Duane's SARS Update

Good news is that I’m back home, awake, and compared to how I felt yesterday morning, doing relatively ok in terms of my lungs and joints. I’m still sick, and I have next to zero lung capacity, but I feel like I’ve stabilized at least.

But here’s the bad news — I can hardly hear a thing out of my left ear. I was joking with Jason when I landed last night that my ears hurt so bad that I probably blew an ear drum while landing. At the time, I was having trouble hearing, and I thought I just needed to chew some gum and pop my ears. But, that was 12 hours ago and all I hear out of my left ear are muddled bass sounds.

I quickly Googled and found the culprit most likely to be Airplane Ear:

Airplane ear is caused by unequal pressure between your middle ear and the cabin of the airplane. Normally, the tube that connects your middle ear to the back of your nose and throat, equalizes the pressure. However, if the tube is blocked because of congestion or some other problem, the unequal pressure on your eardrum may impair your hearing and cause ringing in your ear, dizziness and ear pain. If the tube is completely blocked, pressure changes may be severe enough to cause fluid buildup or bleeding in your middle ear.

[…]

If your symptoms don’t disappear within a few hours or if pain persists, see your doctor. If you develop a fever, severe ear pain or drainage from your ear you should definitely call your doctor.

So I think I’m going to find a clinic this morning and get it checked out — turns out that I really like hearing.