Double Ruptured Eardrums with a Side of Covid
My sisters and friends have classified me as “extra” for quite some time now, and I’d be darned if I didn’t do my best to keep up with the title!
Who gets not one- but two ruptured and infected ear drums? Me. I do. With a side of Covid?
The Rundown
Going into our annual Church beach camp I knew I had one ruptured ear drum, though I wasn’t sure how or when it had happened but there is nothing you can do for it except time, and I had antibiotics for the ear infection causing the inner ear pain, so onward; we headed to camp on Sunday!
Monday, we had our zoom call meeting outside on a picnic bench with my Oncologist to discuss the nodule on my liver that had shown up on the last MRI.
In his words, he was “not too worried about it.” Praise the Lord!
He suggested we get a chest CT with contrast to get a better look at it. He said the spot was so small though that it would not have even shown up on a PET scan, and that often they are benign so, we are waiting for Signatera test results, which is how we know if there are any circulating cancer DNA cells in my blood, indicating if this lung spot is cancer. Last time we tested in February I was ZERO! We are praying for more zero.
Tuesday morning at camp I woke up with a sore throat, and I wondered if the ear infection was spreading to my throat. Then throughout the day I started having a dry cough, and I noticed my port (the implanted device, just below my collar bone that is slightly larger than a quarter for IV’s) was itching. A lot. It was red, swollen, and warm. On the last night of camp on Wednesday evening I knew I felt off, so much that instead of staying up to play games or hangout around the campfire like I normally would, I was in bed by 8pm with my kiddos. This flew in the face of my extra-party-animal-night-owl-norm!
Thursday, the next morning, I texted a picture of my port to my doc and she was concerned enough she wanted me drive straight from camp to her office for bloodwork, a peek in my ears and closer look at my port. Doc thought the ears, sore throat, cough, and port infection were all connected and prescribed me antibiotics to pick up that evening, with strict instructions to let her know how I was feeling by the next evening because I should feel improvement by then.
Friday morning, I felt under a dark cloud. A gloom that wouldn’t lift even after coffee! By midafternoon I recognized all my thoughts had a downward spiral trend with a strong aroma of negativity and a feeling of failure. What was going on? On a normal week, getting myself in bed by 11pm takes capital E-effort and self-control, I like staying up! But again by 8pm my eye lids were so heavy I was craving bed. Sure enough I slept for 12 hours and woke up feeling about the same, run-down, tired, negative. Even after a FULL night sleep I was still extra out of it and exhausted, Waverly still naps most afternoons and I thought “Oh, I could lay down with her and snuggle for a bit.” I accidently took a 2-hour nap.... even after 12 hours of sleep the night before! I knew something was wrong. Along with the rain cloud over my thoughts came a headache that was untouched by Tylenol or ibuprofen.
We procrastinated going into the ER that night because we knew from the EMT’s (that were at our house a few weeks ago when I dripped my IV vitamin C too quickly and called 911) that all the hospitals within 50 miles are packed. Jamison was keeping my Doc up to speed as the headache and ear pain persisted and grew worse. I told Jamison it felt like my head was going to explode, so we made the call, it was time to go in at around midnight.
Sure enough, the emergency room waiting room was packed with dozens of people. I was immediately discouraged; it wouldn’t be the first time we spent hours in this exact room. And I felt bad for all the other sick people waiting to be seen, how long had they been here waiting already? What a dismal group we were.
The check-in nurse took my vitals within the first few minutes of being there, quickly asking me questions and shuffling me through as if I was one of hundreds of patients he had processed through that day, then motioned me back to take a seat. I shuffled over to a bench, threw up my hoodie and laid down to wait, in too much pain to drift off or relax at all. To our surprise, less than 20 minutes later the triage nurse called me back to assess my situation.
“She has a history of colon cancer” Jamison explained, since I had lost my voice day 1 of camp.
“It started with an ear infection in the right ear and ruptured eardrum... Then a sore throat, light chest cough, and her port seems to be infected as well”
The nurse checked my ears first “Yeah, both ears are ruptured. And the infection in the left ear is worse.”
He continued “was your cancer localized or metastatic?”
“Metastatic.” Jamison answered.
One benefit to being my level of extra is getting marked as “urgent” at the hospital. The nurse ordered bloodwork, COVID, and a strep test, and I was seen immediately. I felt slightly guilty for cutting the line in front of all the other waiting people, parents with children and the elderly. “I guess it’s pretty serious” I whispered to Jamison.
The nurse took 4 large vials of blood and said the bloodwork would take about an hour. Then the Covid nose swob that gave me some big ol’ crocodile tears, a throat swab that almost brought out my dinner, then back out to our bench to wait for results. An hour and a half later we finally heard the nurse yell my name in that loud tone indicating “You better come right now - we’re not waiting for you” type voice.
“RACHEL”
We hustled up off our bench. After another hour of waiting for the doctor to come, the headache was so brutal I was thankful for a private room to be able to cry in privacy. Jamison went out twice to bug the nurses about getting pain meds before they finally relented and gave me some relief, first they tried Toradol, which did not help in the least, we waited 30 more minutes than they brought out the big guns and gave me Dilaudid, which almost instantly worked, but came with some nausea.
The doctor came in very apologetic, shortly after. Did my eyes deceive me or was this the same ER doctor that 4 years ago sent me home with a diagnosis of “constipation” when it was actually a intestinal tumor?! Oh boy.
“You tested negative for strep.”
Weird. We were surprised as strep and I have had a long history of on-again, off-again relationship. He continued “But you do have COVID.”
Ugh, not again.
He went on, “the secondary infection from your ears is spread to your port, so I’m going to order a chest CT to see if the COVID has spread to your lungs and to make sure there’s no puss pockets around your port.” A sentence no one wants to hear ever. We told the Doctor our oncologist wanted a chest CT anyways to spy on a new nodule in my lower right lung, so two birds with one stone.
The chest CT showed no COVID in my lungs and the small spot was/is still there. Mostly good news.
With the culprit identified, we had solutions. Because of my history and current “immuno-compromised” status, IV monoclonal antibodies to help with ‘Rona, IV antibiotics for the ear infection/port infection, with a side of cough medicine and anti-nausea to boot. I got a two-hour nap while dripping all the things, then 7am rolled around and we were ready for discharge.
The nausea from the pain meds decided to hangout, so we took a wheelchair to the car, but it still got the better of me. Luckily, I had snagged a barf bag from the room, made use of it then sent Jamison back inside to leave as a little gift for the hospital. So long and thanks for all the fish!
Being extra requires extra humbling.
At least for me, anyways. What feels like constant ER visits or sickness and suffering prove useful in helping me remember to bend the knee to the King of Kings. David in the Psalms is constantly lamenting in his trials and suffering, and his sentiments resonate with me
“Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will mediate on your wondrous works. My soul melts away for sorrow’ strengthen me according to your works!
Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law!
I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me.
I cling to your testimonies, oh Lord; Let me not be put to shame!
I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!
Psalms 119:27-32