I never used to get ear infections. I’m not sure why this summer I’m so susceptible.

Last weekend while visiting Shadow and Kender, I went through a period where I wasn’t feeling very good myself, which resulted in a four to five hour nap in the middle of Saturday afternoon. I had a sinus headache, which isn’t too uncommon, but I also felt some twinges in my left ear, and I thought “Oh, great, not that again.” I resolved myself to make a doctor’s appointment Monday morning if it didn’t stop. But it did.

Friday morning, however, it began to hurt again, and much more fiercely than last weekend. I called my doctor’s scheduling line, and they said “He’s all booked up this afternoon. We can fit you in Monday, or we can maybe squeeze you in at <one of several inconvenient locations>. This made me unhappy, since I had a feeling that by Monday I was going to be in pretty bad shape. So instead I drove down to my doctor’s office (it’s impossible to get them on the phone) to see if maybe they could squeeze me in, or at least write me a prescription for the same antibiotics I had last time (I still had painkillers left over from last time). After a bit of negotiation, they agreed to slip me on the schedule at 4pm, so I went home for a little while, then drove back. (My doctor’s office is only about 5 miles from my apartment.)

After all the preliminaries (my blood pressure is back down to normal, which is good), Dr. K. came in and took a look, and we talked about what we did last time. He ended up writing me another round of the antibiotics series that Dr. B. gave me last time, and told me to come back in a week.

The infection is not as bad right now as it was when I first went in last time, so I’m confidant it WON’T be as bad an ordeal as in July. And this time I have the painkillers to start with, which will decrease the suffering, though it make sit very very hard to think straight. I’m hoping to be back to normal (well, as normal as I get) by Monday.

In better news, I booked my tickets for OVFF today. kitanzi and I will be arriving on Thursday morning and leaving Monday afternoon. We’re both really looking forward to the convention. It’s exciting partly because I am the Interfilk guest, but even more importantly, it will mark the one year anniversary of us getting together. We’re gonna go snuggle up on that same couch in the lobby Thursday night, and hopefully have another “Live #filkhaven” gathering. What better way to celebrate an anniversary than to be surrounded by a few hundred of our closest family and friends, making music and joy and laughter together? I can’t wait!