bull-a-who-what-huh?

Bullous Myringitis. It's in my ear. Every doctor that has heard what I have looks at me and says, "Oh, that's pretty rare!" Then they ask to look. I don't feel like a freak or anything... Or they look at me like I think I have that but they really know I don't. It's awesome! They don't know how I got it, which stinks, but I am not contagious, which is good. They did say if I took some of the infection out of my ear and shoved it far enough into someone else's ear, they might get it. Nice, huh? And it's called bullous myringitis. Here's another. It's as awful as it sounds. Ear infection with blisters on your eardrum. The only symptom is severe ear pain. I got it Wednesday, the 10th, at 4am, and their only treatment at that point was pain control with Vicodin. I got to the ER at 4:45am and left at 3:15pm. I waited pretty much all that time for an ENT to be available. I lost my hearing around 11am. The ENTs are certain that I have the viral strain despite the websites suggesting that the hearing loss is caused by the bacterial strain. I had ear drainage on Wednesday night and I thought I was all better. Thursday I went to my Primary Care Doc and she found 2 more blisters. Friday was much worse. So I decided to have a 'procedure.' During said procedure, they deadened the ear with drops which caused what the doctor described as "excruciating pain for 5-10 seconds." Check. Then he popped one blister. Didn't feel it. Then he put a small hole in my eardrum, smaller than if they had put tubes in even, but big enough to get the tip of a little vacuum in there. Doctor said, "You might feel some pressure and hear a whooshing sound." Check and check. He had sucked out all the infection!! He looked in my ear and found another blister that the infection on the inside of the eardrum had been pushing against the wall of my ear canal. It had not been deadened, but he needed to pop it. He said, "Unfortunately, you're going to feel this." CHECK!

Today, I have no ear pain, but I am constantly exhausted. I have little hearing in my ear, but the doctors have done a few tricks using tuning forks and discovered that I have not lost the hearing altogether, I just can't hear right now. It should return in a few weeks. But honestly, I don't really mind. If I lay with my good ear down, I hear almost nothing and can rest beautifully. Oh, and BTW, I'm 8 weeks pregnant. :) Due Jan 22nd. Been feeling fine up until this.