I used to get earaches all the time when I was young. One night, many many years ago, I had the worst earache yet. Unfortunately my parents weren’t home. It was excruciating and I forced myself to sit through it. Ever since that night I have been extremely hard of hearing in my left ear. Phone conversations can only take place using my right ear. Sometimes when I’m trying to sleep in a loud environment, I press my right ear against my pillow, and then I sleep in silence.
Today I was watching a television show and part of the plot revolved around someone who couldn’t hear well out of one ear. His doctor suggested that he get an MRI of his brain to make sure a tumour wasn’t the cause. For some reason, maybe since I’ve had this ear condition for so long, I have never thought of it as being caused by a tumour or something serious. I always just thought it was a bad earache that caused my hearing loss. I became really anxious today, thinking through all the ‘what ifs’.
