Dammit.

I may have suffered permanent hearing damage because I fell under the spell of a beautiful doctor. She said to put FIVE ear drops into each ear FIVE times a day. She even held up her hand to show me. I was paying attention. I always pay attention to beautiful women. Anyway, I went to the drug store and got the ear drops, and did EXACTLY what she told me... I didn't READ the label for the written dosage, because I can count the number of fingers on a woman's hand. Today, I used the drops after a shower, and at first, I thought THAT was why it feels like I've got water trapped in my ear. But I cleaned it out, used the drops, and everything... and it's still fuzzy. I can barely hear out of that ear. I talked to my friend Jen about swimmer's ear earlier, and she said you have to use drops to clear it up. So I decided to read the instructions to THESE drops to see what it says about using them when you've got water IN your ears. Nope, nothing like that... but it DOES say "For adults: 4 drops in each ear 3 to 4 times a day. Discontinue if sensitization or irritation occurs. MAY CAUSE PERMANENT HEARING DAMAGE under the following conditions..." Now, when I saw that, my initial thought was "Oh shit." So, I picked up the box it came in from the pharmacy and according to that, Dr. McFineass ordered "FIVE drops in each ear THREE to FOUR times a day, up to SEVEN days." She TOLD me five times a day, dammit. Now, true, I didn't use them five times a day Thursday, and I probably didn't yesterday either. But Friday I'm pretty sure I did. And today, I can't hear out of my left ear.

I PRIDED myself on my exceptional hearing. I'm the only person in this household who COULD hear. And now... fuck. I sure hope this is temporary. I'm calling first thing tomorrow morning if this "swimmer's ear" doesn't wear off. I've never had it to last more than a day, even though it stuck with Jen for over a week. I'm super fucking pissed about this. I know, what she prescribed was only ONE drop difference, but when you read the ingredients and the HAZARDS of this stuff, you think, "She told me to use one more drop than their suggested dosage... and they flat-out TELL you that it can cause permanent hearing damage." She didn't say anything of the sort to me.

Now, I know, it's partly my fault for not reading the instructions BEFORE I used them. But it's also partly HER fault for writing the prescription for FIVE drops when the instructions say four. If she doesn't have a solution to this problem, I could call my lawyer and see if I have a case for malpractice. And I'm not the type of guy who thinks legal action is the answer... USUALLY. But this is my fucking hearing. It means a LOT to me. I'm genetically predisposed to losing it ANYWAY, but not all at once, and certainly not at the age of 28. GRRRRR