The day I got my hearing back

I have been mildly half-deaf since Christmas, and it gradually worsened within a month until I couldn't bear it anymore and went for a checkup at the doctor. I knew it was due to impacted cerumen (earwax) and it didn't really bother me until I felt terribly annoyed at being only able to hear with my right ear. My left ear was severely blocked and I could hardly hear a sound. Upon consultation with the general practitioner on the ground floor of my office to get my ear irrigated, he immediately referred me to an ENT specialist at the nearby hospital 500 metres away, citing the risks of syringing.

The visit to the hospital was an interesting one for me as this was the first time that I had walked into a hospital alone for an appointment. I have a fear of hospitals. My greatest fear is seeing gravely ill patients (covered in blood) being wheeled around quickly by the emergency team and getting lost in a labyrinth of white walls and finally ending up in an operating theater filled with surgeons in scrubs.

I found my way up to the ENT department on the first floor and was fortunate there was a cheerful and helpful nurse on duty who checked my appointment and showed the way. While filling in the registration form and waiting for the doctor to arrive, I couldn't help but think of all kinds of rubbish. Will the clinic look like a mad scientist's lab? What if the doctor cannot remove the impacted earwax without cutting open my head? What if I become deaf due to negligence?

The doctor arrived shortly and I was called into his room. An elderly friendly doctor sat behind a huge desk and was ready to hear my problem. He then sat me on a reclining chair and proceeded to test my hearing with a tuning fork. I have not seen one since the early 90s when my violin teacher used it to tune my violin for me! After confirming which ear was blocked, he then inserted an otoscope into my ears which was hooked up to a display screen. I was surprised to see lots of hairs in my ear canal. I always imagined it to be as smooth as a baby's butt! Finally the blockage showed up. It looked like a coral tree of whitish fronds all over the place. My problem is that I have dry type earwax, which does not easily flow out on its own, unlike other types of earwax.

The nice doctor dripped some solution into my ear canal to dissolve dry cerumen and stuffed some cotton into my ears to let it soak a bit before removal. After several minutes, the time came to remove the junk stuck in my ear. The doctor inserted a long vacuum tube that was roaring with the sound of a vacuum cleaner into my ear canal to attempt to suck out the blockage. It was an interesting sensation having a vacuum inside my ear. As the doctor increased the pressure and went deeper, I felt as if my eyeballs were going to be sucked out of their sockets and through my ears! That was a very peculiar sensation - almost like wind being sucked out from the corners of my eyes.

After several attempts with increased pressure, the cursed, wrteched yellow junk finally came out. What a relief! As I was resisting the discomfort of having my ear canal vacuumed, the doctor looked happy busily vacuuming my ear, sucking out the last bits of cerumen from my ear. After the buzzing in my ear from hearing the roar of the vacuum died down, I could finally hear properly again. My surroundings sounded crisp, clear and loud. Oh, I could finally enjoy the clarity of sound again! Too long have I dwelled in a world of muffled noises. In my mind, I can already imagine Vivaldi's Four Seasons - Spring playing in my mind. With each step I take, green grass grows, flowers blossom and birds chirp!