Courtesy Call

It felt like a bit of a long day yesterday - having gone to, and having spent the better part of the day at a clinic for an ear operation. Normally, the drive would be about an hour, so just to be safe, Helaina and I left about two hours before my appointment.

Unlike most times, there was an actual reason for leaving this early. It was because there's a lot of road construction going on between my home and the clinic - enough road construction that Rachael and I got held up in traffic along this same route a few weeks back, and we missed her bus.

Having learned my lesson (which will no doubt be used to justify my leaving even earlier for many years to come), I didn't want to run into the same problem this time, so we left extra, extra early (as opposed to just my standard, extra early). Needless to say, it turned out to be completely unnecessary. Although there was some construction, most of it was on the other side of the highway. On our side, there were no hold-ups at all - and Helaina and I arrived well before we needed to.

We went inside the clinic and I filled out the paperwork and I sat there with Helaina in the waiting room. Before long, a nurse came to get me. And even though I knew better, I was hopeful that this meant I that would be getting operated on sooner, and then be on my way home sooner, as well.

I followed the nurse to a small room where she checked my so-called vitals, and the I followed her to another room where she had me get "dressed" in a "gown" and then I followed her to another room where she had me lay down on a gurney. She went to get Helaina - and together Helaina and I waited the for the next two hours.

One of those two hours was the asked for "get there an hour before your appointment," and the other hour was my own fault, for arriving even earlier that expected. I don't have any particular problem with all of this, other than being bored out of my mind, and boring Helaina out of her mind, but I wondered why they didn't just leave me in the waiting room until they were closer to being ready. At least in the waiting room, I could have read the news on my cell phone (which wasn't allowed in the apparently high security area, which was where my gurney was located.)

Anyway, somewhere around the scheduled time, they came and got me, wheeled me in, and the surgery took place.

Afterwards, I awoke with a giant bandage wrapped around my head, with a big wad clustered over my left ear. (The operation was on my left ear, in case I forgot to mention it.) The nurse (or somebody) came over and gave me some pain medication, and the surgeon came by and told me that it was as he had expected (suspected?), something about the bone - and I nodded, pretending to follow along. The nurse came by again and gave me some followup instructions, thankfully written down, and told me to expect a courtesy call the following day. I got dressed and from there, Helaina drove me home.

After a few dizzy hours, waiting for the appropriate length of time to be able to take another painkiller, I finally popped one in and I headed upstairs and went to bed early.

Today, I'm still wearing the bandage, as instructed. It looks like I'm wearing a massive pirate's eye patch, which has shifted to the side of my head. I'm supposed to take this off later today, and switch to stuffing cotton balls into my ear for the next two weeks or so.

I feel great - other than feeling like I have the equivalent of a bad ear infection, and other than still being occasionally, and unpredictably, dizzy. What's bothering me the most, though, are two things.

First, when I talk, or hear loud noises (such as cracking ice from the ice cube tray, or setting my coffee cup down too hard on the table), the noise, or rather, the rattle in my ear is so loud, it's deafening - and almost painful. Is this normal? I don't know.

Which brings me to the second thing that bothers me. The clinic made their "Courtesy Call" just a few minutes ago - which I missed. They left a message and I called them back. And when I did, I spoke to someone (a nurse? the receptionist?), and I told them who I was, and that I was returning their missed call.

They asked me how I was doing, and I started to tell them and then they cut me off and asked, "Who is this, again?" (Apparently they ask anyone who calls in, how they're doing.) So, I told them who I was (again) and they asked me how I was doing (again) and when I started to ask them if the rattling sound was normal, I was cut off again and told that I would have to ask my surgeon those kinds of questions, because "this was just a courtesy call."

They asked if I had any other questions, but I figured if they weren't going to accept any medical questions, what was left to ask? I told them "No" and they thanked me and that was it.

I'm left wondering, what was the point of this? What exactly does a "Courtesy Call" mean? Was it just to see if I was still alive and could answer the phone - and anything beyond that was information that they weren't equipped to deal with?

In fairness, the message they left had said that if I had any questions, to give the doctor a call. But it also said that they were calling to see how I was doing. Maybe they meant that they were wondering how I was doing in any way that wasn't medical in nature.

Anyway, I put a call into my surgeon's office to see if this rattle was normal. I got their answering machine and left a message. About an hour later, I got a call back. I was told that yes, the rattle is normal. It may last for a day or two, or it may last up until my followup appointment (a little less than two weeks away.) Sometimes it can last even longer than that. There's no saying. Everyone is different...

**silence**

Ok. I guess that clears that up. Kind of. Regardless, I thanked them, not only for taking the time to answer my question, but also for having the courtesy to call me back. Which, I guess puts me further ahead than I was before.