Journal entry for December 2, 2001

Today's summary: L.A. trip, Day Six. Flying back home. Ear problem.

Yesterday's amusement park / Santa Monica day felt like a good conclusion to the trip, which was all I really wanted.

After saying goodbye and thank you to Diana, helping put her guestroom back in order, and grabbing my luggage... back to the airport. Time to go. Remembering the trouble I had equalizing my ears on the way out here, I took LOTS of decongestants and had a full supply of gum.

My ears were sort of okay from L.A. to Phoenix, where I had my picture taken with the armed airport security and National Guard, whee!). I had theorized (at the time) that my previous trouble was just due to the quick little down-up-down transitions from Phoenix to L.A. and vice versa. So, after leaving Phoenix for Baltimore without too much ear trouble, I figured I was in the clear.

Unfortunately, I was wrong about that -- I had so much trouble equalizing my left ear as we landed in Baltimore, that I was in a lot of pain. It wasn't popping right, only crackling and my hearing was really messed up on that side. Every time I tried to equalize, I just got incredibly dizzy.

I was so dizzy actually that I was a little worried about driving home. I sat down on the floor while waiting for my luggage and the dizziness finally passed before my bag showed up. So, I drove home. Carefully. Went to bed. But I couldn't sleep, it was awful... The last time I ruptured that eardrum, it felt a lot like this, but this crackling sound is new.

I was very frustrated since I haven't ever had this much difficulty flying before, and I thought I did everything right -- decongestants, gum, Valsalva maneuvers that I learned in scuba to equalize pressure, etc. I knew the physiology involved, and although I had had trouble on the way to L.A., it was nothing like this.

Ah well. At least the view from the plane was nice.

One other nice aspect of the trip -- I happened to spot a flight attendant teaching her coworker how to make those little beady flag pins, as I was waiting to use the restroom. So I was chatting with them briefly, it was nice. A few minutes after I returned to my seat, she reappeared and gave me one of the pins she was making... I was so touched by this gesture that I actually started crying. So I went back over to her and said that if she had any more beads, I'd help her make more pins. But, she said she was done... and she saw I was all teary-eyed and so she said, "Aww, we're just one big family, we have to stick together!" and gave me a hug. And a Kleenex. It was all really sweet.

In retrospect, later that night I realized that maybe my crying is what resulted in my ear trouble -- decongestants don't do much of anything if you suddenly become sniffly from crying, after all. Even so, I am happy that she gave me that pin.

I guess I have to go to the doctor. I hope my hearing comes back ASAP. As it is now, it's distracting to hear myself talking, my voice is all echoey and weird.