like a workable solution to my problem. Despite my hearing loss in one ear, that ear still translated certain noises into pain. Really loud music or noises would send painful feelings through my ear. I cannot stay in loud places long. It’s the cruelty of only hearing in pain. It is less like sound and more like an assault on my ear.
Enough about my troublesome ear. What about my troublesome throat? I’ve had a pain in the back of my throat that feels like pebbles have taken up residency. It doesn’t hurt most of the time, but I’m developing a permanently raspy voice. Speaking or singing in my higher register hurts and I can’t do it for long. This Friday, I have an appointment with my primary physician so I can get a referral to a throat specialist. I wish it were an appointment to see a specialist, but I must see the doctor to get the referral. Hopefully, it’s not several more months until I can see the specialist.
Thoughts from Life 
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