Click on the pic to make it bigger, then be jealous of my narcotic pain meds :)
I woke up at 3am with pus coming out of my ear and in considerable pain. I have had a sore throat for the past couple of days, but it got better yesterday and I thought I had dodged whatever it was. In fact I had dodged nothing, it had simply moved elsewhere in my body to regroup and fester.
So I woke up the lovely Lisa and got her to drive me to emerg (my sense of balance was also wobbly, and I didn't want to drive), where the doctor diagnosed me with a 'wicked' ear infection.
//Sidenote: my wait in emerg was about 5 minutes before I saw the doc. I paid $0. Even the parking was free. Don't believe everything you hear about the Canadian medical system. The prescriptions were free also, due to my company's medical plan. That being said, if I had to pay for it out of my own pocket, they would have come to $27 in total - not bad, considering I'd pay 100x that amount to get rid of the pain.
At least the doc was kind enough to give me Tylenol with codeine - I had no idea that ears could hurt this bad - between the pressure and the shooting pains, I'd give it a 7-8/10 on the pain scale.
Anyway, all this sucks on a regular day, but today I also had a charter flight at 7am. We are a small flight department and there are only 2 of us available for this flight. I called another operator with whom we have a friendly relationship and begged for one of their pilots, but unfortunately all their guys and gals are out flying today. So I was screwed.
Now this particular charter was a sub-charter for another air carrier, so then I got to call their dispatch and tell them that we would be unable to do the flight.
I felt really bad for the dispatcher I called; it's 4:30am by this time and I wake him up to drop a big ball of stress on his lap - the clients are good clients of theirs, and my inability to do the flight will undoubtedly piss the clients off at the other operator.
So that's how my day started. I have nothing to sum up this story; the codeine is kicking in and my brain is choosing more and more random words to type instead of the ones I want to, so I'm going to go stare at a wall for a while - the pain meds are loaded with caffeine as well, so sleep is out of the question for a while. But at least the pain is dull, like my senses.
9 comments:
Brutal, nothing worse than an ear infection, especially for a pilot! I imagine the client would understand if they knew the full situation. Feel better!
sucks dude.
Have had one like that. Never want to feel that again.
Feel better soon.
Get well soon!
I too have had relatively good experience with emerge lately, including an X-Ray tech who stayed late cause she heard there was a messed up shoulder that would need pictures. Whatever problems our health system may have, it isn't with the people working on the front lines.
You forgot the subject line for this post. This causes readers like mine to fail to provide a link. ;)
I've been taking tons of codine due to a recent motorcycle accident. The colors are... nice. But, I can't wait to get off them so that I can fly again. :(
Sulako; colds and infections are stress related. And maybe rest/diet too. Are you taking care of the whole body not just the ears? Oil of oregano,and zinc will help to heal fast. rest, rest, rest.
Adult ear infections are the worst. I hope the meds kick in and you feel better soon. Just got over a bout with something that made my sinuses get all inflamed and backed up against my ears and I couldn't hear with my left ear. Steroids for 5 days.
Met a very very nice corporate pilot the other day who was one his way to LGB to pick up a G4 to fly to Cabo. I think you guys must take a course in charm because he was really nice ( he had lost his passport and we assisted him locate it).
Feel better!
Dangerous infection for a pilot. I was flying out of Myrtle Beach a few weeks ago (as a
passenger) this after having been on antibiotics for bronchitis for 10 days. As
we were climbing out, I had the worse case
of vertigo I think I've ever experienced. The
cabin started spinning and all I could think of was
how pissed these passengers are going to be if they have to declare a medical emergency and land the plane. It passed within a few minutes and my doctor later told me it was fluid build-up in my ears
and cabin pressure messing things up.
Scary stuff.
Ouch, that sucks. At least there were no thoughts of hmmm, maybe I can still make the trip for the company....
Hope you're feeling better for Christmas (or at least hopped up on codine :)
Ow! Ow! Ow!
Get well soon.
I have some of that stuff on the right in the back of the cupboard from when I broke my back. I only took it for a couple of days. Narcotics scare me.
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