I just got back from the emergency room at Casketview Hospital–it turns out that I have strep throat and a really bad ear infection. The only reason that I even went to the hospital is that last night, pressure started building up in one of my ears, and it turned into very severe pain. I “borrowed” a Lortab from my sister to help relieve the pain, hoping that by morning it would be gone. Instead, I sat awake in bed all night long, with strange (almost hallucinogenic) thoughts running through my mind, and I probably only slept for 45 minutes the entire night–I will never again go near a Lortab. By the time daylight rolled around, my ear didn’t hurt much, but I could barely hear out of it, and my other ear had some slight hearing loss as well. My throat also hurt like hell (still), so I figured it was time to see a doctor.
Now I have to wait a half-hour until the pharmacy at Wal-Mart opens, then I can fill my prescription (antibiotics). Hopefully the hearing loss will go away with the infection, but right now it’s extremely annoying only being able to hear out of one ear.